It seems Ken Miller is spending a lot of time these days explaining himself and the 2008 CFL season is still over a month away.
The new head coach of the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders, Miller has strolled under the microscope in Riderville during heady days but has a tough act to follow.
Ken Miller
The Riders come into training camp and this season having won their first Grey Cup since 1989, recorded the most wins (12) since 1970 and having pocketed a record profit of $1.7 million.
But the 66-year-old Miller is replacing Kent Austin, who left the head coach position and headed south to his alma mater, the University of Mississippi, just two months after the Grey Cup victory.
To say Austin was wildly popular in Saskatchewan would be a mammoth understatement. Roughriders GM Eric Tillman has called him "a rock star" in published reports. Miller may have been just another guy on the sidelines if comparing community profiles, but he was the Riders' offensive coordinator and reportedly called more than 95 per cent of the plays.
Miller is not Austin, doesn't lead like Austin and, as he spoke with media across Canada during the third CFL 2008 State of the Franchise conference calls, said he's got his own way.
"I bring a mindset of calmness and quiet and quiet resoluteness," Miller said. "I think that I'm accountable and will hold players accountable in calm, quiet sort of a way. As far as defending the Grey Cup, it was a great thing that we won the Grey Cup. One of the things we need to do is change our mindset from what we've done in the past and put a great focus on what we need to do currently in order to be successful right now. Put our focus on the season coming up."
But much of the pressure to build a second straight Grey Cup challenger falls on the Tillman's shoulders as he's been charged the with task of bringing in players who can answer that call.
"In spite of the fact that we won the Grey Cup, there was no illusion within our building that we were the best team in the Canadian Football League in terms of individual talent," Tillman said candidly.
"There was no question, in our view that B.C. was the most talented team in the league and Calgary was a very talented team, so you could make an argument that we weren't even in the top two in our division, athletically.
"I think we were a group of unselfish guys, who were well-coached, who believed in one another and we found a way to win because of the collective effort, not individual agendas. But we knew that we had to get better on both sides of the ball and we've tried to do that."
Of course, the Marcus Crandell question came up again. Does the 33-year-old quarterback have the leadership, skills set and consistency to lead the Riders offence? Especially now that the iconic Austin will no longer be around to impart words of wisdom?
Miller got in front of that one, too.
"We want Marcus to think about the things he did when he won the Grey Cup with Calgary (2001) and to be able to build on those experiences where he's been really successful in the past," Miller said. "We think he reads the field really well and has an extremely quick release and he has a really good knowledge of our offence."
Riders' president and CEO Jim Hopson said the team has sold "approaching 22,000 season tickets" and that Roughriders merchandise is selling "through the roof."
So you want to know who the Roughriders are going to be this season? Let Tillman tell you.
"We expect to be younger, more athletic, a lot of no-names. And a lot of people I know are going to write us off just like they did last year," Tillman said.
ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
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