Head Coach - Lions announce Jeff Tedford as 2015 HC

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Lions4ever
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South Pender wrote:Blitz, not wanting to spin Wally :wink: , but might it be possible that Tedford asked that Washington be included at the dinner meeting with Wally? Maybe he had some early questions re the defense?
Anyone know if the dinner meeting was held at a restaurant? If so, anyone know which one? Maybe we can hit up the waiter (I'm using that term gender-neutrally) for anything he or she might have overheard. :devil:
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Rammer wrote:I agree with you on Washington being at the dinner was inappropiate, however lets make a guess and say that Wally already pegged Tedford as the coach. With that in mind, Washington gets the first introduction to Tedford and it isn't so bad, he allows Washington to sell himself at dinner where he is an engaging personality. With that in mind, do you think that there is another candidate for DC, given that Tedford is an offensive minded HC? It could also have been at Tedford's request, wanting to see if Washington was the guy that was going to work for him. I am pretty sure that Tedford is a done deal now, so he may have begun his interviewing early. Just trying to make sense of why that dinner meeting included Washington.

As DanoT pointed out, at least McMann and Dorazio didn't get the invite.
I don't really have a problem with it. It was dinner. Nobody said it was an interview. At this point in time everybody involved is part of the Lions' coaching staff except Tedford and will immediately become his staff if he accepts the position. How long some remain part of his staff remains to be seen. I think there will be some casualties but at the same time he will want some continuity. Having been involved in hiring processes as both candidate and part of the group hiring it was always commonplace to meet the people who might be my supervisors and subordinates. Usually it was as part of a tour of the operations. Sometimes it was over breaking bread after the day was over. If I'm Tedford and being told part of my new job is empowerment to decide who my Coordinators and Assistants will be I want to meet the incumbents before deciding if I should take the job. I want to know who I might be working with or might be firing. I want to get a sense of what sort of hornet's nest I might be walking into. In an informal dinner setting one can learn a helluva lot about people and their personalities that doesn't come out so easily in a formal one-on-one meeting.

I don't read anything into McMann, Dorazio or any others being absent. This is the slow time of the year for assistant coaches ergo the best opportunity for vacationing or heading off to visit family, grandkids etc. It would be foolish to think everybody is in town or that the club would call them back in off vacation just to have dinner. I suspect those missing were not absent because they didn't make the "A-list" but rather because they weren't available on what had to be short notice.
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Lions4ever wrote:
South Pender wrote:Blitz, not wanting to spin Wally :wink: , but might it be possible that Tedford asked that Washington be included at the dinner meeting with Wally? Maybe he had some early questions re the defense?
Anyone know if the dinner meeting was held at a restaurant? If so, anyone know which one? Maybe we can hit up the waiter (I'm using that term gender-neutrally) for anything he or she might have overheard. :devil:
That's getting a little bit excessive :rotf:

What I'd want to know is...did they match Ochocinco's tip? :beer:
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dupsdell1
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· 3h 3 hours ago

Tedford had a 3 hour meeting with quarterback Travis Lulay yesterday.

The BC Lions are in the final stages of hiring Jeff Tedford as the new head coach.

Do not know if anyone Caught this from 1130 am sports twitter.
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dupsdell1 wrote:· 3h 3 hours ago

Tedford had a 3 hour meeting with quarterback Travis Lulay yesterday.

The BC Lions are in the final stages of hiring Jeff Tedford as the new head coach.

Do not know if anyone Caught this from 1130 am sports twitter.
Yes. The new head coach can learn a lot about the offence, and perhaps the offensive coaching staff, from a veteran QB. I don't think he asked to see Lulay throw for three hours, because we know he can't. I'd rather see Lulay as a QB coach in 2015 than as the starting QB.
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Toppy Vann
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I wouldn't read too much into the dinner.

Other coaches might not be in Vancouver right now. Could explain that.

We could be reading way too much into a dinner meeting and as others note we don't know how it came about. Wally and Tedford could have been planning dinner as Tedford is possibly in Vancouver alone. They are in a meeting with Washington and Tedford says hey why not join us over dinner.

Or MW was there as he was driving the guy to and from his hotel.

3 hours with Lulay could be good learning but in all honesty if he goes with TL and no other immediate back up who can play he'd be crazy.
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Wonder if Washington picked up the tab ?
TheLionKing
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B.C.FAN wrote:
dupsdell1 wrote:· 3h 3 hours ago

Tedford had a 3 hour meeting with quarterback Travis Lulay yesterday.

