Brendan Taman quits Blue Bombers

Brendan Taman, former general manager of the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, resigned Tuesday as vice-president of player personnel and has left the club.

Taman had been with the Blue Bombers for 10 years, starting as assistant GM and serving for the past five years as GM.

He was named VP of player personnel in late 2008 in a shakeup that saw the firing of head coach Doug Berry and appointment of new head coach Mike Kelly.

"We are truly sorry to see Brendan leave after all that he has given to this organization over the years," said Bombers president and CEO Lyle Bauer. "We need to respect his decision and wish him nothing but the best in the future."

Bauer said Taman's departure "does not preclude future involvement such as special projects consultant in the future if the circumstances are right."

Taman would not say he left because he had been relegated to different duties in the Bombers organization.

He told CBC News Tuesday he'd had a good run but was tired and needed a break.

"I've done a lot of soul-searching and what-not," Taman said. "You just reach a point sometimes when you just can't go on.

"It's a buildup of a lot of things that go with the job.  I've spent all my adult life in football, so I'm looking forward to the summer.

"I think Lyle understood where I'm coming from. It was an understandable, unfortunate conversation that we both probably hoped we didn't have to have, but we had to have."

"I have to be honest with the organization, I need time to re-energize and whatever the future is, the future is," he said. "I haven't had a summer in probably 20 years, so I'm looking forward to that."

Taman was considered an expert at spotting raw CFL-calibre talent.

He brought several impact players to the Blue Bombers during his tenure, including Charles Roberts, Gavin Walls, Tom Canada and Dan Goodspeed.

Taman was also known as a crafty wheeler-dealer.

Through trades he brought Doug Brown, Khari Jones, Kevin Glenn and Zeke Moreno to Winnipeg.