Leaving Bears ‘tough,’ Stead says
It was the team meeting Jeff Stead hoped he would never have to call.
After guiding the University of Alberta Golden Bears football squad for the last two seasons as interim head coach, Stead addressed his team for the final time Monday, just hours before news broke that Chris Morris would be taking over the program.
“Monday night was one of the toughest things that I’ve had to do,” Stead said. “It was really tough, because I know how much those kids invested in me and my family and how much I invested in them. It’s not just me. Some of them babysit my kids, guys who just hang out (with my family) and are just big parts of our lives. For me to just end that chapter, it was pretty tough.”
Despite back-to-back winless seasons, Stead is confident he leaves the program in a better position than the one he found it when he took over in the spring of 2011 after Jerry Friesen, who brought Stead on board as an assistant in 2008, resigned.
Among the areas Stead is most proud of during his time leading the Bears, his 2012 recruiting class stands out.
“Local recruiting to me was an issue and there was a perception that everybody just walked in here and took whoever they wanted,” Stead pointed out. “We wanted to recreate that if you’re from here, we want you to stay here with us, or the junior teams.
“We wanted to make sure that we started young and we got kids in here with good character and kids that are going to work hard and I think we did that. When I looked at the kids that I told Monday night that we weren’t coming back … there were a lot of great people in that room.”
The changes Stead undertook, however, weren’t enough for the Vanier Cup-winning co-ordinator with the Manitoba Bisons to keep his job, after being one of five finalists shortlisted for the position.
“Now that I look back at it, there’s lots of things that crossed my mind,” Stead said reflecting on when he was named interim head coach. “I came here for a reason. I was going to do whatever I could to help the program, so it was a no-brainer (to become interim head coach) when I sat down with Vang (Ioannides, the U of A’s acting athletic director at the time).
“Now that I think about it, I wish that I didn’t just rush into it, that I did (present) a five-year plan and explained what I did want to do, because at the end of the day it’s easy for them to say, ‘thanks for plugging the hole, see you later.’ Essentially we’re sitting down today and that’s what’s happened.”
With very difficult circumstances surrounding Stead’s position as interim head coach, one would’ve expected the situation to weigh on Stead throughout his two seasons.
But despite dealing with distractions, like the Bears’ 2012 season starting on the eve of the application deadline for his job and plenty of chatter about who would replace him, Stead is adamant none of it took a toll during the season.
“You can call my bluff, but I didn’t think about it. I truly didn’t. I had 50 to 70 guys in here that I had to take care of and the only time I thought about it was on game day and the opposition coach would be like, ‘Hey, how’s it going. You’re in a dang tough spot.’
“I think it took a bigger toll on my family than anything, to be honest with you. I’m fortunate to have a wife that’s a rock.”
“I didn’t wake up everyday stressed out.”
Making sure he takes care of his family — wife Michelle, five-year-old son Brant and eight-year-old daughter Jayda — will determine what lies ahead for Stead’s coaching career.
“The last week I’ve spent a ton of time with my family and getting to know them again, but at the end of the day we’ve got to move forward,” Stead said.
“I truly believed that we would have an opportunity to stay here, but obviously the new person hired is moving in a different direction and that’s fine. We’ll go to school today and play some hockey tonight and that’s about it.”