Jim Popp, whose reputation is as a successful builder and manager, believes the current state of the Redblacks is not as ugly as it looks.
Jim Popp had nothing to lose when accepting an offer to become the senior advisor of the Ottawa Redblacks last week.
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He is in no way responsible for the team’s 0-10 start and CFL record 16-game losing streak, and while a few more defeats may be on the horizon, there’s nowhere to go but up.
But Popp, whose reputation as a successful builder and manager was built on five Grey Cup championships, also believes the current state of the Redblacks is not as ugly as it looks.
And he believes GM/head coach Ryan Dinwiddie is the man who will turn things around.
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“I think in most cases teams aren’t as bad as their record when they’re having down times, but I also say when teams are really good at winning, they’re not quite as good as everybody thinks they are either,” Popp said after overseeing his first practice on Wednesday. “I’ve watched games where the team’s been in the game and little things have turned (it around). The ball bounced a different way, (they) might have missed a field goal that changed some momentum, but it’s not that the team hasn’t been in it.
“At some point, maybe the game got away. But if the ball bounces the opposite way, how quickly momentum can change, and belief, and it just takes maybe one win, and the next thing it’s going the opposite direction. So, it can be changed. How quickly and when it will … I have a belief it will change. It will start going the other way, and there’ll be success here under (Dinwiddie).”
