Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly is seen in a booking mug shot, taken in Bridgeport, Penn., on Thursday. (CBC)

Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber head coach Mike Kelly offered few comments on Friday about his firing and his arrest after allegations of domestic violence.

To say this is a difficult time is the "understatement of the year," he told CBC News on Friday.

That's all Kelly would say, when reached by phone in Philadelphia, noting that his lawyers have advised him not to comment.

Kelly was fired Thursday night in a whirlwind day for the Bombers football club.

Just after noon, the team's president and CEO, Lyle Bauer, handed in his resignation. All he would say was that the decision was a personal one based "in the interests of my family."

About two hours later, the team learned that Kelly had been arrested in the United States after an alleged domestic violence incident.

The Bombers board of directors then scrambled to call an emergency meeting to discuss Kelly's arrest and his future with the football club.

At 7:45 p.m., board chairman Ken Hildahl issued a statement saying the coach had been fired.

However, Hildahl said Kelly's current legal troubles didn't play into the 11-member board's unanimous decision. He said Kelly's firing was "based strictly on the past year's performance."

In his first season as Winnipeg's head coach, Kelly led the Bombers to a meagre 7-11 record.

Damaged team image

The season was also marred by a number of outbursts by Kelly that caused some fans to balk because of his perceived arrogance. He was also sometimes rude and abrupt with the media and was fined $2,000 by the CFL for his "continued pattern of disrespectful behaviour towards the media."

Hildahl told reporters prior to the board's emergency meeting that every Blue Bomber contract has a clause requiring employees to conduct themselves in a professional manner. He wouldn't disclose if the Bombers would be forced to pay Kelly for the two years remaining on his contract.

"We didn't get into that part of the discussion but we'll deal with those issues moving forward," he said.

Now the board will turn to the task of rebuilding the Bomber brand — an image Hildahl said Kelly damaged over the past year.