Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

Charlie Taaffe admitted there were times when he wondered whether he would be a one-season wonder in Steeltown.

After all, a 3-15 record is not the stuff sparkling job reference letters make.

But new GM Bob O’Billovich looked beyond the Ticat record and, after meeting with Taaffe four times over the past week, decided he wanted him back on the sidelines for 2008.

“Some people may have thought that I was taking too long to make that decision with Charlie being right here, but one of the reasons I took the time that I did was I didn’t really know Charlie that well as a person and hadn’t had a lot of contact with him in my professional experience,” the GM explained.

O’Billovich, who didn’t interview other candidates, said the more he met with Taaffe the less he became concerned about bringing in another candidate.

The new GM was struck by something else besides the 3-15 record. The club was too young, too inexperienced and too talent-challenged in some areas, but it never quit as evidenced in a 21-19 win over Edmonton in the final contest of the Canadian Football League season.

“The Ticats did play hard. That’s an indication that there is something there between the coaches and the players.”

Taaffe, 57, who signed a three-year contact only 12 months ago, said he was thrilled to be retained.

“In 35 years of coaching this is the first time I’ve been hired for the same job twice in the same year,” he quipped.

But, he admits, he had concerns about whether he would get the chance to finish the job here.

“I’ve been in this business long enough and I know the deal. Obviously, it all evolves around winning. At the end of the day when you only win three games, you don’t have a whole lot to stand on. But I have confidence in myself. I’ve had success previously. I know what it takes to win. Those are the things we’re going to focus on.”

His first order of business will be to hire a defensive and offensive co-ordinator with CFL experience. Those hires are expected before Christmas. While Taaffe hopes to retain some of his existing coaching staff, the two co-ordinators will be tapped for input into who stays or goes.

Taaffe also said it is imperative that the club emerge from training camp with the team that will largely remain in place for the entire season.

“We had a number of players playing for us that weren’t a part of training camp. We kind of acquired them over the course of the season. When that happens there is no continuity. The majority of our team, I think it is paramount, that they be with us from the beginning of training camp.”

The head coach says the club was hurt by a high number of first-year players, inexperience and instability at quarterback. They started four different signal-callers over the course of the season.

“When you put it all together, 3-15 is obviously the result. This time we have to get it right and we will.”

Obie rejected any notion that Taaffe, who started ‘07 with a 0-6 record before breaking into the win column, would be on a short leash heading into 2008.

“I consider that to be a negative comment. And I’m not a negative guy. I don’t even want to think about the negatives. All I’m concerned about is going into the season and taking each game one at a time. Those good football teams we had in B.C., we had a couple of seasons where we started out 1-3 or 1-2 and we ended up with 12 or 13 or 14 wins on the season.”

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Both Obie and Taaffe had some interesting observations about the football squad.

This is Obie’s take on the receivers and defensive backs.

“I think it is obvious to everybody that this football team, when you look at the talent level, like the defensive backs and receivers, is lacking a lot. So we have a big job to do there.”

Taaffe’s take on his receivers.

“We released 17 receivers from the start of training camp and not one of them got signed by another team.”

The Tiger-Cats hit the century mark on penalty yardage in 11 contests last season.

The GM had this to say on the subject.

“I’ve never seen a championship team that didn’t have team discipline. There is no room for stupidity. We’re not going to play with stupid players.”

Taaffe fined and penalized players for penalties by running the team in practice.

“I have a fine system in place for all the major penalties and we made quite a bit of money this year.”

The head coach then added team discipline was a problem long before he took the helm.

“I knew it was an issue that we had to address, Obviously, we didn’t get it resolved well enough this year.”