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If every coach in professional sports has a shelf life, so, too, does every general manager.

That Jim Popp had a 21-year run as GM of the Alouettes is nothing short of extraordinary. That he will no longer fill that role — as team president Mark Weightman was forced to announce Monday morning, in lieu of the absentee ownership tandem of Robert and Andrew Wetenhall — is a surprise after two decades, but shouldn’t come as a shock.

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If a general manager is the architect of a team’s foundation, he too must be held responsible when the cracks begin to show. And there have been a lot of them recently. The Als have become a train wreck. And their image around the Canadian Football League has been damaged.

Popp was a brilliant GM whose strength was in player personnel. The Als’ roster is littered with players Popp uncovered — at every position but quarterback. That was his Achilles heel, perhaps because, for the longest time, it was Tracy Ham and then Anthony Calvillo. But there wasn’t a succession plan in place. Since Calvillo suffered a concussion in 2013 and then retired, the team has used a dozen quarterbacks — and there still is no quarterback of the present.