{"id":415678,"date":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415678\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","slug":"mike-pinball-clemons-mum-on-toronto-argonauts-tampering-allegations-john-murphy-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415678\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike ‘Pinball’ Clemons mum on Toronto Argonauts tampering allegations, John Murphy departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Toronto Argonauts<\/p>\n

Toronto Argonauts general manager Mike \u2018Pinball\u2019 Clemons spoke to the media from the CFL\u2019s winter meetings in Calgary, marking the first time he\u2019s taken questions regarding the league\u2019s investigation into his team\u2019s alleged tampering.<\/p>\n

With that said, he didn\u2019t answer any of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe details of that, I wasn\u2019t in \u2014 that was more of a presidential thing, so I don\u2019t know all the details of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the Grey Cup, it was reported that Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Mace declined an interview for Toronto\u2019s then-vacant head coaching position. Jeremy O\u2019Day, the longtime general manager in Saskatchewan, seemed surprised by the report and indicated the Argonauts never asked for permission to speak with Mace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In December, the league confirmed to 3DownNation that an investigation had been conducted and cited its policy that discipline involving teams or staff is not announced. Toronto declined a\u00a0request for comment.<\/p>\n

Clemons claimed he\u2019s unaware if any discipline was levied against his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know everything, so I won\u2019t meddle with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eight-time Grey Cup champion also declined to discuss the departure of assistant general manager John Murphy, suggesting it would be unfair to do so.<\/p>\n

When pressed by 3DownNation\u2019s Justin Dunk about fans wanting to know why Murphy wasn\u2019t retained for 2026, Clemons suggested he\u2019s open to telling them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf one of them comes up to me, then there\u2019s a good chance I will answer them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston also declined to shed any light on the league\u2019s investigation when speaking to the media from the winter meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep those conversations to ourselves,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got no comment on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on his comments, it doesn\u2019t seem like Clemons even wants to be Toronto\u2019s general manager. Mike Miller signed a three-year contract<\/a> to replace Ryan Dinwiddie as head coach, but Clemons doesn\u2019t appear to have a deal in place beyond 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When questioned about it, the Hall of Fame running back, receiver, and return specialist indicated he\u2019s asked MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley for a reduced role with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea when I came in in 2019 at the end of the season there was that I was there to get things back on track. We\u2019ve been on track, (but we\u2019re) back off the track now, and so I\u2019m not exactly sure what that means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the team, I love the game and all of that, but I also love my family and the foundation and those things, and so I\u2019ve requested sort of a concept of a transition at some point. Keith has promised me a look at what that would be, but we\u2019ll stay in this seat I guess as long as \u2014 well, it\u2019s indefinite, let\u2019s say it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked to expand on what his future with the Argonauts might look like, Clemons offered the following clarification.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing with the organization in a broader sense is what the idea is, and so that doesn\u2019t mean that I won\u2019t be with the team,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would probably mean that my time would be reduced with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 61-year-old served a decade-long stint as Toronto\u2019s vice-chairman prior to becoming the team\u2019s general manager near the end of the 2019 season. Despite the Argonauts finishing 5-13 in 2025, Clemons still has an impressive 62-46 record as the team\u2019s general manager with Grey Cup victories in 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n

The two newcomers to Toronto\u2019s personnel department for 2026 are John Hufnagel and Jim Barker. Hufnagel spent the last 18 years with the Calgary Stampeders, while Barker returned for a fourth stint with the team following his tenure at the CFL on TSN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Hufnagel) is so helpful in everything football, and then Jim is responsible for the talent side. He will be bringing the talent in and has built championship teams,\u201d said Clemons.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a brand new (head) coach is why we went that route. We thought it was important that he had all the support that he could possibly need \u2014 at least as much as the salary cap would allow \u2014 and so we feel we found two of the very best guys that he could ever have to come alongside of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clemons clearly knows how to add people to his personnel department \u2014 just don\u2019t ask him how the last guy left (unless you\u2019re a fan, apparently).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Toronto Argonauts Toronto Argonauts general manager Mike \u2018Pinball\u2019 Clemons spoke to the media from the CFL\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,100127,22069,49,48,7028,521,522,520,174630,527,122761,14230,174631,174632,82,3302],"class_list":["post-415678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-argonauts","tag-argos","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-clemons","tag-football","tag-general-manager","tag-gm","tag-mike-pinball-clemons","tag-pinball-clemons","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415678","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=415678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}