Opinion: present day must outweigh glory days in determining Jim Popp’s future with Ottawa Redblacks

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While Jim Popp is evaluating the Ottawa Redblacks’ players for next season, others should be busy assessing him.

The 61-year-old was hired by the winless franchise as a senior football advisor, filling the void left by the firing of vice president of football operations Shawn Burke. For now, his position is temporary, lasting only until the end of this year. However, there is reason to suspect that it might evolve into something more permanent.

Popp clearly has the ear of Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) CEO Mark Goudie and will have sway in determining the permanent leadership structure of the team’s football operations department going forward. That includes not only the player personnel staff supporting head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie, but also the team president position recently vacated by Adrian Sciarra. By his own admission, Popp ascending to that role is very much on the table.

“It could be. This is something we’re looking at. That’s why I was excited about coming up here,” he told TSN 1200 shortly after he was hired. “We agreed that we’ll work here in the fall. I have a great relationship with them. Either way, we’re going to get this figured out.”

The list of accolades on Popp’s resume certainly merits his consideration. After all, this is the former general manager of the legendary Baltimore Stallions and the one-time architect of the Montreal Alouettes’ dynasty; a five-time Grey Cup champion responsible for assembling some of the greatest teams in CFL history. The question that needs to be asked is whether Popp, after seven years away from Canada, is still the right man for a rebuild.

Retreads are far from a rarity in the CFL at any level of an organization. Head coaches like John Hufnagel, Marc Trestman, Chris Jones, Kent Austin, and Scott Milanovich all departed for a time and returned, with varying levels of success. Recognizable executives like Eric Tillman, Tom Higgins, Jim Barker, Ed Hervey, and Danny Maciocia each spent time in the wilderness, with mixed results upon their returns. At a presidential level, Bob Ackles is still held in reverence for his triumphant return to B.C. after 16 years apart.

However, Popp falls into an awkward category with few recent precedents. When most CFL lifers are brought back in from the cold, they’ve been gone only a year or two, with their finger still on the pulse of the league. The ones for whom the hiatus was longer typically left at or near the peak of their success, resulting in more lucrative opportunities in the NFL or NCAA.

Neither of those describe the situation of the man tasked with saving the Redblacks. Popp last held CFL employment in 2019 and was fired as general manager of the Toronto Argonauts after a 2-12 start that year. He won a Grey Cup with the team in 2017, but that came after a 9-9 finish. A child born during his last winning season as an executive in 2012 would currently be enrolled in eighth grade.

Compare that to Burke, who was deemed not good enough after posting a 21-60-1 record and making the playoffs just once over five seasons with the Redblacks. In his last five CFL campaigns, Popp went 28-58 and reached postseason play just once, albeit as part of a championship run. Set aside the ancient history, and those resumes look disturbingly similar.

Of course, Popp hasn’t just been making a dent in his couch since suffering that career setback. He coached at Alabama State and was a staffer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, before becoming the vice president of player personnel and director of player administration with the United Football League. It is that last title which might provide the most immediate value to Ottawa, as scouting for a league with centralized contracts has given him a broad understanding of the available talent.

That has already had a meaningful impact on the Redblacks roster, as they cycle new players into the lineup down the stretch like an extended preseason. Several ex-UFL players have made their first auditions in the past few games, and more are sure to follow in the coming months. Ottawa has even added the reigning UFL MVP, Jack Plummer, to their negotiation list, providing an intriguing future option at quarterback — if the team can’t pry Chad Kelly away from Toronto, that is.

Still, there is more to managing a CFL franchise than just understanding who was good in spring football last year. The three-down league has radically changed since the last time Popp had any power or influence. The faces are new, and some are unfamiliar. Roster construction has been tweaked, and the financials have shifted dramatically. You can always teach an old dog new tricks, but they have to first be aware that they haven’t mastered begging for biscuits.

The Redblacks are banking on a certain kind of stabilizing experience by bringing in Popp right now. There is value in that without question, but even the greatest managers have best-before dates. If the organization elects to elevate or entrench the Elkin, N.C., native after his consultancy, it needs to be with a full, proven confidence that he’s adapted to the CFL’s modern era, not simply based on respect for his past.

Ottawa football history provides troubling examples of the mistakes that can be made otherwise. In 1996, the Rough Riders brought in 68-year-old Leo Cahill to be their general manager, hoping the one-time Coach of the Year could add some sizzle eight years removed from his last full-time CFL job. In 2005, the Renegades turned to 71-year-old Forrest Gregg to be their executive vice president after the Pro Football Hall of Famer had enjoyed a 10-year hiatus from the CFL. Both franchises folded within a year.

The Redblacks are not going anywhere, and those previous Ottawa teams may have already been lost causes at the time of those hires. Yet, the parallels are troublesome for a fanbase enduring the longest losing streak in CFL history. If Popp is the next great hope you choose to sell them on, it has to be because he can deliver in the present day, not just the glory days.