Should CFL Scrap the Coaches Cap?

[JohnnyMusso]

I am not fan of this. It looks bush league. In every other league, you can fire the coach or GM and not be limited by money to hire a replacement, but in CFL forced to keep a bad coach or GM because of these new rules. If no coaches cap, Lions could make major changes and instead probably will not and it will hurt the team. Campbell in my view does not deserve a second chance after a 4 and 10 season or 5 and 9. It is a joke. I predict Travis Green will be fired before Campbell.

Likely only the Elks will fire their coach and maybe GM. Lions must do something concrete in offseason and the coaches cap limits them. CFL needs to adjust this or scrap it all together. Fired coaches should not be included in the cap in my view. Cap is way too limited and hurting all teams.

[Hambone]

Scrap the FOPs cap? No
Reassess and change the dollar limit? OK

The concept I believe has sound merit. The size of coaching staffs had been spiraling upwards in recent years. Chris Jones had up around 14 assistants working for the Riders and was running 15 or more FA camps before he left. There was a need to put some certainty into that aspect of team costs. With no limits to staff size or salaries it can turn into an arms race where everybody tries to keep up to the Joneses whether they can afford to or not. The richest team would set the bar for the rest to either spend money they don't have or let the richest have a competitive advantage.

[B.C.FAN]

Scrap the FOPs cap? No
Reassess and change the dollar limit? OK

The concept I believe has sound merit. The size of coaching staffs had been spiraling upwards in recent years. Chris Jones had up around 14 assistants working for the Riders and was running 15 or more FA camps before he left. There was a need to put some certainty into that aspect of team costs. With no limits to staff size or salaries it can turn into an arms race where everybody tries to keep up to the Joneses whether they can afford to or not. The richest team would set the bar for the rest to either spend money they don't have or let the richest have a competitive advantage.

Yes, you can blame Chris Jones for the coaching cap. Rules are made to right wrongs and prevent abuses. Jones wasn’t the only big spender but he was the poster boy for excessive spending. The cap is needed to prevent further abuses and ensure that players get a bigger share of team spending.

[JohnnyMusso]

Yes in theory the concept of the cap is good, but it has gone too far. Craig Dickenson said it is hard to find coaches if you can only offer them $35,000 a year and there has to be some flexibility. Fired coaches should not be part of the cap. There has to be exceptions to the rules. If some teams now wanted to fire the head coaches and I am thinking of Edmonton and BC, they may not be able too. Edmonton may be able to fire their coach for he has been a disaster, but they better make sure they get it right. BC I think has to pay Claybrooks for a 3rd and final year and that is applied to the cap and I don't think it should be. Even if BC wanted to fire Campbell, they probably cannot do it for still paying Claybrooks. It means holding on to a coach they may not want and can sell to fans for 2022. I think that is unfair and too restrictive and frankly bit bush league. I know CFL is not the NHL, but in the old days we could fire people like the Canucks could and still can. Having a cap that forces teams to not improve their coaching is not right and still vote yes to this poll.

[TheLionKing]

Put me down as in favouring of scrapping the coaches cap. Doesn't make any sense that a club can't /won't fire an incompetent coach because of the cap. Imagine if Campbell had signed a 5 year contract. Can you imagine how many fans you will lose if the Lions continue to play like the last 2 years ? When Campbell's contract runs out in 5 years, the Lions could be playing to an empty stadium. Under performing players are released, why not coaches ??

[DanoT]

Firing a HC/co-GM when he has only been given one season and with mostly another GM's roster means starting over. It also means it will be difficult to sign or even find a replacement and that guy will certainly want more than a 1 year deal.

The good news is that in this case the Lions won't be listening to disgruntled fans, but rather they will be making incremental improvements to staff and players, as they should.

To quote former Als and Bills coach Marv Levy: "if you start listening to the fans, you will soon be sitting with them".

Chill out folks, this season was better than last season and next year will be better than this year.

[B.C.FAN]

Firing a HC/co-GM when he has only been given one season and with mostly another GM's roster means starting over. It also means it will be difficult to sign or even find a replacement and that guy will certainly want more than a 1 year deal.

The good news is that in this case the Lions won't be listening to disgruntled fans, but rather they will be making incremental improvements to staff and players, as they should.

To quote former Als and Bills coach Marv Levy: "if you start listening to the fans, you will soon be sitting with them".

Chill out folks, this season was better than last season and next year will be better than this year.

Yes. I think many fans are frustrated because they saw the potential of this team early, especially with the receiving corps and the young, ball-hawking secondary. It went downhill fast with some missed field goals that cost the Lions a chance at a .500 record and a playoff spot. Momentum is a huge factor in a game and a season, and things can snowball, but this team is not far off. It’s much easier to improve with a new kicker and pass rusher than a new coaching staff.

[Hambone]

Firing a HC/co-GM when he has only been given one season and with mostly another GM's roster means starting over. It also means it will be difficult to sign or even find a replacement and that guy will certainly want more than a 1 year deal.

The good news is that in this case the Lions won't be listening to disgruntled fans, but rather they will be making incremental improvements to staff and players, as they should.

To quote former Als and Bills coach Marv Levy: "if you start listening to the fans, you will soon be sitting with them".

Chill out folks, this season was better than last season and next year will be better than this year.

Hire a HC or GM on a 1 year deal and you instantly have a lame duck HC or GM before he even sits in his office. A team attempting to hire someone on a 1 year term will get what they ask for. They won't get a high end candidate. They will get someone either vastly inexperienced or someone taking the job because they are desperate. Typical starting point for new hires in those 2 positions is a 3 year deal.

[Hambone]

I'm not sure that the concern about firing coaches or GMs means paying full salary for every year left. Something in the back of my mind makes me think they can amortize the cost the cap hit over a few years. Also I would not be shocked if there are termination terms written into contracts that ease the cost somewhat. As for assistants while coordinators might be working on 2 year deals positional coaches tend to be on 1 year deals. Many of those junior positions are seasonal as well.

[Belize City Lion]

I voted NO even though I think the operations salary cap is negatively affecting coaching in the CFL. The problem is not so much having a salary cap, but the size of that cap and the fact that coaches are lumped in with all other operations staff including very well paid team presidents. The league reduced the operations cap by $500,000 in 2021. I agree that a cap is needed to protect teams from themselves, but I'd prefer to see a coaches cap separate from an operations cap. That would set a ceiling of sorts for what head coaches and coordinators could demand. If a head coach was also the general manager then apply a percentage (30%?) of their salary to the operations cap as well.

We're only 2 years into this operational cap era and already it seems to be creating dearth of coaching talent in the CFL. We talk about replacing Rick Campbell, but how much coaching talent is worth considering at the moment? Maas? No thank you. Otherwise it's Chris Jones (ironically probably the reason the league has an operations cap), Mark Kilam, and maybe Mike Benevedes.

[DanoT]

There has never been an abundant talent pool to draw from for CFL coaches. CFL HCs and coordinators have to have Canadian football knowledge and Canadian university and high school coaches have not done all that well in the CFL.