I think the narrative that "Little Wally" as the nickname goes was handicapped by the overbearing Wally who wouldn't let go is possibly an issue with some players not taking the HC that seriously - but it is not THE main reason for MB's failure.
Mike Benevides failed as he was not ready to be a HC.
He was put in the role where everything in his actions as an ST and DC coach suggested he was not ready for HC. He just didn't understand the role and he is not alone in failing to grasp the job changes the higher you move up and what made you a success as a DC is not what will determine your success as a HC. Toppy VANN
Agreed Toppy Vann
I haven't written any post-game thoughts on Lionbackers after our Leos loss to Montreal in the Semi-Final. Even though I thought we had a chance, especially if we could come up with an offensive game plan to defeat the Montreal blitz the loss was expected, based upon our offence all season and our defensive collapse at the end of the season.
Here are some post game thoughts and future thoughts, following the firing of Mike Benevedes.
COACHING
I was not happy about the choice of hiring Mike Benevedes as our new HC in 2012 nor the process that was used. It was obvious to all Lionbackers that Benevedes was Buono's protege. The question was why? Obviously Buono had attempted to mentor Benevedes for the role for over 10 years, beginning with Benevedes position as special teams coach, linebacker coach, CFL draft coordinator, and defensive coordinator. But Benevedes had never exhibited the presence, the maturity, the composure, or the strong leadership skills needed for the role.
However, things looked good in 2012. However, Benevedes had a lot of talent to work with in the 2012 season, the team was cohesive after our 2011 Grey Cup victory, and he had two very experienced, mature taskmasters in Stubler and Chapdelaine, who wouldn't put up with any nonsense. Therefore, Benevedes could play the good guy and hand out ice cream treats. Players responded positively, with a change of environment from the stern appoach of Buono. But that is not unusual. A change to a player's style coach often provides a temporary positive result.
Benevedes was in a much better position with a couple of more mature coaches in key positions. I was strongly opposed to letting Chap and Stubler go at the end of last season. I believed Benevedes would struggle with a couple of younger coordinators because now it would take more than ice cream treats, slogans, bad pre-game speeches, hugs and belly bumps, and running down the sidelines like a kid. It would take real leadership and Benny would have to provide it. I didn't think he would be able to and he didn't.
Mark Washington and Khari Jones did not fill the void left by Stubler and Chap. Stubler was unfairly singled out for the Riders playoff loss, even though he was without Eliminian in that game and McKenzie was not a good enough replacement in the middle to shut down Durant's runs. Chap had been good enough to lead an offence to a Grey Cup in 2011, have the best offence in the CFL in 2012, and overcome the injured from the start of the season to his loss later in the season, the need to start an untried DeMarco, and the decision/need to integrate Buck Pierce. Still, when we finally got some offensive line blocking towards the end of the season, we rushed for over 200 yards per game in our last three games and our offence looked very good with a rusty Lulay in the 2013 Semi-Final. It was a mistake to let Chap go, expecially going into a Grey Cup hosting season.
Washington and Khari Jones didn't have the same presence and power that Chap and Stubler had. With Benevedes uanble to provide it, Jones stuggled early and often and the wheels finally came off Washington's defense as defensive disharmony finally showed up.
Mark Washington, as our defensive coordinator, looked like a defensive backfield coach playing the role of a defensive coordinator this year. His defense, even though he said he would be more aggressive, was too pass defense focused. Bighill, Jamal Johnson, and Josh Johnson were mainly used as pass defender, we dropped into a lot of zone coverage, our blitzes were rare and poorly executed, and we didn't get enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Khari Jones stuggled badly for most of the season. His major nemisis was his own offensive line coach. Dan Dorazio has a body of work over 10 years that has led to our Leos having the most quarterback sack totals in the CFL during his tenure. That sack total was not due to deficiency in our quarterback ranks. Under Chap, we had Dave Dickenson, Casey Printers, Buck Pierce, Jarious Jackson, and Travis Lulay. All spent more time injured than on the playing field. Kevin Glenn, this season, was so overwhelmed early and often, pressured and hit and sacked, he never recovered, even though he was able to overcome a lot of lesser but painful injuries.
In terms of assistant coaches, Johny Holland did a great job with our linebackers this season. Kelly Bates did another excellent job with the draft and coaching the runnng backs who hit holes hard or smart. Carl Hairston has never replaced Randy Melvin, who was outstanding in creating inside defensive line pressure in 2011 and 2012. The hiring of Joe Pao Pao was a shock to me. Having an older presence on the offensive coaching staff made good sense, with the hiring of Jones made some sense but he was the wrong choice for this position.
