Sep
Some Argos saying their play cost Stubler his job
Courtesy Toronto Star:
Argonauts centre Chad Folk learned about the team’s coaching change – Rich Stubler fired and Don Matthews hired –the way many local football fans did: On the radio while driving to work.
A 12-year Argo veteran, Folk played for Matthews during the newly hired coach’s first stint in Toronto in the mid-1990s. And while he’s glad for the reunion with a coach he admires, he and several teammates couldn’t shake the nagging feeling yesterday their sub-par performances had helped get Stubler fired.
“Maybe he was let go because we weren’t producing on the football field,” Folk said yesterday, shortly after the club announced Matthews’ hiring.
“I can’t speak for other people, but it comes down to us winning games. It’s up to us to make the plays and we haven’t been doing that on a consistent basis.”
Winnipeg Blue Bombers slotback Milt Stegall has another take on the hiring.
“I think that’s a PR move,” said Stegall. “Who knows if the NFL is going to come in here and take over, so they want to get a face in there, somebody who’s going to bring some enthusiasm and excitement back to Toronto.
“And (Matthews) can definitely do it.”
The Argos play host to Stegall and the Bombers on Friday night at the Rogers Centre.
Three hours before the Argos’ first practice under Matthews, several of Folk’s teammates looked back on Stubler’s short tenure as head coach with a mixture of regret, disappointment and confusion: Regret at their role in getting Stubler fired after seven years with the organization; disappointment his short tenure as head coach didn’t end on a happier note; and confusion at how Stubler, who ran one of the CFL’s top defences as a co-ordinator, couldn’t find similar success as a head coach.