The BC Lions are in the final stages of hiring Jeff Tedford as the new head coach.

Do not know if anyone Caught this from 1130 am sports twitter.
Yes. The new head coach can learn a lot about the offence, and perhaps the offensive coaching staff, from a veteran QB. I don't think he asked to see Lulay throw for three hours, because we know he can't. I'd rather see Lulay as a QB coach in 2015 than as the starting QB.
More importantly, what the atmosphere in the dressing room is like.
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B.C.FAN wrote:
dupsdell1 wrote:· 3h 3 hours ago

Tedford had a 3 hour meeting with quarterback Travis Lulay yesterday.

The BC Lions are in the final stages of hiring Jeff Tedford as the new head coach.

Do not know if anyone Caught this from 1130 am sports twitter.
Yes. The new head coach can learn a lot about the offence, and perhaps the offensive coaching staff, from a veteran QB. I don't think he asked to see Lulay throw for three hours, because we know he can't. I'd rather see Lulay as a QB coach in 2015 than as the starting QB.
I agree 100%...I think that Travis is going to make a great coach and should start moving in that direction WITH the Lions!
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TheLionKing wrote:Wonder if Washington picked up the tab ?
No, but he ordered the most expensive entree AND an appetizer! :wag:
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I think it's completely absurd , the speculation that Tedford may come on board just to be a puppet . Seriously does anyone really suggest he's desperate for the job ? Wally Bouno IMO is far more the desperate one in this situation , as this may be his last kick at the can to right the ship . It doesn't sound like Tedford even needs a job at all . A guy doesn't get as far as he did being a stooge . If Washington is retained , it will be Tedfords decision and like wise any others on staff , to suggest other wise is to call his credibility into question .
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Ravi wrote:
Sir Purrcival wrote:This is being talked about as if it's a done deal. I know that speculation is the bread and butter of any forum but deciding whether or not this fellow is going to have a true "carte blanche" when it comes to retaining assistant coaches is putting the cart way ahead of the horse. Each day that passes without an announcement tells me this isn't a slam dunk; that there is still "convincing and negotiating" going on. It seems that the general opinion is that this guy is the best we could possibly get and that it is almost too good to be true that he is even available for consideration. What is plan B if he doesn't sign?
I doubt Wally would be talking so openly about Tedford if this wasn't all but a done deal as Wally would risk getting egg all over his face. I can't imagine that Tedford would have a three hour meeting with Travis Lulay if he wasn't about to take this job.
Well, we've been down that road in the past in the guise of Ricky Foley. Buono may be 100% sure that it is a done deal but until it is announced and signed. He doesn't really control the final outcome. He may want Tedford, hope for Tedford, and so on but until it happens, it hasn't. It only takes 1 sticking point for any deal to go off the rails so the question remains, if it does, is there a plan B? Who would be the next most likely candidate?
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South Pender wrote:Blitz, not wanting to spin Wally :wink: , but might it be possible that Tedford asked that Washington be included at the dinner meeting with Wally? Maybe he had some early questions re the defense?
I know you're not spinning it South Pender...just exploring every possible scenario. :wink:

Actually, its the fans who picked up the tab for dinner. We're the ones who buy the season's tickets or watch the games on TSN that sponsors pay big money to access with their advertisements.

I really don't care if Washington was invited by Buono, by Tedford, was the chauffer for Buono or Tedford and was invited along or whether he just accidentally was there alone for a nice dinner and Buono saw him there and did not want him to dine alone.

The jobs of all the assistant coaches are all potentially on the line, based upon Wally's own assertion that the new HC could chose his own staff. Wally also had to address interference and favoritism in his press conference as well as protocol. He also discussed culture.

If I am one of those assistants, some of them with Buono for longer than Washington or if I am Khari Jones, who is also a first year coordinator, why does Washington get the dinner special and I just get the visit.

I realize that Tedford is an experienced HC and not a potential puppet. I'm probably viewed as making too big a deal of this. But our Leos have to start addressing team culture and the best way to show everyone, players, fans, assistant coaches that there is a new way of doing things that involves fairness, equal opportunity, no favoritism, this was an opportunity for Buono to show everyone that everything is above board, fair, and equitable. Right now, there is an "appearance" of favoritism and "influence" whether there is or not. If Tedford was going to meet the previous coaching staff, having dinner with only one of them and meeting the rest differently is not good optics and should not have been done.

