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Ed Hervey was an exceptional head of football operations and an equally excellent general manager of the Edmonton Eskimos. So why in the world was he fired Friday?
Hervey thought he was all nine members of the board of governors, the president, the CEO, the director of marketing, public relations and media relations and apparently wanted to be compensated as such. As good as he was as vice-president of football ops and GM, Hervey was equally inept at all the other jobs, especially the one involving media relations.
Hervey found out there was a line to how far he could go bullying his bosses Friday. ...
“Two major reasons drove this decision,” said Rhodes. “First, both parties could not agree to contact extension terms. Secondly, there are differences in philosophy over the way we do business. During the course of recent negotiations for a possible contract extension, it became clear that we would be unable to meet Ed’s expectations.”
The problem with Hervey has been the problem with much of the league these last four years or so. Football ops has been running the show. Ed Hervey was running Len Rhodes’ show and even the show of board chairman John Moquin and the other eight governors.
If the Eskimos do their homework in hiring Hervey’s successor, thanks to the job Hervey did, his replacement will be way ahead of the game. The next general manager after U.S. scout Paul Jones takes the team through the draft and tryout camps as interim GM, will move into an excellent situation if he’s smart enough to not reinvent the wheel.
And the next GM has a very good map of where not to go and what not to do.
Hervey, who almost entirely refused to do media availabilities other than at the mid-season mark of the schedule, was a complete contrast to the likes of Norm Kimball and Hugh Campbell, who were always available. Kimball went so far as to tell your correspondent to call him at 4 a.m. if a breaking story needed team reaction.