Chuck McMann's coaching has been characterized often by unpreparedness, bad penalites, inconsistency and often mediocrity.
The best choices for 2014 would have been to fire Benevedes rather than extend him, retire Dorazio and McMann, keep Chap, Stubler, Bates, and Washington (as defensive backfield coach and take the chance of losing him) hire Holland, and leave Joe Pao to join an Over 50 surfing group. They could have hired a Geroy Simon or a Paris Jackson as a receivers coach.
We need a new Head Coach with autonomy. One of the problems is that Buono is over interfering, as he did as a HC, even when Ritchie was doing a great job. Buono is still stuck in a spread offensive philosophy from his Calgary days and a vanilla zone defense. He needs to let the new Head Coach coach. Buono is no x and o's guy and he's a lousy game day manager. Our Leos were on a downhill slide from 2008 to early 2011 under Buono. He was wise to retire as HC after such a turnaround season in 2011. But for one season, Buono could help our Leos as an intermim coach by bringing back some discipline and structure and expectations to the players. But that is too much of a risk for Buono, who went out on top.
I don't blame Buono for stepping in for Benevedes at times. He more than needed the help. It was Buono who got things turned around at the end of last year, which included Dorazio's new run blocking scheme, and not Benevedes.
So look for a new Head Coach. Hopefully that new coach can negotiate some autonomy but that is not very likely.
PLAYER LEADERSHIP
One of the strengths that Buono is given credit for is releasing veteran players one year before their due date or on their best due date. There is no question that its a mistake to keep veteran players too long in the tooth and not continuously add fresh good talent to a roster. However, the way Buono treats our veterans has serious repercussions.
The way we released Dave Dickenon, Jason Clermont, Geroy Simon and the way we treated Korey Banks, Paris Jackson, and Dante Marsh this year sends powerful messages and they are not good ones.
Free agents most often don't want to sign in B.C. Veteran Leo players, often called upon to provide leadership to younger players, do a lot of voluntary community work, and have high media and fan loyalty and recognition are discarded like pieces of meat. Good organizations do it differently. You can't take every high profile player and find a spot for him. But Dave Dickenson could have been offered a position as back up quarterback and quarterback coach at the end of 2007. Paris Jackson, who loves to coach and was viewed as a tremendous player leader, was treated like crap, forced to reduce his contract terms if he watned to stay in Vancouver for 3 additional seasons. forced to be a cheerleader while lesser players were given chance after chance, and produced every time he entered a game. Jackson could have been offered the receivers coach this season rather than Pao Pao. Or the Lions could have taken a franchise player like Simon and offered hm the promise of a receivers coaching position, scout, or good will ambassador and kept him here rather than dealing with a disgruntled Leo working for another team.
Dante Marsh will leave very unhappy with his treatment after providing so many years of great role modelling and mentoring younger players, Korey Banks left bitter. Carl Kidd coached our linebackers at training camp as a guest coach for two seasons and could have been brought into the fold. But these types do not fit into the Wally mould of who he chooses to develop as a pro coach.
This season we lacked the player leadership of the Reids, Simons, Jacksons, Banks, etc. and we've had vets like Phillips and Marsh who have felt disrespected. Without powerful leadership from the HC or the offensive and defensive coordinators this seaon, things fell apart and it showed.
There are players on this Leo team who can lead. Sol E, Bighill, Phillips (if he isn't gone) Harris now that he is maturing,
QUARTERBACKING
The biggest issue we've experienced for the quarterback position, which we so often over focus on, is the pressure, hits, and sacks they face. Dickenson and Glenn have been experienced quarterbacks with excellent pocket presence. Printers, Pierce, Jackson, and Lulay were very mobille But the recipe has always been the same, no matter the skill set. Yes,we've developed some excellent quarterbacks under Buono, as he did in Calgary as well. But that has been based on recruiting, talent assessment, and a system that gives backup quarterbacks a lot of practice reps. But Bouno has never coached a quarterback nor has Benevedes. Chap did most of the spade work in developing our quarterbacks and Burratto did a great job in 2004 with Printers. Steve Kruck also did a very good job with our quarterbacks and Jarious was obviously in high demand as he was pursued by Edmonton. Cortez and Hugnagel did most of the spade work in Calgary.
B.C. quarterbacks have faced the following challenges. Most of those challenges have been due to inadaqaate blocking. Our running game is always inconsistent and has periods of time during seasons when its completely shut down. Pass blocking, expecilly with stunt pickup and blitz pickup, has often been dismal. Therefore B.C. quarterbacks deal with an inconsistent run game, too little time to throw, and the mental as well as physical challenges of having to be saviors while dealing with too many pressures, hits, and sacks.
