IT’S A SPECIAL LIONS SEASON
But coach Buono doesn’t want to hear about it
Given the way last season ended, there is much about the conversation with Wally Buono that is familiar and predictable.
No, last season wasn’t much fun. Yes, he might have stepped away from the B.C. Lions if things had turned out better. Yes, he feels a sense of loyalty to David Braley, the CFL team’s owner. And, yes, he’s optimistic about the Leos’ many off-season changes.
For a veteran Wally watcher, it’s about what you’d expect and most of the upcoming season will have a similar look and feel to the 45 or so that preceded it in this remarkable man’s remarkable career. And then there’s the other aspect to this season, one that isn’t as familiar or predictable. What about that Wally?
“Will it be tough?” Buono asks in his trademark rhetorical style when questioned about his impending retirement.
“Probably. But that’s the human side of the game and that applies to me, the players, (new GM) Ed (Hervey), everyone. I don’t want to be a distraction for the players and the organization and I don’t want to be a rallying cry for the team.
“I’d rather you want to win because it’s important to you. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it.”
And the way he always will, even if others see this season a little differently.
There are, of course, 92 storylines tied up in this Lions’ season as the 2018 squad prepares for its first steps in Kamloops this weekend. There’s the arrival of Hervey as the new sheriff in town. There’s his aggressive off-season in which he signed 18 CFL-veteran free agents while making three major trades and landing two first-round draft picks. There’s the intrigue about quarterback Jonathon Jennings. There’s the uncertainty created by all that movement.
For a veteran team, training camp tends to be an exercise in banality. That won’t be a problem with the Leos in the ‘Loops.
Still, for everything that’s taken place between the conclusion of 2017 and the dawn of this year, Buono’s final year tends to overshadow everything else with this team.
It is a complicated, multilayered story that involves a farewell to a legend, a man who’s been the face of the Lions for 16 years and one of the CFL’s enduring figures for as long as anyone can remember.
Beyond the wistful nostalgia, however, there’s also a pragmatic aspect to this season that has Buono’s full attention and, really, the only thing he cares about heading into training camp.
Above all, the Lions require a first-class coaching job this season which raises the question, can Buono, at 68, provide that?
He says yes and the old Lion has never suffered from a lack of self-confidence.
But he also talks about the excitement of this challenge, about the newness of everything around him and its energizing powers.
It starts with his relationship with Hervey, a man who’s almost a quarter-century his junior but one with whom he shares a similar philosophy about the game.
But on this Lions’ team, it doesn’t end there.
“(Hervey) might be more oldfashioned than me,” Buono says with a laugh. “Sometime when I talk to Ed I think, ‘Who’s 68 and who’s 44?’ It’s all football with him and it’s a serious business.”
Buono also talks about reshaping his philosophy in this final season.
Throughout his career he’s been risk-averse, adhering to the game’s bedrock principles while regarding gambling or trickery as the act of a desperate coach. This year you might expect something different.
“I’ve always been fairly conservative but hiring (new offensive co-ordinator) Jarious (Jackson) and (new special team’s coach) Jeff (Reinebold) will allow me to be a little more adventurous.
“It’s doing things that make you aggressive, whether it’s an onside kick, a kick return, a playaction pass. It’s willing to take the risk.”
So is the CFL ready for partyWally? Probably not. Buono has been an innovator at times in his career but he tends to fall back on the tried and true, those tenets that have served him well over the years.
When he and Hervey drew up a plan for renovating the Lions this off-season, they talked about the need to get bigger, faster and tougher with hard-working players who’d buy into the system.
They believe they signed those players.
Now it’s up to the coach to build something out of them.
“When we talked in November it was all about trying to find competition at all the positions,” says Buono. “For me it’s really exciting. I don’t know a lot of these guys. It’s not like years past when I was the central figure.
“Now all I want is go to training camp, see what we have and coach the team.”
Which sounds simple enough. But given the number of changes the team has made in both personnel and the front office, it will be anything but.
Still, if Buono was looking for a challenge in his final season, one that tests all the knowledge and skill he’s gained in five decades in the Canadian game, he’s come to the right place.
The Lions need a lot of things to break right this season. Mostly, they need some magic from the old man and wouldn’t it be something if he can deliver that as the curtain closes?
“They’ll be playing for the greatest coach in CFL history,” said Hervey.
“If that doesn’t motivate you to go out and play hard, I don’t know if you’re in the right profession.”
And Buono might not be crazy about that idea but if it helps him win, he can live with it.