LOSING TAKES A TOLL ON PROUD BUONO
As his career winds down, CFL icon remains driven to keep on winning
He turned 65 on Feb. 7, did Wally Buono.
That’s not exactly a firing offence these days, but it’s worth noting that among the faces on the Canadian Football League’s mythical Mount Rushmore, 65 is right about the time the alarm started going off.
Hugh Campbell retired as CEO of the Edmonton Eskimos at 65, after a cancer scare.
Ron Lancaster died in office, more or less, though he was pretty much an emeritus administrator with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when he passed away at 69.
Cal Murphy was done by age 67, Ralph Sazio at 68, Frank Clair at 61.
Don Matthews’s last hurrah was at 69. Bob O’Billovich was still a GM at 72.
“Am I going to be doing this into my 70s? No,” Buono said this week, answering some very inconvenient questions about his future as the chief football mind of the 4-8 B.C. Lions.
The silver-haired native of Potenza, Italy, has never met a question he couldn’t begin to answer with “No-no-no-you-don’t-understand,” but even for him, this was a combative halfhour in his office.
“Here’s my thing ... I gotta keep winning, but I don’t gotta keep proving myself,” he said. “A young person that has no background has to do both things. I need to keep winning.”
He can say that because he’s had the unequivocal backing of owner David Braley, who turns 75 next May, the age at which he’s said he hopes to be out of the football business. Not coincidentally, Buono’s contract expires after next season.
His critics think that, given the team’s performance and sagging attendance, if not for his close relationship with Braley, Buono might already be out.
“And I might be,” he said. “But David makes good business decisions. Are you going to have your ups and downs? Yes. But if you feel the individual is no longer an asset, move on. I’m the biggest proponent of that. Move on.
“I’ve had to fire people I have a lot of fondness for, but you’ve got to do what’s right.”
There has long been a vocal opposition to Buono as GM among the Lions’ faithful, but the doubters have taken it to the next level this year, as the Lions stumble through a miserable season, now with their third-string quarterback, promising but green-as-grass Jon Jennings.
Buono, still the winningest ex-coach in CFL history, says he doesn’t hear the complaints.
“I don’t. You can’t. It’s like (Alabama coach) Nick Saban said on (Golf Channel talk show) Feherty: If you hear it, it will affect you. If you don’t hear it, it won’t.”
Still, he senses that people are assuming his induction to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame last year and to the Order of Canada just this past week mean it’s time to dodder off into the sunset.
“You want me to ... just go away quietly?” Buono said, referring to the honours. “That’s not what drives me. I could just go through the motions here. Come in at 9 a.m., leave at 2 p.m., take winters off. What are they going to do, fire me? And I’m being sarcastic. But it wouldn’t be me.
“I don’t wear Grey Cup rings. Why? I don’t live in the past. I’ve never worn my rings. I don’t have what I want. I want another Grey Cup.
“I never feel like I’m not good at this anymore. As you get older, you don’t get dumber. When you’re 4-8, we’re all 4-8. We’re all responsible. But can I do my job? I believe I can, I believe I have.”
Could he have kept quarterback Mike Reilly instead of letting him get away to Edmonton? That’s assuming he could have predicted the series of injuries that have derailed Travis Lulay’s career.
Losing your No. 1 offensive (Lulay) and defensive ( linebacker Solomon Elimimian) players is a pretty good excuse for starters, but Buono rejects it.
Having a bunch of nucleus players performing below par, and few stepping up, doesn’t help.
“We’re trying to get better main components. It’s not easy to get them all at once. But at the end of it, who makes you win? It’s your nucleus. We’re starting to build it,” Buono said.
He reeled off 16 names of players he has hopes for. But they’re still only hopes. So much for any suggestion this isn’t a rebuilding project.
Did he put too much responsibility on the plate of new coach Jeff Tedford, who had been away from the CFL for a couple of decades?
“We were criticized because we hired internally (Mike Benevides) and we were stale. So we went completely off the charts, and hired the best available guy,” Buono said.
Most people thought it was a great signing.
“And it might still turn out to be,” he said. “but you can’t judge it two-thirds of the way through one season.
“We can use all the B.S. stats we want, you gotta learn how to win before you can win. We haven’t learned how to win.”
If they don’t learn before Buono’s time is up, he’s OK with it.
“I take my responsibility here very seriously, because this is not easy, believe me,” he said. “This may be as hard a year as I’ve ever had. But maybe I’m like everyone else, I expected more than what we’re getting.”