Clemons named Argos prez

Michael (Pinball) Clemons has been bumped from the sidelines to the head office, clearing a spot for a possible return of Don Matthews, one of the Toronto Argonauts' most successful coaches.

Clemons has left his position as head coach with the Argonauts to become president of the CFL club, owner Sherwood Schwarz announced on Monday.

One of Clemons' first tasks will be filling his own shoes, and signs point to the hiring of Matthews, who would be returning for his third stint as Argo head coach. Matthews met with the Argos over the weekend.

"I met Don, he seems like a very strong candidate," said Schwarz. "We're talking to a lot of people."

Clemons played for 13 years with the Argonauts before becoming the team's head coach in 2000 and then taking on the added role of vice-president of football operations for the 2001 season.

He replaces Jeff Giles, who left the Argos earlier this month after less than a year with the club.

"(Clemons) is an incredibly talented young man," Schwarz said. "And I think this is the next logical step for him.

"He's gotten the experience of a head coaching position which, if you kind of check his wins and losses and ties, you'll find, when he stepped into full-time coaching, he has a winning record. And I think that experience in coaching is valuable to his overall experience to running a football team."

Clemons, who was unavailable for comment on Monday because of a family emergency, took over from bombastic John Huard as head coach during the 2000 CFL season and the Argos won six of their last 10 games to just miss an East Division playoff berth.

For the second straight year, however, the Argos missed this year's playoffs at 7-10-0-1 and were eliminated from post-season contention following the B.C. Lions' 24-12 win over Hamilton.

Had the Ticats won, Toronto would have crossed over into the West Division and snared the final berth in the playoffs.

Clemons, one of the most popular figures in Toronto sports history, is a public relations dynamo for the Argos, said Schwarz, which the team desperately needs.

The team's been plagued by sagging attendance, averaging 17,000 a game.

"His unique combination of football experience and profile in the community will help us to connect with our fans as well as to create new community programs and forge new corporate partnerships," Schwarz said.

Clemons boldly predicted during training camp the Argos would be a Grey Cup contender, but admitted late in the season the rebuilding process was taking longer than he anticipated.

"From all indications last year, it looked like this was a team that would contend," Clemons said in early October.

"I don't think we put enough credence on a couple of things that didn't work out for us this year and it does take a while to build a program. Being a rookie (coach) I don't think I understood that."

Matthews, meanwhile, coached the Argos in 1990 and again from 1996 to '98, before moving to Edmonton.

But the Eskimos replaced Matthews with general manager Tom Higgins during training camp because of concerns about Matthews' health -- although Matthews claimed it was not an issue.

By Lori Ewing