Calgary Herald

Expect Stamps to stay strong, writes Dan Barnes

Steady Stampeders always a threat to win Grey Cup

- DAN BARNES dbarnes@postmedia.com Twitter.com/sportsdanb­arnes

The numbers speak for themselves: 14 consecutiv­e years in the playoffs and 169 regular-season wins over that span.

They’re numbers that turn other franchises green.

But numbers are generated by people. The right people. Many of the managers, executives, players, coaches, scouts and trainers who come to work with the Calgary Stampeders flourish in an environmen­t steeped in the success those numbers reflect, and engender the continuity that practicall­y guarantees bigger and better numbers to come.

Those people are the how and the why of Calgary becoming the CFL gold standard since 2005, when the playoff run began.

“Continuity has a lot to do with sustained success,” said GM John Hufnagel. “We’ve had movement, but not a wholesale houseclean­ing. I’ve been very fortunate to hire great people and they have worked their way up within the organizati­on. A lot of our coaches are ex-Stampeder players. I’ve had coaches here since 2008. I’ve had people in our scouting department who have been here since 2008. Mike Petrie was our media relations director for the first couple years and he’s been the assistant general manager doing a great job and he’s been here since 2008. I think continuity has a lot to do with it because what needs to be done, how it’s going to be done, doesn’t change.”

In Calgary, it ain’t broke, so there is no need to fix it. They just keep on keeping on. They have won the West Division title in six of the last 10 years and are on the verge of going 7-for11. Dave Dickenson’s winning percentage as head coach is .816, while Hufnagel was at .712 before he handed over the coaching reins to Dickenson. And Bo Levi Mitchell, who has been a Stampeder for seven seasons, has the highest winning percentage of any starting quarterbac­k in CFL history at .840.

TSN commentato­r Matt Dunigan, a former Stampeders GM, said the franchise makes consistent­ly good decisions on personnel.

“Sometimes you’re not right on people, but they’ve been right with John and Dave for a long time and it works extremely well,” Dunigan said. “They have set the benchmark for the CFL for a decade and a half. There are a lot of envious people across the league, people trying to emulate that and justifiabl­y so, because it’s an ideal situation for a football club, how to run an organizati­on. They give the blueprint to everybody every season and it’s something to aspire to, that’s for sure.”

Defensive back Brandon Smith, who has been on the inside of the big red machine for 11 seasons, said success provides its own motivation.

“We’ve always had good teams. We’ve always been Grey Cup contenders. That’s the standard that we set and we have to live up to it week in and week out,” he said.

Last weekend they clinched their 14th consecutiv­e playoff berth. It’s not close to Edmonton’s CFL record of 34, but no other team has a longer streak going. Even so, it wasn’t cause for much celebratio­n because playoffs are an expectatio­n.

“Yes, absolutely that’s true, but it goes beyond that,” said punter Rob Maver, a Stampeder since 2010. “We look after the little things. If you look after the little things, the big things are going to look after themselves.”

He offered an explanatio­n. “If one guy on kickoff team does something that’s not perfect, that person is going to get coached. And if I hit a ball that’s not good, I’m going to get coached in front of the whole team. It’s just the expectatio­n that we set every single play.”

Finding the right coaches and players to plug into that culture is key. Finding the right quarterbac­k is perhaps most important. The Stamps have had the likes of Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Dickenson, Henry Burris and now Mitchell at the helm.

“We’ve been fortunate. We’ve had great players at the position,” said Hufnagel. “But we really try very hard to make sure that things are sound around him.”

So the Stampeders find the left tackle, the running back or wide receiver they need, when they need him. The injury-riddled team did it again on Monday by signing receiver Chris Matthews, who was rookie of the year in the CFL with Winnipeg in 2012 before heading to the NFL.

There are one or two holes in the trophy cabinet, however, and they all lament their most recent Grey Cup shortcomin­gs.

In the last 10 years, the Stampeders have won the Grey Cup twice, in 2008 and 2014.

“We came up short two years in a row,” said Smith. “Guys are tired of coming up short. We’re putting the work in that it takes to go where we want to go. Everybody here wants to be great.”

 ?? AL CHAREST ?? The Calgary Stampeders have done a lot of celebratin­g over the last 14 years, but winning enough Grey Cups to match their impeccable regular-season success has been the CFL franchise’s one shortfall.
AL CHAREST The Calgary Stampeders have done a lot of celebratin­g over the last 14 years, but winning enough Grey Cups to match their impeccable regular-season success has been the CFL franchise’s one shortfall.
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