Supposed Rift is Much Ado About Nothing

What was looking like a slow news day turned out to be quite newsworthy when player agent Darren Gill went on the radio in Montreal and pretty much blasted the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Gill said that there are some problems in the Hamilton lockr room between head coach George Cortez and his players, as well as between Cortez and defensive coordinator Casey Creehan.

The always reliable Drew Edwards transcribed Gill's comments:

“It's an amazing situation. Hamilton is experiencing some early struggles. In the off-season there was a lot of talk about the head coaching moves that happened around the league. Obviously, so far in Saskatchewan it's worked out. In Hamilton thus far it hasn't.

"I'm not going to tell you that there's major problems in that locker room but they are certainly starting. And they started before Henry Burris got a little tour on the bench. They started basically in week one. George Cortez is not known as a player's coach and that's been known from day one. He's not brought the veterans on his side and it's made it very difficult for him to try and get that team on the right page.

"In fact, there's been some pretty well known confrontations in that team's locker room between George Cortez and defensive coordinator Casey Creehan. They're not on the same page. The quarterback and the coach aren't on the same page. I'm not telling you this team is in trouble but there's certainly some early signs that they are in trouble.”

So according to Gill, Cortez is not a players coach, and is not on the same page as his defensive coordinator and quarterback.

And it all means exactly bupkis.

Are there problems in Hamilton's locker room? I have no idea. But the reason this is even a news item is because the team is 0-2. Remember when people were wondering if Wally Buono should be replaced after the Lions started 0-5 last year? Those same people looked pretty silly when last season ended.

When a team is losing, questions get raised and problems arise. When a team wins, everything is great. So once the Ti-Cats start winning – and believe me, they will start winning very soon – all of these supposed problems will mysteriously disappear. Winning cures everything and this situation will be no different. The alleged problems in Hamilton's locker room are nothing a few wins won't correct.