It was early in the new year, when daylight is a rare commodity and the weather is typically at its worst.
Those short days might have felt more exaggerated for the Toronto Argonauts, like too-brief bursts of light sandwiched in between what might have felt like endless nights. On the heels of a five-win season, with change imminent in the front office, Chris Van Zeyl had to make a decision.
The 34-year-old offensive lineman was nearing free-agency. While many of his teammates would abandon ship — the team parted ways with GM Jim Barker on Jan. 24 and coach Scott Milanovich left three days later to pursue an opportunity in the NFL — Van Zeyl decided to stay put.
The veteran tackle wasn’t oblivious to what was in front of him. He felt the disappointments of 2016 first-hand and didn’t want to feel them again. A phone call convinced him to put pen to paper and stay in Toronto.
“I had a talk with Michael Copeland and he instilled a confidence in me,” Van Zeyl said this week, as the Argos prepped for Sunday’s Grey Cup game.
“(It was) basically then I decided, ‘Let’s do this’. I had every bit of faith that he was going to bring in the right person, the right people and I think he made great decisions.”
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Chris Van Zeyl has spent all season protecting Ricky Ray‘s back side at the left tackle spot (Johany Jutras/Argonauts.ca)
Copeland, the Argos president and CEO, said he vividly remembers the conversation.
“It was a period of uncertainty for us within football operations. The entire organization was in a bit — a lot — of a growth phase and there were points where you can’t clearly commit to things, but you can establish a vision,” he said.
“What I was trying to communicate to Chris was that we had our owners and our management team and we’re very clearly committed to building a best-in-class organization in all respects. It was going to be built with people with strong character and integrity and an alignment of a common vision of teamwork and success and being responsible for our own success. I think that really resonated with him.”
It took some time for Copeland to provide the physical proof of that assurance, but he did it. GM Jim Popp and coach Marc Trestman were hired on Feb. 28.
“Personally I was excited because Jim was the one who drafted me (in Montreal in 2008), Marc was the one that asked me to go over and play offensive line,” Van Zeyl, a D-lineman when he played at McMaster, said. “So it really came back around for me. It was really neat to be in that situation. I knew I was going to be playing for two guys that kind of shaped my career.”
Copeland gives an incredible amount of credit to Spencer Zimmerman, the assistant GM that stepped in during free agency when the team hadn’t yet made its hire (he remains on the Argos staff, as Popp’s assistant GM today). Zimmerman was joined by Tommy Condell, the former Tiger-Cats’ offensive coordinator, who was hired on as a special advisor to the club in January. Zimmerman led the drive in pitching free agents in February and tried to retain those that were looking elsewhere. Copeland stepped in and tried to help where he could. Sometimes it worked. Others it didn’t.
“He’s an incredibly capable operator,” Copeland said of Zimmerman. “We placed a lot of trust and faith in him and he executed tremendously well.”
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He won’t say that he’s loving the good press that’s followed his team through this week, but it has to feelgood for Copeland to be here, right now, after that rough 2016 season and the dark days of January and February this year. This journey, going from five wins and injecting the team with the stability of a proven GM and an elite coach and getting to Ottawa this week marks an incredible turnaround.
“In terms of the rest of the organization, it was difficult to receive the criticism, for the non-believers to weigh in,” Copeland said.
“Sometimes you have to accept that those are the more vocal elements on social media or in traditional media. The toughest thing was tuning that out and believing in our vision and our path and how we were going to get there.
“Certainly nobody wants to put themselves in that situation. The important thing wasn’t to get things done quickly. The important thing was to get things done properly. We firmly believe that if you get the right pieces in place, whether that be in coaching or players, or ticket sales or game day operators or marketing, you’re going to have something to build upon in each of those areas. That’s what will position you for success. That’s been a real priority for us.
“We were supported by our ownership group and we were aligned top to bottom and I think that’s a big part of the reason why we’re here.”
“Jim has a philosophy on how he will approach free agency. I’m interested to watch him work. Certainly I believe he’s the best general manager in the game…”
Argos president and CEO Michael Copeland
He’s enjoying this week — he calls it fun, but says it’s a different fun than what the fans are having here — but a part of him is already thinking about Monday, about free-agency in February and how different it stands to be this time around.
“Jim has a philosophy on how he will approach free agency. I’m interested to watch him work,” Copeland said. “Certainly I believe he’s the best general manager in the game and I believe our head coach is the best head coach in the game. I’ll support them. Certainly I believe that this is and should be a premier place for players who want to play. We like the players we have, but (football operations will) make those decisions.
“Right now, it’s about where we are and what we’re setting out to achieve on Sunday. We’ll worry about next year when next year starts.”
