Toronto Argonauts Hitting the Reset Button with Popp and Trestman
The Toronto Argonauts begin a new era, announcing Jim Popp as the new general manager and Marc Trestman as the new head coach.
After a 5-13 season the Toronto Argonauts have hit the reset button. Granted it would have been nice to add Jim Popp and Marc Trestman earlier, but the wait should be worth it. The Argos have brought together a duo that have a strong history together including three Grey Cup appearances, winning two in 2009 and 2010.
Popp has four Grey Cups to his resume and was the GM of the Montreal Alouettes from 1996 to 2016. During his time in Montreal they finished in first place 10 times, won the East Division Championship eight times and won three Grey Cups. He is the most experienced GM that the Argos could find after relieving Jim Barker of his duties at the end of January.
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In five seasons as head coach of the Alouettes, Trestman led them to four divisional titles and made the playoffs every season. He won CFL head coach of the year in 2009 and made the move to the NFL to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears and offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens.
Getting Trestman to come back to the CFL was not an easy task for the Argos and it probably would not have happened without Popp being the GM. Their first order of business will be to put a new coaching staff together so that they can continue to put together a competitive team on the field. The Argos did miss out on quality free agents and will have to find other ways to make improvements to the roster, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
The biggest news to come out of the press conference was Trestman stating that Rick Ray will be the starting quarterback to start the season.
“He will come in here as our starting quarterback,” Trestman said during the introductory press conference on Tuesday at BMO Field. “There will be no competition.”
The decision to name Ray the starting quarterback should not come as a surprise given Trestman’s work with Anthony Calvillo in Montreal.
Ray missed time last season with injuries but still put up respectable numbers, which included 222 pass completions on 298 attempts for 2397 yards, 15 TDs and six interceptions. What will help Ray is to have better protection and a strong running game, which Trestman will likely make his focus for this season. Here’s what Trestman had to say when speaking to CFL.ca.
"“We’ve had some chats and some discussions and I talked to Ricky and I want him to really think about whether he can come back and lead our football team. I think he can and I want him to come back here and be our starting quarterback. I’ve talked to the other quarterbacks as well. But the mindset would be, if Ricky could be our quarterback, we’ll start that way. He and I will decide, along with Jim along the way, whether he’s ready to put one year in and I’m excited about coaching him.”"
What complicates the situation is the fact that the Argos traded for Drew Willy halfway through the 2016 season and gave up a substantial amount to acquire him. It looks like for now Willy will have to wait and see about his future and try to make a strong case to be in the plans once Ray decides he can no longer play.
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The new front office certainly has their work cut out for them, but the Argos may have finally hit a home run. Whether it translates to success on the field and in the stands will have to wait until the summer.