Ted Goveia did not hesitate when it came to making his first phone call after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats officially named him general manager.
Without pause, Goveia dialled the digits belonging to quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.
“Bo’s one of the winningest quarterbacks of all time,” Goveia says. “And so he was my first call.
“I told him, ‘I just finished off the press conference. You were my first call.’ And he said my first call should be to David Beard.”
A 2024 All-CFL, Beard anchored the middle of a menacing offensive line for the Tiger-Cats. Buoyed by superior pass protection, the Tabbies led the league in average passing yards per game (332.1), total yards (406.1) and first downs (393).
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OL David Beard is the ranked 22nd on CFL.ca’s top 30 pending free agents (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)
Beard, 31, is eligible to test free agency next month. And Mitchell, from experience, knows much of his success – and the success of the team – rests on the shoulder pads of the behemoths up front.
So it’s no wonder he urged his new boss to hang up the phone and call Beard in hopes of keeping him in Steeltown.
“I thought, ‘Okay, this guy gets it.’ ” Goveia says. “For him to deflect my comment to a teammate, to the centre position, I just thought, ‘Okay, this guy, he’s operating at a higher level.;”
No CFL quarterback competed at a higher level than Mitchell in 2024. The Eastern Washington product completed 68.4 per cent of his passes for a league-leading 5.541 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Those gawdy statistics didn’t parlay into wins, however, for the 7-11 Ticats.
But in 2025, Mitchell is determined to hoist the Grey Cup over his head like he did in 2014 and 2018 with the Calgary Stampeders.
“He knows what he’s doing on the field as a quarterback,” Goveia says. “He’s also at the point in his career where he wants to do it somewhere else, right? Because he won a lot in Calgary, and they moved on and made decisions. And now he’s somewhere else.”
Goveia captured his first Grey Cup title in 2012 in Toronto as the director of Canadian scouting. He moved to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2014 as the assistant general manager/director of player personnel.
In 2019, the Bombers ended a 28-year championship drought with a 33-12 Grey Cup mauling of the Tiger-Cats at McMahon Stadium.
With Mitchell at quarterback, Goveia hopes the Tabbies can win the Grey Cup for the first time since 1999 – ending a quarter-century of futility.
“I reminded him that I won in Toronto before I came to Winnipeg,” Goveia says. “And it’s about winning — it’s about turning around a franchise and doing in a place that hasn’t won for a long time. That is an incredible feeling.
“I’m there to work with Bo, to get good pieces around him, and hopefully be able to do that in Hamilton.”
If Mitchell has his way, one of those “good pieces” is Beard.
“I coached the offensive line,” Goveia says. “I played it in college. To me, it’s the glue piece of the team. There’s something unique about the o-line room. When you’re playing o-line, continuity helps.”
Clearly, Goveia understands why Mitchell wanted him to call Beard first.
“David deserves to be paid market value,” Goveia says. “And we’re trying to free up some cap space to make sure that the guys who were wanting to come back are paid fairly.”
In terms of upgrades, the Hamilton defence needs a major one. In 2024, the Tiger-Cats surrendered the most points (557), touchdowns (55) and field goals (55) during the regular season.
“Anybody that’s watched tape knows that it was a challenge for those guys,” Goveia says. “They went through two defensive coordinators, and that’s unusual in the sport of football. It’s tough to go through that.
“We hired a new defensive coordinator and some new coaches. So I’m going to have to work right beside those coaches and ensure that we find some pieces in free agency and do a heck of a job scouting and improving the roster.”
A Burlington, ON native, Goveia understands what’s at stake for long-suffering Tiger-Cat supporters.
“A lot of those fans, a lot of the season-ticket holders, are my buddies,” he says. “Every time I see them, they remind me.”
So do random strangers.
“I was at the passport office the other day,” Goveia says. “The guy running it gives me the passport and says, ‘Now go win us a Grey Cup.’”
No pressure, or anything.
“There’s a lot of good pieces there in terms of the players,” Goveia says of his new team. “It’s our job to make sure that come training camp, we’re where we want to be. Or if not, we continue to work at it.”