IT’S WALLY’S WORLD
Buono big part of CFL evolution
Wally Buono lent several decades of perspective to media conferences at which the CFL’s head coaches were featured on Thursday.
“Two things you’ve got to do in football are win and win,” Buono, the B.C. Lions head coach, general manager and vice-president of football operations, said during CFL Week in Regina.
“But in this day and age, that’s not all you have to do. You have to entertain people and make people want to come to your games.”
Among the coaches who met the media in two groups Thursday, Buono was uniquely qualified to discuss the CFL’s landscape and evolution.
Buono, a 67-year-old hall of famer, made his CFL debut with the Montreal Alouettes in 1973 and spent 10 seasons as a player with that organization.
He was a CFL assistant coach for seven seasons (1983 to 1989) before becoming the Calgary Stampeders’ field boss in 1990. After 13 seasons in charge of the Stampeders, he moved to B.C. and built another winning organization there.
Over all these years, Buono has experienced and been at the forefront of many changes, such as unrestricted free agency.
Player movement has increased since one-year contracts became an option for veterans, one result of a collectivebargaining agreement negotiated in 2014.
“We’ve just caught up to other leagues,” Buono said. “If you haven’t learned from how (GMs) in the NHL and NFL have been building their teams, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
Buono said the NFL has taken note of several changes the CFL has implemented in recent years, such as expanded video review and a lengthening of the distance from which an extra point must be kicked.
Along the way, the CFL has taken a few lumps. Video review, for example, has required considerable tweaking and generated criticism.
“When you are pioneers, sometimes you will have to find your way,” Buono said. “Sometimes you have to adjust, and we did.”
One adjustment — and a pleasant one at that for the CFL — is that the discussions Thursday with the coaches did not pertain to any burning crises.
Buono was in the league when it seemed to be on life support in the mid-1990s. Now the teams are generally stable, the television contract with TSN is lucrative, there is a stadium construction boom, and most of the chatter pertains to the on-field product and the league’s personalities, as opposed to crisis management.
“The league is in good shape but, at the same time, we realize we need to be aggressive in our approach as well,” Alouettes head coach Jacques Chapdelaine said.
The biggest trouble spot has been Toronto, where the Argonauts continue to struggle to make inroads in a traditionally tough, competitive market.
But even there, optimism is buoyed by the recent — albeit belated — introductions of GM Jim Popp and head coach Marc Trestman, both of whom enjoyed immense success as a tandem with the Alouettes. Popp stood in at the East Division coaches’ media conference for Trestman, who is back in Toronto trying to make up for lost time.
“That’s the hand you’re dealt,” Popp said of the late start.
“We’re not going to dwell on that.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders could also be considered a concern, despite their abundant wealth and a new stadium opening for CFL action in June.
The problem: Dating back to the midpoint of the 2014 season, Saskatchewan has a 10-35 record, including a 5-13 mark in 2016 in the first season under head coach, GM and vice-president of football operations Chris Jones.
Jones is optimistic the Roughriders will be muchimproved this season, noting the quarterback situation will be “interesting” to follow after the departure of Darian Durant (now of Montreal) and the additions of 37-year-old Kevin Glenn and former NFL and University of Texas Longhorns star Vince Young.
Among the coaches, there was a consensus that the league needs to focus on being entertaining, with an emphasis on engaging a younger audience.
The inaugural CFL Week, which began Tuesday and continues until Sunday, is widely viewed as a progressive step.
“I think it’s a great event,” Ottawa Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said, “and something that we should continue to build on.”
If you haven’t learned from how (GMs) in the NHL and NFL have been building their teams, then you haven’t been paying attention.