Hiring of Hall upgrades Bombers
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ coaching changes have upgraded the defence ... in Winnipeg.
Richie Hall, who was phased out as the Roughriders’ defensive co-ordinator in 2014, has resurfaced with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and should greatly improve their resistance to the run.
Hall is the Blue Bombers’ newly appointed defensive coordinator and, for a change, the job description will actually mean something.
Come playoff time, Hall had been bumped out of his accustomed role by Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin, who handled the defensive play-calling during the CFL’s 2014 West Division semifinal against the host Edmonton Eskimos.
Chamblin’s moonlighting was largely a success. Although the Roughriders lost 18-10, their defence did not surrender a touchdown.
Subsequently, Chamblin announced that Hall had been invited to remain on the Roughriders’ coaching staff, but specified that he would not return as the defensive co-ordinator. Wisely, Hall assessed his options and found a convenient landing spot, roughly 600 kilometres away from a city that had been his home for the better part of a quarter-century.
With Hall on the coaching staff, you can bet that rival tailbacks will no longer salivate at the thought of meeting the Bombers.
Countless times during Hall’s tenure in Saskatchewan, he underlined the necessity of rendering the opposing offence one-dimensional — the fundamental objective being to stop the run.
That approach served Hall and the Roughriders very well — as evidenced by the two Grey Cup rings he earned as Saskatchewan’s defensive co-ordinator.
In 2007, Hall was a part of the Kent Austin-coached Roughriders team that outlasted the Blue Bombers 23-19 in the 95th Grey Cup game.
Although so much of the focus was on the eventual coach of the year (Austin) and the league’s most outstanding player (quarterback Kerry Joseph) during that storybook season, the Roughriders ultimately rode a standout defensive performance to the third championship in franchise history.
Saskatchewan applied consistent pressure to Winnipeg quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie, who was starting in place of the injured Kevin Glenn. John Chick applied most of the heat, registering two sacks.
Not to be outdone, Roughriders cornerback James Johnson intercepted three Dinwiddie passes — returning one for a touchdown and extinguishing Winnipeg’s last-gasp drive with another pick — and was the automatic choice for Grey Cup MVP honours.
One week earlier, Chick had recorded two of the Roughriders’ seven sacks as they upended the firstplace B.C. Lions 26-17 in the West final.
The victory in Vancouver was the springboard to another Toronto-based Grey Cup. Eighteen years earlier, with Hall playing defensive halfback and returning punts, the Roughriders had defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43-40 at SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in the greatest of all Grey Cup games.
The Roughriders faced Hamilton again in the 2013 Grey Cup, prevailing 45-23 on Taylor Field. The landmark home-field conquest followed a regular season in which the Saskatchewan defence, choreographed by Hall, allowed a league-low 398 points.
It is naive to think that Chamblin did not have some influence on the Roughriders’ defensive dominance in 2013. After all, Chamblin’s coaching background is entirely on the defensive side.
It should also be noted that Austin, who was displeased with some passive defensive showings in the fall of 2007, pushed for a more aggressive approach in the division final and, subsequently, the Grey Cup.
Ultimately, a push for more aggression set the wheels in motion for Hall’s departure from Saskatchewan.
Chamblin has made it clear that his philosophy is less conservative than that of Hall, who does not dispute the notion.
Someone who is headstrong — the anti thesis of Hall, in other words — would have created a stink and become a distraction in the event that a head coach had decided to exert his influence.
Hall, by contrast, was unwaveringly team-oriented and therefore open to suggestions. If he needed to tailor a defensive scheme to the head coach’s preferences, he was amenable to doing so as long is it was beneficial to the collective.
The Grey Cup victories of 2007 and 2013 are a testament to Hall’s acumen and to his team-first attitude.
With Hall out of the equation in Saskatchewan, Chamblin will begin the 2015 season as the de-facto defensive co-ordinator. The head coach will handle most of the play-calling as Greg Quick, who is the defensive co-ordinator in title, becomes accustomed to his new role.
Ideally, Quick — who shares Chamblin’s “send everyone except Ivan Gutfriend” mindset with regard to unrelenting pressure — will evolve into an autonomous, successful defensive co-ordinator.
But even if Quick turns out to be an inspired hiring, the Roughriders will never entirely replace his personable predecessor.
With three Grey Cup rings and 23 years’ worth of smiles, Richie Hall has left a lasting legacy in Saskatchewan.
Now that he has left for Winnipeg, anyone who knows and appreciates him in his former CFL home has to be feeling a little blue.