Article content continued

Photo by Frank Gunn / CP

The first indication that things were different came about a month into the job, when the CFL abruptly announced that it was changing the league’s replay-review policy. The previous system, where coaches had two replay challenges, with potential for a third if they won the first two, was replaced with a one-challenge-only rule.

Replay reviews have become a plague across almost all sports, and Ambrosie said his early feedback from fans was that they hated the system. Too many stoppages, and too many challenges that the coach didn’t expect to win but, hey, free challenge. So, he changed it. Just like that, in the middle of the season. A commissioner responding to the concerns of his fans? What madness is this?

This is exactly the kind of thing the CFL should be doing. Where the bigger pro leagues are forever tied up in knots about this or that rule change, and any change must go through layers of committees before implementation, the CFL has the advantage of being small and nimble. Why not act fast? The National Hockey League has been vowing to reduce the size of goalie equipment since Justin Trudeau was just a floppy-haired schoolteacher, and yet goalies are still out there wearing the equivalent of those sumo fat suits under their jerseys. (There’s also been plenty of condemnation of the NHL’s offside replay reviews, so expect that to be addressed by 2025.)

Ambrosie’s willingness to lead with his head was next on display with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ amazingly dim hiring of former Baylor football coach Art Briles. The news was announced in a press release on a Monday morning, and the Ticats front office that afternoon was defending the move to hire someone who had been fired last year amid a huge sexual-assault scandal. But Ambrosie went to Hamilton while the league’s public-relations team was in relative lockdown. By Monday evening, Briles was unhired, and by the following day, various members of Ticats management were praising Ambrosie for saving them from themselves. How to Kill a Scandal in 12 Hours, by Randy Ambrosie.