One of the greatest-ever Calgary Stampeders is coming to the franchise’s defence amidst a wave of criticism from ex-players.
“It’s not a bad place to be, man,” legendary CFL pass rusher Charleston Hughes said during an appearance on 620 CKRM’s The SportsCage.
“Calgary was where I spent the majority of my career and we won a lot of games in Calgary with the same type of culture for the most part. Nothing’s really changed in the way they approach games and the way they handle free agents. Everybody is still kind of under that Hufnagel-style umbrella.”
Calgary has come under fire in light of the Toronto Argonauts’ victory in the 111th Grey Cup with eight former Stampeders on the roster. In the aftermath of the championship win, running back Ka’Deem Carey decided to take aim at his former club and specifically called out head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson for overseeing the demise of the franchise.
During Grey Cup week, 3DownNation spoke at length with six former Stampeders, including Carey, about the state of that team. All expressed serious concerns including conservative spending practices, eroding team culture, and a failure to upgrade out-of-date facilities. Some also took issue with the quality of the team’s recent position coaching, strength and conditioning set-up, and training staff, while noting that players aren’t regularly provided hot meals.
Hughes had another way of describing those complaints: sour grapes.
“You can’t make everybody happy, let’s keep it 100 when it comes to that. The thing is you’re going to have some bad blood when you leave a team,” he said.
“As a player, you go to a team, you hope for the best and all you can do is hope to get some type of respect in return. Obviously, Kadeem Carey didn’t get the respect that he wanted and deserved when it really came down to it. The thing is, man, you just gotta move on and try not to throw burden on teams and GMs and head coaches, because they’re out to do a job too. That’s to win games and do the best they can with managing the team. It’s hard to keep 75 to 100 players happy on the team.”
Hughes spent 10 of his 14 CFL seasons in Calgary, tying the franchise record for sacks with 99 in red and white. He later continued his career with stops in Saskatchewan and Toronto, noting that his experience with the Argos was wildly different than the rave reviews they are now getting from the same players bashing the Stampeders.
“I wouldn’t say that Toronto was the best place for me when I was there. I didn’t enjoy my time at that place,” he admitted. “I didn’t play as good as I wanted to when I was there, nor was I given the opportunity to do so.”
The 40-year-old former defensive end regards his decade of dominance in Cowtown much more favourably but has been away from the team since 2017. While the Stampeders won a Grey Cup the following year, they haven’t won a playoff game since hoisting that trophy. In 2024, the team finished in last place with a 5-12-1 record, breaking the longest consecutive postseason streak in North American pro sports at 20 years. The result led veteran kicker Rene Paredes to state in his end-of-year availability that Calgary has been “declining as an organization” for the past five years.
Dickenson faced no consequences from ownership for the horrific finish but three of his lieutenants were not so lucky. The team parted ways with defensive line coach Juwan Simpson, defensive coordinator Brent Monson, and special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Mark Kilam immediately after the season. Monson has already been hired by the Argonauts to take over their Grey Cup-winning defence, while Kilam is believed to be a finalist for head coaching vacancies in both Edmonton and B.C.
Despite his passionate defence of the Stampeders’ organization, Hughes could offer no logical explanation for any of their firings.
“I think Juwan was a casualty. I don’t think he had anything to do with what happened with that team. When it comes to Monson, he’s a great defensive coordinator. He was one of those guys that’s up to be a head coach someday in the CFL. Kilam, he was the assistant head coach in Calgary. I don’t know how that even comes about. Why do you go off and get rid of your next-up guy for the team? I have no clue and I don’t think nobody will understand that one,” he said.
“I guess after leaving a situation like that, somebody has to be the fall guy. Those three guys became the fall people in that situation. Hopefully, the head coach made the right decision when he made that choice and hopefully, they’re a better team next year. If it doesn’t work out, I’m pretty sure we’ll all find out.”
We’ll also find out how the Stampeders truly stack up against other franchises internally when the CFL Players’ Association releases their inaugural team report card next month.
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