Bombers aim to put end to exodus of top talent
Lapolice is gone but he could be followed by Collaros, Nichols, Jefferson, Rose and others
WINNIPEG Once the dominoes start falling, they go down fast.
When it comes to the Grey Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the first one toppled over the weekend, heading east to the Nation’s Capital.
Offensive co-ordinator Paul Lapolice will pack up his wife, kids and colourful book of plays for Ottawa, taking his second crack at a head-coaching gig.
This is what happens when your team claims the championship mug. Everybody, from the equipment guy to the quarterback to the head coach, increases their value.
And every organization looking to make changes wants to steal a piece of your new shine, hoping it rubs off.
After all, what better sales pitch can you make to a disgruntled fan base than to say, “We’re bringing in (insert quarterback or coach’s name here) to fix this, and oh by the way he just won the Grey Cup, so you can’t say we aren’t trying hard enough.”
“You’d always love to keep your people,” Bombers CEO Wade Miller told me last week. “But at the same time, good opportunities for people that worked really hard for us and (you) love to see that.”
Coach Lapo topped the off-season wish list this year, after performing a trick that may be unprecedented: winning it all with his third starting quarterback.
Good for him. He deserves another shot at the big chair, after his first unravelled under GM Joe Mack early in his third season with the Bombers, back in 2012.
Lapo lost the room, we were told. Perhaps the past four years have taught him a thing or two about how to hang onto it. More to the point: how to let it run itself.
He’d already learned to allow lots of input from his quarterbacks. Winnipeg’s raved about that. Perhaps this time it’ll work out, long-term, for Lapo.
In the short-term, if you follow the CFL at all, you’ll know his family and play book won’t be the only things the coach takes with him to the Redblacks.
And this is where the Bombers would be advised to move quickly.
Lapolice no doubt will be whispering in the ears of free-agent quarterbacks Zach Collaros, Matt Nichols and/or Chris Streveler, selling them on the chance to run his offence in balmy southern Ontario for the next three seasons.
He may try to lure a bevy of Winnipeg free agents, from starting offensive linemen such as Stanley Bryant and Jermarcus Hardrick to defensive terror Willie Jefferson or CFL interceptions leader Winston Rose to receiver Darvin Adams.
How do the Bombers arrest the exodus?
By showing they aren’t just going to be a one-and-done, that enough key pieces will be back to make this team a contender for a repeat in 2020.
Having the leaders on both sides of the ball already under contract, running back Andrew Harris and middle linebacker Adam Bighill, is a good start.
But head coach Mike O’shea’s re-signing is critical.
If that isn’t done by the end of the week, the Bombers are sleeping at the switch.
Other coaches may also get opportunities elsewhere. They’ll want to know what O’shea’s status is, and where they fit in, pronto.
As sparkling as Coach Lapo’s work was this season, the real backbone of this team was its defence.
Co-ordinator Richie Hall has been there and done that as a head coach, too, but I doubt he’s as hot a commodity as his offensive colleague was.
How can other organizations not look at the job Glen Young did with Winnipeg’s front six and wonder about his potential for running an entire defence?
But the critical piece after the head coach is the No. 1 quarterback.
The sooner the Bombers get
O’shea to scribble his name on a new contract, the sooner they can let everyone know Buck Pierce will replace Coach Lapo, moving up from his gig as the quarterbacks coach.
That’s when they can go to Collaros and Streveler, or perhaps Nichols and Streveler, and say, “Here’s what we’re gonna do. You wanna stay?”
Last off-season the Bombers were notable for their stability, bucking the CFL trend for oneyear-at-a-time thinking.
That’ll be tough to repeat.
But it doesn’t mean CEO Wade Miller and GM Kyle Walters can’t mitigate the losses.