UPDATE: Interim Head Coach for the Mounties
On behalf of Jack Drover, Director of Physical Recreation and Athletics, I am writing to inform you that Steve LaLonde, head coach of the Football Mounties, has resigned from his position at Mount Allison.
Steve, who is originally from the United States, has decided to return there for personal and professional reasons.
Steve’s contributions to the Mount Allison Football program have been remarkably positive over the last three seasons and have positioned us for even greater success in the future.
We wish him all the best in his future endeavours and thank him for his hard work in developing both our Football and overall Athletics programs.
We will be working to fill this position as soon as possible to prepare for the upcoming season. We have a great team and look forward to seeing you out at Mountie games.
Sincerely,
Ron
Ron Byrne
Vice-President (Student Affairs)
Mount Allison University
Related: Leaving was personal, not professional, says LaLonde (Halifax Chronicle Herald)
12 comments:
That is just great! You can't build a solid football program with a new coach coming in every few years. Get Jason Kana in there! He should have been there before Lalonde anyway.
That's a great idea, hire a guy who got fired from his assistant position at Guelph! Unfortunately because of the timing he might be all that's available...
What we really need here is a committed long term HC that’s in it for the long haul NOT someone who is using this position as a stepping-stone for opportunities elsewhere as it looks to be in this case. I don’t blame him though the man has to look out for his own best interest. The HC needs to be compensated for his efforts, as we all know its not the best paid HC position in the CIS thus scaring away most of the better HC out there. The only thing inviting about this position is the current team potential. But as for its compensation, it is completely unsatisfactory to most of the better professionals on the market. Maybe they should think about introducing a bonus structure for things like; obtaining top recruits that produce, number of wins, getting into the payoffs, winning a title or championship etc. In any event, it will be difficult to obtain a good HC with the current old school/mta athletics same old way of thinking. They need to start thinking outside of the box. Getting a good HC is one thing but keeping him is a whole other story. I wish them luck and GO MOUNTIES!!!
Nice comment anonymous # 2!!!!! Kana never got fired as OC of Guelph, he left the team on his own accord with them wanting to re-sign him. Get your facts straight or don't bother post a comment.
Mt. A would be lucky to get a very succesful OC of a university team with 5 yrs Jr. head coaching experience not to mention coaching under both Sonny Wolfe and Gord Grace. And he's also a former player and Mt. A graduate.
You should be smacked.
Gord Francis
"That's a great idea, hire a guy who got fired from his assistant position at Guelph!"
In response to this posting, I would not be too hasty to pass judgement on an all conference lineman and ex-mountie who would have nothing but the programs best interests in mind if he even considered accepting a position with the MTA. The one person who has consistently had a negative impact in all the athletics for the last 20-30 years is Jack Drover, as soon as he retires maybe then MTA athletic will take a step forward...
Getting let go is part of the business. It is no reflection on his ability. He has been coaching in the CIS since 1998 and did an amazing job with Guelph offence this year. Kana is the man! Get him in there ASAP.
Jason Kana was not fired from Guelph. We need to get a Head Coach in place that is looking to be in Sackville for the Long Term, and not just as a "career stepping stone". We have seen where that can leave the program more than once before. A Head Coach that is a former player can help bring in financial and recruiting support from alumni at a time when the program really needs both. This will build on the momentum the program has developed over the last couple of seasons. A Mountie head coach that understands what it means to wear the Garnet and Gold, will only help return Mountie Football to the level we know it is capable of reaching.
Ryan Davison.
The only thing inviting about this position is the current team potential.
That's the problem with Mount Allison Football, they don't really know how bad they really are anymore.
Potential? Is that what you call a team that lost more games then the year before (which only won 2 btw). Brutal!
I think it's time that MTA brought back their hockey and basketball teams as at least those conferences have enough teams to make a go of it. Other then SMU in the last 20 years, the conference really hasn't been that consistently good from top to bottom. If Mount A was in the Ontario or Western league, they may have only made the playoffs a couple of times max (1991 and 1997-98).
Furthermore, I hear the Quebec league will be breaking their contract with the AUS after next year. That can't be good for competition since the winner of the league really only has one tough game before the Atlantic/Utech Bowl.
No, actually Gord you're the one that needs to check your facts... I assume you're getting your info from Jay himself, no wonder it's wrong.
I'm not trying to take anything away from his ties to Sackville and the program, those are definitely significant. The FACT, however, remains that he was flat-out fired.
Lolonde was a great recruiter. He got MTA actual athletes that could play. Regardless if you like it or not he is a good coach. Now, The athletic department of MTA should be fired as a whole. Jack Drover should have been fired 10 years ago.The basketball team's head coach should be fired as well. All these people are holding on to thier position for no reason. MTA must have the worst Athletic department in the world. Change that and you might see some changes on score boards.
Yes, the Athletic department is in dire need of a shake up, but that isn't the underlying problem per se. Why? Because the Athletic Department receives the directive from the administration puppeteers who dwell behind closed doors.
And let me tell you, they have never supported varsity athletics at Mount Allison and never will.
So unless they make a full commitment to athletics (in a complete 180 degree turn around), then nothing will change, even with a shake up in the top floor of the Athletic centre.
The problem with MtA athletics may not be an issue involving staff, rather an issue revolving around funding. Now, I'm not for one second going to argue that Jack Drover's time as athletic director/coach hasn't passed because that may not be the case.
But, maybe we need to look at how MtA athletics as a whole functions instead of placing the blame on coaches and staff. Unlike other AUS universities that are succeeding athletically MtA does not offer trustees, alumni or others to donate money into a certain program. Rather, any donation is entered into a general athletics fund that supports all sports.
The problem then becomes one of monitary substiance... How can you expect a team as large as a football program to recruit with such a limited budget? Espically when you have the more competitive teams in the leage offering to pay for recruits to come visit their university and pay all of their expences and accomidations while there. Take into consideration as well that you are recruiting players to attend a school where the selling point is their academics NOT their sports (which is not, by the way, a bad thing). Finding athletes that are willing to come to small town NB to play football, or any other sport for that matter, may be hard enough as is. But trying to recruit them into a program that does not have an athletic reputation as strong as our competition (at a school that is less academically challenging) is not an easy task!
YES, Jack Drover can be held partially to blame for the funding, or lack there of, but what choice does he have? YES MtA football does eat up a majority of funding for ALL sports. BUT cuting football may not be the solution either as their trustees and alumni donate the majority of money that is to be shared by all sports... BUT keeping football means every other sport recieves less funding. The vicious funding cycle can only lead to unstable coaching positions and frustration of those in those positions as it becomes difficult to recruit top players when you cannot offer, or even compare to the offer, that is given by the competition.
That being said, is "fixing" the athletic department and it's old school ways as easy as simple as we think?
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