Courtesy The Calgary Herald:
It’s quite likely that by the time you read this in the print edition of the Herald, John Hufnagel and George Cortez will have already put in an hour or two of work today.

The new Calgary Stampeders’ head coach and general manager, and the man he considered a top priority to retain on his coaching staff, have a history of early mornings.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about turning the lights on in the morning,” said a laughing Hufnagel on Monday following the official announcement of his appointment. “George is always already there.”

Cortez will be the top assistant to Hufnagel next season; his official title will be associate head coach, offensive co-ordinator and quarterbacks coach. In essence, those are the same responsibilities he had last season under Tom Higgins when he mentored Henry Burris to an MVP-type season.

Hufnagel and Cortez worked together under Wally Buono in Calgary in the early 1990s.

“George and I worked very well together when I was in Calgary,” said Hufnagel. “I have a lot of respect for him. I’m thrilled; he’s an excellent football coach, very knowledgeable, very specific, and I think you saw that in Henry’s play this year.”

Cortez has similar admiration for his new boss.

“One of the hardest things in coaching is for everybody to be on the same page because there is a lot of grey area when you talk about stuff,” he said. “But I can truly say that I think we practised three years worth of games, and not one time did we come off the field and say, ‘Hey, I thought we were doing this a different way.’ That’s a heck of an accomplishment, and it’s one of the goals I always shoot for now.”

As for the rest of the coaching staff, Hufnagel will have meetings with them over the next few days before making a decision.

“We’ll all meet with John (today) and talk about things he wants to talk about as individual coaches,” said defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke, who took over from Denny Creehan in mid-season. “I don’t know if he has people in mind for positions already or whether it’s wide open. But hopefully we find something out (today).”

Also sticking around for the Stamps will be Jim Barker, in the role of director of player personnel and vice-president of football operations.

“I have loyalty to this ownership group and trust in them, and I know that from the day I got here,” said Barker, who’ll be in charge of negotiating contracts and scouting. “They’ve done nothing but try to make this organization the very best in the league. That’s the kind of organization I want to be a part of.

“Anybody that they believe is the right guy to lead this organization, I completely have total trust that they’re correct.”

Barker, a football junkie from way back, has never worked with Hufnagel but said his reputation in the football fraternity is glowing.

“I know of him from other people I’ve met, and I have ton of respect for what he’s done in our profession,” said Barker. “He’s as hard a worker as you’re going to find, very meticulous, very no-nonsense, get-it-done — the type of guy you want to work for.”