MILLER SPEAKS OUT ON SIGNINGS

By Rob Vanstone 02-09-2009 COMMENTS(0) Rider Rumblings

Roughriders head coach Ken Miller met the media on Monday to discuss the re-signing of offensive lineman Gene Makowsky. The discussion also extended to the Eric Tillman, the prospective free agents and the coaching staff. Anyway, here goes . . .

You’ve been away for a while. Did the events of last week scare you off as far as coming back? “I’m not scared. I’m just looking forward to the challenges we have in front of us right now.’’You’ve always had a bit of a say as far as getting players. Has your job changed in the past week?

“I have a little bit more responsibility. I have to draw on a few more resources. As we’ve gone through in the past, Eric has kept me in the loop as far as what was going on from a personnel point of view. I’m just a little bit more in the loop right now.’’Who closes the deal?

How do you finish a deal without your GM? “When it comes time to put a signature on the bottom on the dotted line, that will be a result of communication between people who I regard highly — Eric being one of those people — and we’ll make a decision. When it comes time for a final decision, I’ll have to make that.’’Can you still draw on Eric’s experience and pick up the phone and talk to him about anything? Is he still in the loop as far as anything you need to get answered?

“When Jim addressed you a week or so ago, he suggested that we would use Eric as a resource and that’s certainly how I plan to move forward.’’How has this changed your day-to-day responsibilities? “My days fill up much more quickly right now than they did previously with things that are related to personnel.’’With whom are you in the closest consultation in order to deal with the free-agency or whatever other matters may come along that Eric would normally handle? “Eric is a resource and certainly because of his experience, Tony Playter is a resource. Cheryl (McLean-Keil) is a resource. So we have resources here.

The other thing that I plan to do as we move forward is incorporate the coaches, particularly the co-ordinators, in the loop and keep them informed and get their information, too.

’’Was it your name on Geno’s contract and how important was it to get that done? “It was really important for me to get Gene Makowsky signed. He’s so important to our football team and he’s a great player. He represents our club well and he’s a local player. I felt it was really important to get him signed as quickly as possible.

’’Was there any worry that he would look elsewhere because he has been here so long? “I think sometimes that we have a tendency to take our local players for granted and I don’t want to do that. Gene Makowsky is important to our club and he’s important to me and I wanted to get him signed.

’’How soon after the free-agent period begins do you think that everything will fall into place among your linebackers? “We’re working on the linebacker situation as we speak. We’ll just have to evaluate as we move forward to see how we’re able to sign the players who we have available from our team to sign. And then when we get through that, we’ll have to evaluate with the coaching staff and see who else is available to fill any gaps that may occur as a result of that.

’’How about the coaching staff? Are you close to finalizing any of that? “Today we announced that we’ve hired Nelson Martin to be our defensive secondary coach. We’re really happy to have him. He worked with coach Etcheverry in Ottawa and we think very highly of him. He’s a high-energy guy and he’s enthusiastic and knowledgeable, so he’ll be a tremendous addition. In the next couple of weeks — up to three weeks — we should have an announcement on our offensive-line coach position.

We’re going to have a coach who is going to coach our running backs, who is different from Jamie Barresi. We’re going to move Jamie to be the quarterbacks coach. The other coach beyond that who we’re still looking around and discussing and interviewing for is a defensive line position.

’’What’s Jamie’s experience with quarterbacks? “He has an extensive, extensive resume when it comes to quarterbacks. He has coached quarterbacks for the better part of 20 years at major college and professional levels, so he is well-prepared to take over that responsibility.

’’Kavis Reed’s name had come up as a candidate for defensive backs coach. Was he in the mix before Nelson was appointed? “We have talked with Kavis and certainly Kavis is a bright, articulate person. His name could come up in another role.

’’Where are you with the linebackers? “With Sean Lucas, we’ve had substantive discussions with him over the last couple of weeks and we should have a positive announcement to make on him in the next week to 10 days. With Mo Lloyd, I was supposed to talk with him today, but so far I haven’t been able to get him on the telephone. I’m anxious to talk with him soon.

’’What about Anton McKenzie? “This is something that I’m a little less familiar with than the other two, but I understand that we made Anton an offer that he verbally accepted. Then when he received the paperwork, he rejected it. That’s something that I have to follow up and get more information on.

’’With the role that you’re taking on, you’d probably rather not do it under these circumstances. Nevertheless, you’ve got it. Is it daunting? Challenging? Exciting? Is there any particular adjective that goes along with this opportunity and how suddenly it came for you? Have you been prepared for this? “The thing that I’ve had the coaching staff do and I’ve talked to the players about is it’s important for those of us who are involved in football to keep the main thing the main thing. The main thing for us to field a football team that is not just competitive, but is an excellent football team, so that’s what we’re going to do. Regardless of the distractions that we’re swirled around in here, our main focus is to get players on the field and then when we get them on the field, to coach them the very best that we possibly can and to win a Grey Cup.

’’How much fun are you having trying to deal with the salary cap and the math that goes around it? “Math was one of my better subjects in school, so I’m doing OK with that.

’’With the distractions that you alluded to, is it difficult to do the job with some of these things swirling? “From a player perspective and from a coaches’ perspective last year, regardless of what distractions we had last year, we showed that we had a tremendous ability to put those things aside and stay focused on the things that needed to be focused on. This may be a little higher-profile kind of a distraction, but certainly we’re going to approach it the same way.

’’Are you concerned that some of the uncertainty with Eric may impact upon the negotiations with the free agents? “I’m not concerned with that because the people who I’ve talked with have been very positive. When I’ve contacted players, they’ve been very positive. I’ve had players call me and say, ‘Coach, let’s get on with the negotiations.’ To carry that on just a bit farther, when it comes to other free agents, our players communicate with other players. Our players, by and large, are very positive so I expect that message to be conveyed across the league to other players. I expect to have a positive response from other players as well.

’’Without Eric in an official capacity, has that affected your scouting south of the border at all? “Joe Womack has really been Eric’s right-hand man in that regard and we’ll continue to rely on Joe and his expertise with those people who are south of the border.’’Have any decisions been made as far as players who will not be back? “We’re making those decisions as we speak. I need to talk to the coaches a little bit further about what we’re going to do there. When we make those decisions, we’ll get that information out to you.

’’Would you like to comment on the work Norm Fong has done for this organization for 30 years? “I’ve really only known Norm for the last couple of years, but what a tremendous person and a tremendous leader. For him to be off on medical disability now, it’s a changing of the guard. We feel like we’re fortunate to have a young, enthusiastic person in Gordie Gilroy to come in and take over that position with a lot of enthusiasm. I’m really optimistic that Gordie will do a great job.’’