A Twitter comment by Arash Madani (former Renegades media relations man) reminded me of a stepping stone in the team's formation which I'd overlooked. In my own defense, it was a quiet one and very lightly reported.
Madani mentioned that Rick Worman has "virtually secured" a scouting type of position with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Worman's name was familiar because in April of last year, the Redblacks "announced" the hiring of Rick Worman as a scout. I quote "announced" because it was more of a mention in a radio interview. Shortly thereafter, the Ottawa Sun had an article about it. Here's a portion of that:
...Former CFL QB, coach and scout Rick Worman has been working for the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group since mid-March, scouting the U.S. college football scene.The comment section to that article includes a nice endorsement from former Ottawa Rough Rider Ken Evraire (not to mention a little bit of prophecy) :
And while that initially may sound odd, the Ottawa CFL team will be allowed to participate in next year's Canadian college draft -- but will only be able to select fourth-year Canadians who have been redshirted and who have used up only three years of eligibility...
"Who's going to be available with the ninth or 18th pick in the draft? I don't know. But of the 17, four or five have the potential to be starters," said Worman, 48, who quarterbacked in Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton and Saskatchewan and also spent time in a variety of coaching positions.
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind adventure for Worman -- lots of time in airports and in rental cars.
"I've been from Virginia to Florida to Alabama to North Dakota to Indiana to Michigan to Utah to Oregon. I was in 10 states in 10 days. It was crazy. It seems like I've been everywhere," said Worman, who spent last season as running backs coach in Hamilton.
With a mutual CFL connection, Worman and OSEG's Jeff Hunt started talking in January.
"We couldn't let this opportunity pass," said Hunt. "We've always believed time is an asset and this is a start."
"I wasn't going back to Hamilton with the coaching change, so this really intrigued me," said Worman. "I know a lot about the league, I was part of it for 15 years. The CFL is ingrained in my blood.
"Jeff's motivation was to hit the ground running. It wasn't like I get my jollies out of travel, but they wanted me to put together a plan of attack. This is really intriguing, starting this thing from ground zero. I was part of an expansion team in Fresno (Arena Football League), and we started with Ricky Ray as our quarterback."
It was important for the Ottawa CFL group to get some eyes watching the U.S. college spring camps, with about a six-week window to do it.
"Some of these guys are good players at big schools in a backup capacity," said Worman. "So it's hard to evaluate a guy if you don't have video. In spring camp, every guy gets time on the field. It's a big deal. There were 40,000 people at the game in Oregon. This gives me a chance to watch them and list them one to 17."
Rick is a football guy through and through. Could not have picked a better guy for the job. If the team is looking for a Canadian scout may I suggest Miles Gorrell.Worman quietly went about his business, then in March of this year, I found out that he had been "let go" by the RedBlacks. Again, it was in a Twitter post and not a news article as such. This time it was by AJ Akubec from what is now TSN1200 radio.
I question the use of the term "let go". It implies a firing. Due to the timing between the mention of Worman's involvement with the club and his departure time, I suspect that it's simply a matter of Worman's contract running out and not being renewed. Marcel Desjardins was hired as General Manager two months earlier and, understandably, would have preferred to name his own staff.
Be that as it may, the foundation-building for this franchise in fact began with Worman. I doubt that down the road he will get credit for it, so for what incredibly little it's worth, I want to include it here.
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