Ted Goveia has fond childhood memories of watching the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from the stands at old Ivor Wynne Stadium. Introduced as the team’s new general manager on Friday, he is intimately aware that the franchise’s last championship was nearly that long ago.
“I’m not really one to talk about Grey Cups, even when I win them to be honest with you,” Goveia said about the Ticats holding the longest current championship drought in the CFL. “I don’t spend a lot of time celebrating Grey Cups — maybe a couple of days. I’m more focused on the process that’ll lead to the outcome. That’s where I really spend my energy. I think the Grey Cup is the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people and it’s decisions that we made in the back room — the thousands of small decisions every day — that get you there. So I’m more focused on that.”
“But I will tell you this — I’m not numb to the situation. This year was the first time I looked up and saw 1999 as the last banner (at Tim Hortons Field). You know what the goal is? It’s always to win the last game. That’s the goal.”
It’s no secret that Tiger-Cat fans are growing more weary and impatient as each year passes without a championship. Following a 7-11 season in 2024, the Ticats’ Grey Cup drought has stretched to 25 years, but Goveia has plenty of experience busting those types of streaks.
The Burlington, Ont. native spent the last decade with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in various roles, most recently as the senior assistant general manager and player personnel director. He was an integral part of helping the Bombers end a 29-year Grey Cup drought in 2019, winning again in 2021 and producing a stretch in which the Bombers made five consecutive championship games.
“They hadn’t won a Grey Cup in 29 years. When I got there, there wasn’t a scout card, there wasn’t a database, there was no manual to do it. We carved that out. (Head coach Mike O’Shea) would make fun of me because I had a book,” Goveia said of the process of turning the Bombers into a winner.
“It was a book that I was building on how we did things. I would reevaluate our work, we’d go over the autopsy, without blame, just to learn from it. So to create that environment and bring it here, I’ve got a pretty good blueprint.”
It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows during Goveia’s time in Winnipeg. The club missed the playoffs in his first two seasons, leading to serious questions about the job security of everyone in the organization. Goveia believes those tough times provided a learning experience that he can apply in his new role.
“(Team president) Wade Miller was a guy that probably was getting more phone calls to give us a bus ticket out of town after the first two seasons. We didn’t make the playoffs,” Goveia said. “I learned that sticking to it and allowing people to finish the job is important. None of that would have happened if he had listened to the fans or read the newspapers. I appreciated that continuity and consistency. I learned the importance of process.”
With his blueprint tried and tested elsewhere, Goveia relishes the chance to help re-create that special environment within the Tiger-Cats organization. He acknowledges that won’t come without difficult decisions and roster change, but the opportunity to build his hometown team into a winner is a dream come true.
“I feel a tremendous responsibility to the players in the locker room — the right players, the leaders — to bring in good pieces. That’s key,” Goveia said. “To do it at home just allows me to do things that I really want to do. Build a football team. I want to bring that Grey Cup back to the tailgate lot the following year.”
Adding to the allure of the job is the previous relationships he has built with head coach Scott Milanovich and president of football operations Orlondo Steinauer. The trio’s time together dates back to the mid-2000s when Goveia spent time as a guest coach with the Toronto Argonauts in training camp and leaned on one of the team’s veteran defensive backs to teach him Rich Stubler’s complex match coverage system.
“I would try to spend so much time with Rich, but he’d dummy it right down so that I really didn’t get the secret formula. (Orlondo Steinauer) was the guy that gave me the secret formula,” Goveia recalled. “I could tell right away, he led the group. We’d get on the board, back and forth. He was playing, I was coaching and he took the time to do that. I never forgot it.”
Goveia became a full-time member of the staff in 2010 and served in multiple roles, including running backs coach, Canadian scouting director, and player personnel director. With Steinauer as the secondary coach and Milanovich as the head coach, the Argonauts won the 2012 Grey Cup.
While it is often viewed as awkward when a general manager is hired with a head coach already in place, Goveia feels very differently about the situation he is inheriting in Hamilton.
“Scott Milanovich is one of the reasons I’m here. People ask me about if it’s an arranged marriage or anything else — listen, I worked with that guy. I was the background guy, but I pay attention,” he explained. “Scott’s a leader. He’s competitive and what he was able to do with the quarterbacks, extending Ricky Ray’s career and putting good game plans together, I think he’s a higher-level thinker in our league. I’m excited to provide him some more pieces to get it done.”
One thing Goveia will need to check off his to-do list is the quarterback position. Bo Levi Mitchell was the East nominee for Most Outstanding Player after he threw for over 5,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, but has made it clear that he wants a new contract to continue playing.
“He’s one of the reasons I came here. I’ve seen him win and do some amazing things and I saw him work through it,” Goveia said of Mitchell. “Scott’s offence is not easy. Bo was trained to read things a certain way and I’ve coached in Scott’s offence, I found it difficult. Bo’s probably a lot smarter than me and he probably found it easier, but for him to change his mindset of working with Dave Dickenson, who’s also really good but the reads are different, the playbook’s different — it can take you a while to get back on track.”
The new GM has already made two attempts to contact his QB since being hired, both of which were waylaid by the avalanche of congratulatory calls and texts he was receiving. He says reaching out to the veteran passer will be his first order of business, with a big part of the sales pitch revolving around breaking the drought.
“It’s one thing to win Grey Cups. I’ve been in six of them, I’ve won three of them, and they’re all special. But there’s nothing more special than doing it in a challenging environment where they’re hungry for that. That first win, that first Grey Cup that you can bring to a new organization is unbelievable. That’s probably the conversation,” Goveia said.
“He’s won a lot too, but I think collectively we got a chance to do something amazing over the next little while.”