The history of our offence under Bouno/Dorazio is plagued with quarterback injuries. That also impacts offensive consistency. Dave Dickenson and Travis Lulay so far, have been injured and on the sidelines, more times than they've started. Printers, Pierce, and Jackson also missed a lot of time due to injuries and often played injured as did Dickenson )concussions) and Printers (brutal turf toe, rotator cuff, knee replacement).
Adding to these woes has been some really questionable decision making and distorted spin. Printers was sat out for the 2005 Grey Cup game because he was supposedly 'injured' but said he was fine to play. Dickenson started the playoff in 2005 even though he had not started the previous 6 games, the wholle Dickenson/Printers controversy was mostly due to Wally's waffling and mishandling, Pierce was inserted into the 2006 Grey Cup game as a rotational player, hurting offensive consistency, Buono went back and forth on Pierce and Jarious like a yo yo, brought back Printers, made him the starter for 2010 and played him on a knee that he shouldn't have been playing on and required knee reconstruction surgery.
This season, we still have questions. Lulay was started against Ottawa when he likley needed more time to heal and now we have another situation, reminiscent of the 2004 Grey Cup game. Lulay said he was fine to play in Montreal and the Lions report that Lulay said he couldn't go during warmup.
To boot, we give our back up quarterbacks lots of practice reps but a lack of game reps unless its due to injury. Printers started most of the season in 2004, with 4 game throws prior to that season. The same for DeMarco last year. Why we would decide to make a 33 year old NFL journey man a developmental quarterback this season in Beck is also highly questionable. Partridge should have been in that position. Now we're in a situation that we have an older Glenn who is mentally beat up and has lost confidence, a still injured Lulay, an older journeyman in Beck, and Partridge, who needs more development.
Our Leos, for next season, need to release Glenn, though mosty no fault of his own. Lulay cannot be depended upon, due to his past injury record but he needs to be treated with class and respect and perhaps prepared to possibly transition into a quarterback coach. We will need to move in the direction of either starting a Partridge next season or signing a quarterback with promise.
OFFENCE
Our offence has three major problems 1) blocking and 2) Canadian receiver and 3 ) scheme
We started three Internations this season and still Dorazio could not get it done. It was brutal. Even when Jones tried the Chap method of going with two tight ends and an additional back against Montreal, the scheme was too vanilla and the blocking was still inadequate.
Montreal started with 5 Canadians on their offensive line. Calgary brought in a new offensive line coach out of Winnipeg and dominated the West in both run and pass blocking. Edmonton turned their offensive line play completely around this season under Chris Jones. Change is needed and the biggest change is offensive line coaching. Offensive line players regress the longer they play for Dorazio. Dean Valli was better in 2011 as was Olofoye. We thrust Norman into center without any college background or preparation. He's had to learn without vet help. Angus Reid, who could have been employed as a specialist coach for this season to help him was ignored. Kirby Fabian, so impressive in 2013, was shunted to the bench. Hunter Steward, a natural left tackle was slated as a backup guard. When finally pressed into service, he was incredible until injured. But, when he returns, if Dorazio is still the offensive line coach, he will regress. Its been the nature of the beast.
The second problem is at Canadian receiver. Innauzzi and Poblah have been busts. Paris Jackson sat on the bench for 3 seasons while Iannuzzi did nothing. Haidara, who showed so much promise looks disheartened and out of sync. Shawn Gore looks like a shadow of his former self. Adekolu, who deserved to start, coming out of training camp, was not given his proper due.
Thirdly, the scheme this season was atrocious. We basically used one running play. Our pass plays were very vanilla and slotback oriented. We used very little motion and way too much 5 man spread. It took us half a season to get rid of the six man empty backfield spread with Harris and Logan as slot receivers (and without using them in motion) which was stupid.
Gone were the direct snaps to the tailback, pitch tosses, sprint inside toss, misdirection handoffs, draw plays to the tailback etc, that worked so well last year and we used very little motion to help our run game with receiver cut and seal blocking. We got rid of inside and outside bunch formations and most of the motion that Chap used from 2011 that helped our offence. It was a bad scheme that played into the mediocrity of our run and pass blocking. At least Chap tried to overcome it, succesful at times and other times not. But Jones kept using the same basic scheme knowing that the blockign would not be there for it to work.
We need a new offensive coordinator, a new recievers coach, and a new offensive line coach (Bates would be a good choice). We should be having discussions with Lulay in terms of potential quarterback coaching rather than the potential of having another Dickenson situation or Simon situation.
