Poll: The fans' choice, and the Lions' choose Khari Jones

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The fans choice for OC: Jackson, Bates, Jones, Sams, other?

Jarious Jackson
5
16%
Kelly Bates
1
3%
Khari Jones
11
35%
Doug Sams
1
3%
Other ...
13
42%
 
Total votes: 31
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WestCoastJoe
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Now that Paul LaPolice and George Cortez are unavailable to us, the Lions are in a tricky, difficult position.

Not easy to replace the sophistication of what JC brought to the table. And we know full well the frustrations of the fans over the years with JC.

Not easy to bring in a new or young guy from the college ranks, U.S. or Canada.

Not easy to find absolute top quality guys in this year of turnover in the CFL coaching ranks. The pickings look very slim.

Not easy to bring in a guy with minimal qualifications, as we may have to do, when we have two guys with great potential, but minimal credentials themselves already on staff.

Not easy to change the OC when we have not mentored a replacement, with sufficient experience and demonstrated success, from inside the organization.

Not ideal when the Head Coach will have to rely to such a great extent on his OC, a new guy, for the offensive Xs and Os mastery.

Not easy to change horses as we get ready to host the Grey Cup in 2014.

A difficult choice for Benny and Wally. A tricky choice for Benny and Wally.

Underachieving results the last two years. Two "scapegoats" sent on their way.

A new, first time DC, with some promise. A new OC, unknown ...
..........

Not all that happy to hear that we are interviewing Doug Sams, a retread IMO, from a floundering organization, the Eskimos, for a sideways move.

From Khari, Kelly and Jarious, I would choose Jarious, inexperienced though he is.

Other? Well one hopes that Benny has some guys with glowing credentials on his list.
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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.theprovince.com/sports/footb ... story.html
Few candidates left for Lions’ offensive co-ordinator opening

By Lowell Ullrich, The Province December 16, 2013

There’s still no shortage of coaches willing to pick up where Jacques Chapdelaine left off with the B.C. Lions, but the number of candidates who have the interest of head coach Mike Benevides might not be as long.

It may also be getting even shorter with word from several CFL sources that Marcel Bellefeuille is about to return to his post with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“I don’t know where it lies exactly,” Benevides said Monday of his list of potential offensive co-ordinators. “But I know I don’t want to close any doors.”

Bellefeuille was hired midway through last season to work as offensive co-ordinator on an interim basis, and is expected to be among the next assistants to be announced by new Winnipeg coach Mike O’Shea.

The Lions have fielded inquiries from candidates ranging from former Winnipeg head coach Mike Kelly to ex-Lions quarterback Joe Paopao. But having missed out on Paul LaPolice and George Cortez, the Lions list at the moment consists of Saskatchewan quarterbacks coach Khari Jones.

Benevides also confirmed a TSN report that indicated the club had discussed Edmonton offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams.
Scratch Bellefeuille from that list.

Hmmmmm

Mike Kelly

Joe Paopao

Doug Sams

In the OC search ...
“I don’t know where it lies exactly,” Benevides said Monday of his list of potential offensive co-ordinators. “But I know I don’t want to close any doors.”
Is Benny surprised that there are not 10 outstanding candidates knocking on his door? For a coordinator's position? Without choice of assistant personnel? Without total control of offensive schemes?

Is he surprised that two ex Head Coaches, with very good credentials, LoPolice and Cortez, did not jump at this opportunity?

Within the Lions' staff, over the years, many guys have been shuffled off. Two young, green candidates are left, and one veteran with no desire for upward mobility, and a lifetime membership in the club.

Time for a holiday in Hawaii.
Blitz
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Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know when you fire an OC you need to get it right
Not just hope the sun will shine and the stars will provide insight
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you
"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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WestCoastJoe
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Blitz wrote:Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know when you fire an OC you need to get it right
Not just hope the sun will shine and the stars will provide insight
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you
Very nice. :beer:

And I hope Wally has a restful vacation there. Benny might have to stay home and keep up the search.

