Buono to lead B.C. Lions from start of season

Halfway through the first practice of B.C. Lions’ training camp, Wally Buono is leaning up against one of the goalposts observing his offence.

The club’s head coach and general manager is down at the other end of the field later on as the defence goes through its paces.

As the light session without pads continues, he takes a seat on the sidelines and chats quietly with a staff member.

It might not look like it sometimes, but Buono is in complete control.

“He’s like ‘The Godfather,”’ wide receiver Bryan Burnham said with a grin Sunday. “He’s the man around here. He walks into the room and without saying a word he gets that respect.

“He’s earned it.”

The CFL’S all-time leader in coaching victories, Buono moved upstairs to focus on front office duties after winning the Grey Cup in 2011 – his second with team and fifth overall – but returned to the sidelines in 2016 as the Lions started to spiral into irrelevance.

With the help of a dynamic young quarterback in Jonathon Jennings, Buono inspired the team to a 12-6 campaign that saw B.C. win a playoff game for the first time in five years before falling to the Calgary Stampeders in the West Division final.

“We buy in because it’s Wally. It’s so easy to buy in,” said Burnham. “Over the years we’ve had different coaches and sometimes it’s hard to find that chemistry with them, but with Wally it’s right there.

“He is the B.C. Lions.” Buono is committed to coach through this season, but beyond that is anyone’s guess.

Friends and family have asked the 67-year-old if he plans on keeping a journal to document what could be his swan song as a CFL coach. It’s an idea he scoffed at.

“That’s not who I am. I struggle with all this,” said Buono, who was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2014. “My thing is I approach this year as this year. I’m not even thinking forward.”

After retiring as a player, Buono took part in his first training camp as an assistant coach in 1983 with the Montreal Concordes – before anyone on the current Lions roster was born.