Center is still a concern and we should either go with an import, draft a center, or hire Reid to work specifically with Norman. Valli could still be a decent guard with coaching - he was good in 2011. Olofoye has the potential to again be the best tackle in the CFL. Fabian has talent and has another off-season to strengthen his knee. Hardrick is a stud. Hunter Steward oozes talent.
Harris is a Canadian and a talented tailback. Do we bring Logan back for one more season. Debateable. We have very good talent in our import receiving crew with Arsenault, Taylor, E. Jackson, Burnham, Tand Tuenei. There will be challengers at camp.
Quarterback is a big question mark for next season. Whatever happens, we need to do right by Lulay. WCJ is right - he is a class act and we need to handle the whole thing properly. At the same time, our Leos have to come first. Lulay may do the off-season surgery again. It would be wonderful if it could be fixed properly. But we also need to be developing the next quarterback who has the talent and leadership potential to get the job done.
With new coaching, some good drafts, there is enough talent for this offence to be much, much better. We are not starting from a bad spot, talent wise for 2015. But we need to get better in terms of blocking, Canadian receiver, scheme, play calling, and offensive adjustments.
DEFENSE
This was a defense that played very well most of the season, on pass defense. However it was weak against the run. Whether Washington remains or we hire a new defensive coordinator we need to get mroe pressure on quarterbacks and we need to get better at stopping the run. We have to become more aggressive., as MLF has stated all season. Finally we need a safety. We basically play 11 defenders against 12 offensive players.
Our vanilla zone defense, without quarterback pressure, was finally exposed towards the end of the season. But they had also been on the field too long, carried the team for too long, and they were mentally worn out as well as devoid of hope that our offence could do anything.
We brought in a lot of defensive talent this season.
We really need to rebuild the interior of our defensive line. Taylor is getting long in the tooth and Mitchell has disappeared. Smith is also more than long in the tooth and we need to get younger at defensive end. Bazzie had his moments but we need to bring in a lot of players to compete at that position.
Sol E. and Bighill were special. Jamal Johnson was not utilized properly and its time to use a non-import when we go to 3 linebacker set. Bo Lokombo can play that position and Josh Johnson was excellent at nickel.
Marsh is gone and Yell and Lee are more than good enough corners. We might be ok to dump Phillips at wideside but both he and Parks were really handicapped with LaRose at safety. Tough spots to play without good safety help.
Torri Williams is a question mark - not disciplined enough. If McGarva cant' get the job done and if we use Lokombo at linebacker, we could easily go with an import free safety and I'm leaning to going in that direction.
Howver, with a revamped defensive line, a more aggressive scheme, and a new safety, this defense can be a dominating defense next season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
If McCallum is brought back, its a waste to use an import as a punter. We should go with a Canadian there and either use the player we have or draft a kicker.
But the bigger problem is McCann. We really need a special teams coach that can make special teams exciting to play on, to better prepare players, and to much more on top of this very important area of football.
The time for coaching change is past due.
WRAP
I had no idea whether Wally would dump Benevedes at the end of this season. I doubt he would have, with the two year extension he gave him, but the two blowouts in our last two games and the embarrassing loss to Montreal forced the hand he did not want to play. Wally made a huge mistake in believing Benevedes had the right stuff to be a successful HC. He didn't at this time of his life.
I didn't have confidence in Benevedes to start with and I was tough on him at times for good reasons. Still I wish him well. He needs to go to another organization, become a defensive coordinator again, gain more experience and maturity, and then hopefully will get another chance in the CFL.
Khari Jones needs to work under a very good offensive coordinator or a Head Coach who has a background of success as an offensive coordinator. He is not ready yet for this position.
Dan Dorazio, Chuck McMann, and Joe PaoPao have reached the point where they need to seriously reflect on their coaching and whether this is what they should still be doing at this stage of their lives. They are stale and not moving forward.
Its been a miserable season to watch as a Leos fan. One of my worst because the talent was there to be much better. Offensively we scored the least points in 26 years. We lost too many at home, we didn't inspire, and the product was not entertaining.
Last season we scored 504 points offensively, witho Lulay suffering a shore shoulder from the start of the season which effected his throwing and also without Lulay for a number of games and fans were *beeotch* about our offence. This season we scored 380 points. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
This was not the good ship Lollipop this year. Hopefully we can get our Leos ship turned around for 2015. Its going to be a very interesting off-season for Lionbackers.
Thanks to all Lionbackers for so many insightful posts in 2014. Lionbackers is the best football website in the CFL and probably the NFL too.
Five proper chest bumps to all.
If we can rebuild o
"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)