Or maybe Benny will look under the tree, and see something he might have been overlooking. Two presents, not gaudy, no fancy wrapping, but capable. Young, inexperienced. Ambitious. Not really brought along so far in a grand plan. In one box is Kelly Bates. In the other is Jarious Jackson.
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Rammer
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Given the options and I personally hope that there is more coming to the table, I would choose Kelly Bates. He has flourished in his given responsibilities, and if anyone can coordinate the Lions OL to get some openings for what should be the strength of the team, he should be able to. It is going to be an interesting season with some growing pains that we are going to have to be able to absorb as fans.
Entertainment value = an all time low
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Toppy Vann
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Bates might be a good choice but is he an X and O sort of guy? It is not like JC seems to be the most inclusive of OCs.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
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DanoT
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I'd make Jackson the OC and Buck a player/QBcoach/backupQB/alternate play caller.
TheLionKing
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As long as it's not Chapdelaine I'm content.
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B.C.FAN
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Chapdelaine is looking good compared to the others on the list. The reason he's gone is because fans wanted change. The only people who can bring real change are those from outside the organization. I chose Khari Jones.
ziggy
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There has been a lot of talk about the new wave of coaches and their innovation on this site. Maybe it's time to look further a field for new blood and a fresh approach, find our ownTrestman.
Unfortunately given we host the GC most will opt for a conservative approach.
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Don Miller
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:rockin: Khari Jones, JJ too inexperienced and Kelly Bates OL coach and running backs. Joe Paopao great guy could move the ball between the 2o yard lines but had trouble in the red zone scoring td's. I think Khari would work well with Travis and Buck and the running backs and more emphasis put on the run to make the passing game better.
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David
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This just gets weirder and more terrifying by the day.

A straw poll of hardcore Lions fans reveals the two leading candidates have but one vote between them.


DH :cool:
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Blitz
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Blitz wrote:Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know when you fire an OC you need to get it right
Not just hope the sun will shine and the stars will provide insight
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you
Very nice. :beer:

And I hope Wally has a restful vacation there. Benny might have to stay home and keep up the search.

Or maybe Benny will look under the tree, and see something he might have been overlooking. Two presents, not gaudy, no fancy wrapping, but capable. Young, inexperienced. Ambitious. Not really brought along so far in a grand plan. In one box is Kelly Bates. In the other is Jarious Jackson.
I think the big question is what kind of change the Lions are looking for. No doubt that JC was dumped to appease the fan base and hopefully get a couple of players a lttle happier.

However, I really don't believe our Lions want to dump msot of JC\s scheme. If we go inside its going to mostly be JC's scheme with either Bates or Jarious running it. If we go outside to Khari Jones or Sams or even someone else I don't believe we will see a new scheme...just some variations, wrinkles, additions...

Cotez was even more of a spread offensive guy than JC. He mostly uses a single back set and the main reason that their running attack was so good was that their tailback bounced it outside so well. Our Leos shut that down in the playoff game. Cotez ran an offence that was much more predictable than ours this season...in fact Cortez ran the old version of ChapBall. He was fortunate to have good personell.

The only significant offensive scheme change we would have seen was if we had hired LaPolice. It would have been change but not necessarily innovation.

If we really want to change our offensive scheme we really should be looking at hiring a coach with a lot of offensive coordinator experience and has a record of introducing innovative concepts into his system. Right now, from at least what we have heard, there Is no one on our radar screen that fits that bill .....and that is what a lot of fans were not only hoping for when we dumped JC but also antiicipated that was what we were going to get.

The picture looks a lot different now that during the season and right after we dumped JC. So the front runner is Khari Jones. In 2009, Jones began his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 2011, he was promoted to offensive coordinator for one season. In 2012, he was the quarterbacks coach of the Riders. He is young, has experience as a successful CFL quarterback, and has one year of offensive coordinator in Hamilton. For anyone who watched Hamllton in 2012 I don't believe you would call Jones system innovative. However, he seems to be the best candidate right now.

I would not at this point consider anyone we are going to hire as an upgrade on what we had. However, what we can hope for is that they will learn quickly and have a lot of upside.
"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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Rammer
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David wrote:This just gets weirder and more terrifying by the day.

A straw poll of hardcore Lions fans reveals the two leading candidates have but one vote between them.


DH :cool:
Yep, it looks like the 'hardcore' Lion fans are still where they were for the last several seasons wanting the same guy for the OC job, that 'other' guy for the position.
Entertainment value = an all time low
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korey&dante4ever
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This is a disaster right now. The biggest edges you can create in the CFL are by having a superior coaching staff and good Canadian talent.

I said last year when the pieces fell into place and Sask got Cortez, that they just won the Grey Cup. Chamblin said the same in the offseason saying something like "Cortez is a walking offense, and he has been our best signing this offseason."
Now that it has come out that Bene and Wally are tight with Cortez, we should have been the ones to jump on him last offseason, not only to enhance our offense, but as a blocker to keep him out of Sask IMO. Anyways, that ship has sailed, and Sask has the cup. (They were not going to win the GC with Bob Dyce as their OC.)

Right now, we have a skeleton coaching staff with nothing but defensive minds on it.

Rewind back to '08. Hufnagel looking for a head coaching spot in the CFL. Our coaching staff in a purrfect world right now should be:
HC: Hufnagel
OC: Dickenson
DC: Benevides
GM: Wally (moved to GM in '08)

Mismanagement on Wally's part IMO, and that staff above^ would have more than one cup since '08 IMO.
-Believes in building from the trenches outwards. A great O-Line and D-Line guarantees an above average team.
-A coach that has to give a motivational pregame speech is probably a coach that is insecure about his game plan.
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