Selasa, 23 November 2021

JONES: Edmonton Elks blow it up, fire CEO, general manager and head coach - Edmonton Sun

Of course, I’m going to totally and wholeheartedly agree with what the Nervous Nine did Monday. I wrote, a month ago, that it was exactly what they should do

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The execution was excellent. And it was in triplicate.

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President & CEO Chris Presson. Fired.

General manager Brock Sunderland. Canned.

Head coach Jaimie Elizondo. Gonzo Elizondo.

It was the best performance of the season at Commonwealth Stadium, where the Edmonton Elks became the first in EE history to lose every home game.

Of course, I’m going to totally and wholeheartedly agree with what the Nervous Nine did Monday. I wrote, a month ago, that it was exactly what they should do.

This was the top of that column:

“Match. Gasoline. Boom. Blow it up. Top to bottom.

“In the entire history of EE football, it’s never been this bad before — even if you go back to 1963 and that Sad Sack two-win squad.

“The time has come to declare Edmonton to now officially having become the Late Great flagship franchise of the Canadian Football League. And it is time for the Nervous Nine board of directors of the community-owned club headed by Ian Murray and including: Tom Richards, Lindsay Dodd, Brent Hesje, Craig Corbett, Kara Flynn, Mike Bacchus, Kevin Parkes and Darryl Boessenkool to adopt a scorched-earth policy.”

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Well, they scorched it, all right. They blew it up real good.

Murray didn’t just do the right things, he said the right things. There was an honesty involving so much more than the pathetic performance of the team on the field but the real problem — so many disconnect decisions made that didn’t have to happen.

“We got to the point of unprecedented irritation with the fan base,” was how Murray phrased it at one point.

“Let’s be clear. We’ll be giving the new CEO and the new GM marching orders to be sure that they are fully connected in the community going forward. Community engagement issues are important,” Murray said in beginning to answer several very direct questions I asked following his opening statement.

“We had a lot of customer complaints and a lot of negative stuff that the board is very concerned about.”

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Edmonton Elks board chair Ian Murray, left, and interim chief operating officer Allan Watt speak at a press conference on the firing of president and CEO Chris Presson, general manager and vice-president of football operations Brock Sunderland and head coach Jaime Elizondo on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, in Edmonton.
Edmonton Elks board chair Ian Murray, left, and interim chief operating officer Allan Watt speak at a press conference on the firing of president and CEO Chris Presson, general manager and vice-president of football operations Brock Sunderland and head coach Jaime Elizondo on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, in Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam /Postmedia

Murray, in response to one of my questions, said he thinks it is important to understand this isn’t a 2021 season thing alone.

“A lot of this disengagement is a decade or so old. It’s been a gradual issue. We’re not in the schools like we were in the old days. We’re not engaging with the multicultural community, our demographics are brutal — they’re disproportionately old, male and white, which isn’t representative of our community. The problem isn’t recent in it’s structural nature. In the near term, we just did a bunch of stuff that antagonized our core fans.

“We have a short-term problem to get our existing fans back. They are really upset with us. And we have a longer-term problem to grow the fan base so that it is more representative of the community.”

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In his opening statement, Murray said he wanted to speak to the fans.

“We had several challenges, including poor performance on the field, the COVID outbreak on the team and other issues related to the introduction of the COVID mandate and the electronic ticketing. And we did have customer-service difficulties.

“Starting essentially immediately, the club will be beginning a proactive customer engagement program with the fans and our stakeholders. We want to learn about their experiences and build on their views on and off the field,” he said of surveys, focus groups and town-hall meetings, as well as other outreaches and approaches.

“We want to hear all of the complaints and we want to hear suggestions. This includes suggestions to improve our game day experience.”

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The idea is to provide the incoming CEO with a complete picture of the problems he’ll have to cure.

“We know we have to get our existing fans re-energized and at the same time grow our fan base and improve our demographics. To this end, we’ll engage in more community-outreach programs, including schools.”

Presson was an American who had no way to relate to the community-owned concept and the history of special connections between the fans and organization.

The local headhunter firm has agreed to donate their services to find an individual to be the new CEO and you can bet they’ll be looking for someone who will have a connection to the community that absolutely ‘gets it’.

The new president and CEO, who won’t likely be announced until late January, while Allan Watt acts as the interim, won’t be hiring the new GM. That will be done on the recommendations of consultant Wally Buono, an absolutely inspired choice.

“We are pleased that Wally has set aside his traditional competitive feelings against Edmonton to help us with this important task. I can tell with talking to Wally already that we will find the general manager we need to lead this team back to excellence,” Murray said of the retired coach and GM legend.

After a season that ended with total apathy, the Elks are going to be suddenly of interest again.

E-mail: tjones@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @byterryjones

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2021-11-23 02:08:34Z
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