{"id":338147,"date":"2025-12-11T03:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338147\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T03:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:10:13","slug":"hogan-hufnagel-and-barker-together-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338147\/","title":{"rendered":"Hogan: Hufnagel and Barker Together Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is well documented that the Toronto Argonauts have won the Grey Cup a record 19 times. After two recent high-profile additions, the three men who head the Argos personnel department have a combined 18 championship rings.<\/p>\n

General Manager Michael \u201cPinball\u201d Clemons has eight CFL titles to his name, while \u201cnewcomers\u201d John Hufnagel and Jim Barker have five rings each. Hufnagel\u2019s title is senior advisor to the general manager and head coach, while Barker will begin his fourth tour of duty with the Double Blue, this time as the director of player personnel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hufnagel\u2019s signing was the shocker of the two, having spent the last 18 years with the Calgary Stampeders, and another seven seasons before that, with time in the NFL and arena league sandwiched in between.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very surprising,\u201d Hufnagel admitted to Argonauts.ca. \u201cI was just about ready to sign in Calgary when Toronto called them for permission to talk to me. They were kind of moving in a different direction in Calgary, but we were still pursuing a contract. Then the Double Blue called and I talked to Michael about the job. I was very excited about it and I\u2019m glad it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing the man credited by most for Calgary\u2019s great multi-decade run as the league\u2019s alpha dog now wearing Double Blue may take some getting used to, though he said that he was wearing an Argos hat during his phone conversation with this humble typist, adding with a smile, \u201cPeople say I look good in blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversely, seeing Jim Barker in Argo gear will be a familiar sight as this is his fourth tenure with the team. He\u2019s been an assistant coach, head coach, general manager, advisor, and now director of player personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a call from Pinball,\u201d Barker explained to Argonauts.ca. \u201cHe asked if I was interested in potentially coming back. It took me about a second and a half to say I\u2019m very interested. We talked more and I talked to Keith Pelley and ultimately it all came together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Asking Barker if he\u2019s glad to be back with the Argos was like asking Michael Clemons if he likes to smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow happy is it possible for a man to be? That\u2019s how happy I am to be back,\u201d said Barker. \u201cI live three minutes from the office. It\u2019s been such a big part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to the job than looking good in the team colours or living near the stadium. The Argos were a 5-13 team in 2025 and have some work to do. There\u2019s a good core group in place, but there are some holes to fill for new head coach Mike Miller to work with.<\/p>\n

Hufnagel will work from his home in Cochrane, Alberta, though he\u2019ll join the team for free agency, the draft, and training camp. Right now, he\u2019s in an Argos roster crash course, evaluating in detail what the team looks like through his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going over the roster, seeing how many people we have, who they are in different positions, and who the free agents are,\u201d said the former quarterback. \u201cI haven\u2019t talked with the two Mikes yet (Clemons and Miller) about what their thoughts are going forward; I have a pretty good handle of who needs to be signed, but I don\u2019t know who their priorities are to be signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does like what he\u2019s seen so far on his deep dive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cToronto has a lot of talent,\u201d Hufnagel said. \u201cTheir record is not indicative of the talent that they have. Like every team, you need to handle injuries, and they had a lot, but they have a good core and I\u2019m hoping they can re-sign a lot of their free agents to keep that good core that they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

After so long in Calgary it\u2019s understandable that the Canadian Football Hall of Famer is still referring to the Argos as \u201cthey\u201d and not \u201cwe\u201d. It may be even more confusing as he\u2019s reunited with Barker, with whom he worked in Calgary for a couple of seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really admire him as a football man,\u201d Barker said of his friend. \u201cHe\u2019s brilliant in what he does, and he brings an experience level and so much to the table that it will be a great resource for Mike and also for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Hufnagel, Barker is breaking down the Argos roster and trying to figure out where the priorities are. He notes that anytime you have a new coach you\u2019re going to looking for a different type of player, while noting that the team\u2019s quarterback room is as strong as any in the league.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Barker is also aware that Miller\u2019s priority is finalizing his coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t started talking yet about personnel,\u201d said Barker of Miller. \u201cHe needs to get his staff set first and that\u2019s a priority. I\u2019m just getting everything organized, so when he\u2019s ready we can rip through the film on these players and make the decisions that are best for the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to fathom that the Argos have added two CFL legends in the span of four days, but that\u2019s the reality. Watching how this team evolves over the next few months should be fascinating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is well documented that the Toronto Argonauts have won the Grey Cup a record 19 times. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-338147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}