He's been entrusted with rebuilding a Toronto Argonauts franchise that's coming off a league-worst 3-15 record and has missed the CFL playoffs the last two years.
But in new head coach Jim Barker's mind, his job is more than just shoring up the club's talent base. It also involves changing the team's psyche and the culture in the dressing room.
"Any time you lose certain things set in," Barker said. "There's a certain mentality and focus you have to be able to carry through a practice.
"There have been practices where we've had great focus for 98 per cent and the last two per cent wasn't and you don't win games that way. When you lose a lot of games it's hard to maintain that focus and I think a lot of these players did that. Things they did in the past they can't do now or they won't be here."
Barker definitely knows what it takes to win.
He has earned Grey Cup rings as an offensive co-ordinator with Toronto ('97) and Montreal (2002) and as a front-office executive with Calgary (2008). He also helped the Los Angeles Xtreme earn the first - and last - XFL title in 2001 with an offensive gameplan that transformed NFL journeyman quarterback Tommy Maddox into the league's player of the year.
This marks Barker's second stint as Argos head coach. He posted a 9-9 record in '99, guiding the club to the playoffs before losing 27-6 to Hamilton in the East Division semifinals. Then the franchise was sold to American businessman Sherwood Schwarz, and Barker learned the hard way his services were no longer wanted.
"I wasn't fired, I just couldn't get into the building," he said. "I came to work one day and my key wouldn't go into the lock."
Former NFL player Cleo Lemon - in his first year playing Canadian football - is the club's starter with Ken Dorsey (another CFL rookie) and former Saskatchewan backup Dalton Bell the backups. Lemon admits he spent most of training camp adjusting to the nuances of Canadian football but feels ready to tackle the regular season head on.
"It's one of those things where I've started in a new league and had to develop the skillsets I need," Lemon said. "The pre-season games were kind of slow for me but I think in practice I've picked it up and am learning the system and everyone is on the same page and feeling good about it.
"Definitely the biggest thing was getting adjusted to the (20-second) play clock. The tempo of the game is definitely fast. You might take off on a 20-yard run, come back and have to tuck it in for another 20-yard run. My conditioning is better, my recollection of the playbook is a lot better and for the most part, everything is moving along as planned."
Barker, for one, has high expectations of Lemon.
"I expect to see improvement from Cleo Lemon every time he steps on the field," Barker said. "That's part of what this whole maturation process is."
Barker's most pressing need is shoring up an offence that was last in the CFL last year in scoring (18.2 points per game), total yards (282.6 per game), sacks allowed (55) and rushing (82.5 yards per game) and second-last in passing (229.3 yards per game).
Bolstering the offensive line was a priority this off-season as Toronto signed free-agent guard Cedric Gagne-Marcoux, then took six-foot-eight, 309-pound tackle Joe Eppelle second overall in the CFL Canadian college draft.
Barker also looked to a familiar face to shore up the receiving corps, landing veteran Jeremaine Copeland in a trade with Calgary for receiver P.K. Sam. It's the fourth time Copeland, a nine-year CFL veteran, will be playing for Barker in the past decade. They teamed up in the XFL in Los Angeles in 2001 followed by the Montreal Alouettes the next year and the Stampeders from 2005 through 2009.
Copeland, 33, had 81 catches for 1,257 yards and 12 TDs last season and is less than two years removed from winning a Grey Cup title with the Stampeders. But Copeland also fondly remembers joining a Calgary team in '05 that was coming off a 4-14 finish.
"We turned the team around and ended up going to the playoffs and there should be nothing different here in Toronto," Copeland said. "We have great talent, they've always had a great defence and we have young athletes on our offence that can make plays.
"My mindset doesn't change, I'm going to do what I do. I'm going to be a leader and go out and hope to be blessed and make plays the way I always do. I just got to make sure the guys understand the winning edge and feel what it takes to win and go out there and get a taste of that."
Defensively, the Argos would appear to be sound with the return of many veterans although the club will be minus tackle Adriano Belli for the season opener. Belli received a one-game suspension from the CFL in the off-season for an incident during a late-season game in Montreal.
Jason Pottinger, a native of Whitby, Ont., in his second season with Toronto, will start at linebacker with non-import Kevin Eiben and veteran Willie Pile. Cornerback Byron Parker, who returned to the Argos late last season after being dealt to Edmonton, starts in the secondary.
The five-foot-11, 193-pound Parker, a former NCAA slam-dunk champion, had 18 interceptions between 2006-'08, returning six for touchdowns.
The Argos' special teams received a huge boost when veteran punter Jamie Boreham was cleared medically after missing training camp with a herniated disc in his neck. That will certainly take the pressure off rookie kicker Grant Shaw and also provide Toronto with valuable insurance should Shaw struggle.
The club was hopeful 2010 draft pick Steven Turner could handle return duties with the off-season departure of Dom Dorsey, but Turner suffered an Achilles tendon injury during training camp and is expected to miss the season.
Barker says while his goal this season is to win, he understands that might take time.
"It's going to be a process," he said. "You have to watch guys go through some adversity, you have to watch guys when things aren't going real well and those guys that are still there fighting and look you in the eye and want to be here, those are the guys you go to war with.
"We're going to have a team that plays with passion, that's execution-oriented and does the right things on the field. That's been the goal since the start of training camp. When you start doing those things right, winning games comes very shortly after that."