Tedford may not need top dollar money right now but he obviously still wants to coach. His decision not to come back to Tampa Bay, once his health issues were addressed, has put him in a spot where a future NFL job was gone for the near future at least. His health issues have also impacted his ability to get a NCAA job in a top program in a big university.

Tedford may want also want to get away from the pressures of college recruiting, the pressures of having his players meet academic standards, along with the pressure of winning. He may also want to come to B.C. to show that he can win as a HC at the professional level as well as prove that his health issues are gone, so he can get a future shot down the road at a major NCAA program and be in the big money again. Who knows. I'm pleased that he is very interested. He offers more promise, in so many ways, than the other candidates that were being considered. He is what we need I believe, right now. But Tedford also does not have great leverage either, in terms of a HC job that would appeal. We need him and he needs us right now.
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For Tedford, it now comes down to the money, for Chap, he is back in the CFL as an offensive coordinator...from Lowell Ullrich, The Province.
Notebook: Tedford en route from another world; ex-Lions coaches also appear to be on the move

December 17, 2014. 3:48 pm • Section: The Fifth Quarter

Ex-Lions offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine won’t ever likely make the kind of money Jeff Tedford is used to pulling down, though he’s about to change jobs (see below). For that matter, few people in the CFL pull down what Tedford is used to making.
Wally Buono made it clear early to Jeff Tedford that he wasn’t about to pull down the kind of salary he’s been used to making during his days running a major college football program and his only year in the NFL.

The Lions GM spent a good portion of Wednesday trying to convince Tedford’s agent of the same thing.

The time spent waiting for an announcement from the Lions about a new coach can also be utilized to examine just how much cash is thrown around at reputable college programs like the one Tedford ran for 11 seasons at the University of California, and why CFL teams don’t see his kind looking at coaching jobs here often.

It might also explain things if there’s ultimately no deal either.

For example, it isn’t just enough that Tedford was one of the highest paid college coaches in the Pac-12 when he was dismissed two years ago. Since Cal is a public university, coaches are considered employees of the state and Tedford’s salary of $2.44 million US, according to the Sacramento Bee, made him the second-highest paid employee of his kind in the most populated state in the U.S.

The last contract given to Tedford, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, under consideration by Cal’s board of regents called for the coach to make $225,000 in base pay but given a talent fee of $1.57 million. The fee, according to the paper, was believed to be paid by Nike, which furnished team uniforms.

Documents also showed Tedford was to receive $500,000 upon completion of the construction of a campus high performance centre, a $1 million signing bonus for making it through the 2008 season, two cars, 30 season tickets and a golf club membership.

A California emailer also pointed out he had a 7,600 square foot house in suburban San Francisco up for sale last year reportedly at $2.6 million and has a recreational home in northern California that is of even higher value.

The Lions, like most CFL teams, will provide an automobile but Buono may have needed time to explain the fact coaches aren’t getting a talent fee any time soon. When you consider that no coach has anything resembling a pension and haven’t had one for years it isn’t hard to understand why Tedford went home two decades ago after three seasons in Calgary in the first place.

Tedford’s likely salary with the Lions, which will no doubt come in more around the $375,000 mark annually and not $500,000 being reported, would put him in 128th position on a list of NCAA head coaches. Tedford’s successor at Cal, Sonny Dykes, made $2.5 million last year. It’s another world, making the fact the Lions appear to have Tedford’s interest currently all the more interesting.

Meantime, it’s been an interesting day elsewhere in football on both sides of the border and for your viewing pleasure we pass along the following:

–Winnipeg coach Mike O’Shea fired defensive coordinator Gary Etcheverry, which means Etcheverry will be allowed to speak for himself finally and restart rumours he’ll be replaced by Mike Benevides or Richie Hall.

–Saskatchewan has openings at both coordinator positions and not only is Benevides a candidate also with the Riders he could be joined by none other than Jacques Chapdelaine, who reportedly has resigned his post at SFU after one season. Chapdelaine told the Regina Leader-Post an announcement on his status is expected and sure enough, the school confirmed his exit on its website.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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LU ...

Best wishes to Jacques Chapdelaine. Always very friendly with the fans. Very knowledgeable OC.
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