After 30 years on the sidelines as a coach and another five years as a front-office football executive, Jim Barker has come to be sure of one thing.
It's good to be the boss.
So when the opportunity came to expand his portfolio with the Toronto Argonauts and include the duties of the general manager along with those of being the head coach, the decision was a no-brainer for the 54-year-old.
"That's the way you want it," Barker said, referring to the buck-stops-here mentality he cherishes. "Ultimately, the success or failure of the Toronto Argonauts comes to me. I've felt that since the day I came here.
"But that's what you want to have as a person in this business, the ultimate responsibility in the decisions that are made. They're going to rise and fall on you."
The CFL club announced Wednesday that Barker is replacing Adam Rita as the team's GM.
It was not an unexpected parting of the ways. It is believed Barker had an understanding when he agreed in February to take the coaching position that his responsibilities would eventually be increased.
The timing is right, considering Rita's contract is set to expire at the end of this year and it won't be renewed, according to team president Bob Nicholson.
"I think it was a natural progression for us in terms of wanting to streamline our resources so we had one guy that was handling the personnel and the head coaching duties," Nicholson said.
Barker previously served in a senior football executive role with the Calgary Stampeders as that club's GM from 2005 through 2007. In 2008, the year the Stamps won the Grey Cup, Barker was senior vice-president of football operations and director of player personnel.
When Barker joined the Argos they had fallen into serious disrepair, winning just seven games over the previous two seasons.
After a major roster rebuild, the Argos were a respectable 9-9 in 2010. Toronto then took out the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Division semi-final, before being walloped by Montreal Alouettes, the eventual Grey Cup champion, in the East final.
All along, Barker was already acting as the de facto GM.
He was largely responsible for convincing the organization to sign Cory Boyd - and the running back enjoyed a terrific year, rushing for over 1,000 yards.
Barker was also instrumental in bringing in Cleo Lemon, a move that wasn't as fruitful even through the quarterback directed Toronto into the playoffs for the first time in three years. Lemon, a NFL castoff, often appeared tentative trying to adapt to the more wide-open Canadian game and had more interceptions (19) than touchdown passes (15) during an uneven regular season.
The Argos revealed after the season was over that Lemon played much of the year with a torn ligament in his pinky finger of his throwing hand which, Barker said, will require surgery.
Barker said the injury was not a factor in Lemon's performance, but he added that beefing up a suspect attack will be his primary off-season goal.
"Offence … it always takes longer [to develop]" the coach/GM said. "When you have new quarterbacks and you have new players and a new scheme, it takes time.
"We'll get that squared away."