Woeful Tiger-Cats turf GM Desjardins

Hamilton Tiger-Cats players spent Sunday cleaning out their lockers while management shook up the front office by sacking general manager Marcel Desjardins.

A 21-19 win over the visiting Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday night wasn't enough to save Desjardins, whose club finished the season with a 3-15 record after going 4-14 in 2006.

Desjardins was named Tiger-Cats GM on Aug. 29, 2006, after spending four-plus seasons as an assistant to Montreal Alouettes GM Jim Popp and previously worked at the Canadian Football League's head office in Toronto.

A native of nearby Burlington, Ont., Desjardins was rumoured to be on the hot seat for the Ticats' regression from last season and for making some questionable moves.

Among them was the Jan. 31 trade of wide receiver D.J. Flick and offensive lineman Wayne Smith to Saskatchewan for quarterback Rocky Butler and a 2007 second-round draft pick. The deal came after Flick refused to take a substantial pay cut.

Hamilton released Butler in late June, while Flick prospered for the Roughriders, finishing in a tie with Calgary's Jeremaine Copeland and Ken-Yon Rambo for the most touchdown receptions in the CFL (10).

On June 27, Desjardins shipped defensive back Tad Kornegay to Saskatchewan for receivers Thyron Anderson and Jason French. Anderson isn't with the Ticats while French has enjoyed a roller-coaster season with his new club.

In August, Desjardins dealt running back Corey Holmes back to Saskatchewan along with rookie slotback Chris Getzlaf for receiver Jason Armstead, who showed little this season with the Ticats.

And after signing quarterback Casey Printers to a three-year, $1.5-million on Sept. 6, Desjardins sent former No. 1 signal-caller Jason Maas to Montreal for little-known Canadian running back Jeff Piercy.

One of Desjardins better acquisitions was the signing of former Notre Dame standout kicker Nick Setta, the East Division nominee for CFL top rookie honours in 2007.

He topped all kickers with 167 points, had the longest field goal at 53 yards and was second only to Calgary's Sandro DeAngelis in field-goal efficiency with an 84.9 per cent success rate.

The firing of Desjardins probably will be the start of a series of moves in the off-season. Charlie Taaffe, the CFL's top coach in 1999 and 2000 in Montreal, has two years left on his deal with the Tiger-Cats and could be forced to make dramatic changes to his staff.