Losing money. Keeping faith.
December 20, 2008
Ken Peters
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/484969
His won-loss record is 24-65-1.
Worse, his bank account has been drained by some $25 million, maybe more.
Worse still, five years in, his Hamilton Tiger-Cats continue to finish in the red, both on the field and at the box office.
All of that combined with the fact that Hamilton owner Bob Young was less visible this past season than he had been in the past led to speculation that the owner was tiring of his latest toy.
Not to worry. Young admits he was less visible for two reasons. The first is that he was working behind the scenes with his management team, concentrating on trying to fix the Tiger-Cats rather than marketing them.
And the second?
"It wasn't that I didn't like the criticism, I just didn't like the sympathy I was getting. I couldn't take them (Hamilton fans) feeling sorry for me."
But the good news for fans is that a half-decade since Young, the multimillionaire computer software entrepreneur, rode into Steeltown as football saviour, the quirky, somewhat geeky-looking, ballcap-wearing, self-deprecating owner remains as bullish as ever on his perennially losing Tabbies.
That, after acknowledging yearly losses in the millions.
Still, Young candidly told The Spec over the phone from his Raleigh, N.C., headquarters that the past year was easily the most disappointing of any of the five mediocre campaigns.
"At least in the first four years I knew that I didn't know what I was doing. But now I do know what we're doing. So last season was easily the most disappointing.
"But we do have it fixed," Young said, adding he has complete confidence that for the first time he has the right blend of business experience with football acumen.
Young talks ruefully of his 2004 rookie season when the Ticats took the field with an owner, president, general manager and head coach all in their debut seasons.
"The biggest single mistake was I overvalued intelligence over experience," he said, adding in the high-tech computer software business, intelligence routinely trumps experience.
"In football, we have been playing under the same rules for 50 years, so experience counts for so much."
Young believed that 2008 was going to prove the Tiger-Cat turnaround season with president Scott Mitchell in his first full season, Charlie Taaffe in his second and with experienced talent recruiter Bob O'Billovich coming on board as the club's GM.
It wasn't to be.
"We would have been thrilled if we could have gone 9-9," Young said. They might have. But the Cats lost seven games in the fourth quarter by seven points or less.
Young is convinced that the Cats' talent level has finally caught up with the rest of the league, and with O'Billovich firmly in place as the key recruiter, the club will be more competitive in 2009.
But the Hamilton owner has been wrong on football matters far more than he has been right.
The late Ron Lancaster was promoted to general manager after finishing 1-17 as the Cats' head coach in 2003. That proved to be the wrong move. When Lancaster had to be moved out, Young moved Rob Katz into the GM's office. Katz lacked experience and was fleeced in the Jason Maas trade with Edmonton, a major fiasco that cost the Tiger-Cats a first overall draft selection. Katz was moved out to make room for Marcel Desjardins. But the new GM clashed with Mitchell and was soon sent packing.
Now Mitchell enters his second full season as president. But Mitchell's hands-on, often imperious style has seen him blow up at staff and media alike, and anger fans with such controversial moves as revised stadium pricing for longtime season ticket holders and television blackouts.
And O'Billovich enjoyed an up-and-down first season as GM. He made a mistake in backing the retention of Taaffe as head coach and clearly overestimated his talent level, particularly on the offensive and defensive lines. Also, the team clearly overpaid for unproductive running back Kenton Keith and free agent receiver Tony Miles.
On the plus side, O'Billovich engineered two key trades (for defensive back Chris Thompson and linebacker Markeith Knowlton), found a quarterback (Quinton Porter) and upgraded the receiving corps.
The Cats will enter the season with Marcel Bellefeuille, a career assistant, who finished the season with a 1-7 record as interim head coach after Taaffe was fired. Bellefeuille hopes to complete his first full season as a CFL head coach in 2009.
Despite the rocky half-decade, Young insists he hasn't had a minute of regret about taking over the bankrupt franchise in October 2003. "I don't regret it for a second. What gets me out of bed in the morning is the thought of learning new things. I have a low threshold for boredom. I'm learning a new field in sport and in business," Young said.
The Tiger-Cats are not for sale. Young gives no indication he plans on bailing any time soon.
"My theme is still the same. Once we have won several Grey Cups in a row I will sell the team," Young said, adding he wants to avoid a deathbed regret of having sold the team having lost so many contests without a championship.
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