South Pender wrote:MexicoLionFan wrote:“It's about winning,” said Buono. “It's not about anything else.”
This must be a new approach for Wally, because it certainly wasn't the case when he appointed MB as HC without doing an exhaustive search for the best candidate, or bypassing on Hufnagel so that he could set the all time Coaching wins record!
Thanks so much Joe for the objective assessment of Kevin Glenn's time here...I have never been a KG "fan", but I truly respect what he accomplished here with what he had to deal with!
Obviously, Wally thought that the Lions
would indeed win with Benevides--in the same way that Hufnagel thinks that the Stampeders will win with Dickenson--
without doing an exhaustive search. Promoting from within can result in success, and Benevides had spent time as a ST and LB coach, followed by DC, with no red flags (at least none pointed out on this forum) prior to his appointment as HC. He appeared to have paid his dues, and it doesn't seem that anyone on this forum foresaw failure for him as HC at the time of his appointment. Did anyone on the forum lament the absence of an exhaustive search at that time? If not, Cromartie's mention of hindsight bias is relevant. Perhaps someone can dig up the narrative on the forum at the time of Benevides' appointment.
And the Hufnagel issue has been discussed pretty fully on this forum. What coach (Wally) in his prime, with a solid winning record and lots of energy, would turn the job over to another guy, just because that other guy might--and I stress might--do as well or better? Blaming Wally for wanting to continue on the sidelines at that point in his career is unrealistic. I do agree about Glenn. I too respect the guy and wish he was coming back next season--as a backup. All of the above just my opinion, of course.
You bring up a very valid point South Pender in that Calgary and Hufnagel are essentially promoting from within with Dickenson as our Leos and Wally did with Benevedes.
In fact Benevedes had more coaching experience than Dickenson has. Benevedes had been a special teams coordinator as well as a defensive coordinator while Dickenson has only been an offensive coordinator. Benevedes also had coaching experience with more than one CFL team. Benevedes also had a lengthier coaching background.
There is a lot of research on the topic of promoting from within or hiring from the outside.There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
My own personal preference is for an open job posting and a process. I believe that not only serves an organization best but also serves the person who wins the job best. I believe that I posted something to that effect at the time on Lionbackers but then again, perhaps I'm getting older and delusional, so I will check back on my posts at the time of the Benevedes hiring and confirm.
I don't blame Buono for wanting to stay as HC, when we had the chance to hire Hufnagel. Heck, in 2007, when Huf was our consultant, Wally was just coming off winning the Grey Cup. In 2008, his other opportunity to hire Hufnagel, we had won the West regular season and won 9 out of our last 11 games with our 3rd string quarterback. We lost the WDF but we were the best CFL football team in Canada at the time that Huf was hired in Calgary. At that time I also wrote that perhaps that was a good time for Waly to hand the HC position to Hufnagel and concentrate on GM duties ( I will find that post too) but certainly I can more than understand why he didn't.
It's easy to forget that we missed the playoffs in 2010 and had a terrible start to 2011 and then went on to win a Grey Cup and we also had a very good 2012 season, except for our playoff loss. This season we made the playoffs as a cross-over team and lost badly in the Semi-Final.
So we know things have gotten turned around in the past under Buono in B.C. and that is more than possbible for next season. We also have been able to see quick turnarounds in other CFL cities, as we did in Edmonton this season and Hamilton last year and this year.
I'm not a Buono fan in terms of "how" I believe he operates but I also recognize I have been very, very tough on him also. But at the same time, there is no other GM out there that I would want to be our GM at this time. I just want Buono to make some serious changes. I think we need some coaching staff changes and have for a long while now, as well as some philosophy changes in terms of scheme. I believe those outdated scheme philosophies come from Buono and they are present because they were successful for him in the past but are past their due date at this juncture, in today's CFL. Of course, the past can become vogue again in pro football.
I can remember wathcing NFL games when most teams were in the spread and the shotgun. Now, the tight end is so back in vogue in the NFL, the fullback is returning to many NFL offences, and quarterbacks are often taking snaps under center. I was happy seeing Lumbala used as a fullback or tight end often under Chap his last 3 seasons and also that Chap was using a tight end as well. However, I was less happy that Chap was using an extra offensive lineman as his tight end rather than a bigger body who could also catch the football. Of course, we are not developing tight ends in Canadian university football, so a pro team will either need to convert a fullback or draft a big receiver to play that position.
I terms of the present discussion on this thread, most of us on Lionbackers are confident posters who have strong opinions and thoughts on our Leos and CFL football as well as being die hard fans. Its why we write on here. I expect more passion - after all, anyone who posts regularly on a football website is usually a passionate fan. Many of us write from the perspective of what we think would be 'best' for our Leos and that brings with it a perspective of being an arm chair coach or GM. I see nothing wrong with that, although each one of us knows that none of us would be qualified for the job. It's fun to do so.
Lionbackers is a great football website because there are so many knowledgeable, conscientious, interested posters on this site. I get carried away sometimes with my enthusiasm and my passion and thoughts about strategy and coaching. But in the end, I'm just an over-opinionated die hard fan.
I'm going to start writing my annual 'Twas the Night Before Xmas' on Lionbackers and start getting in the holiday spirit. Whomever our next HC is going to be and whether Wally is going to hire his mother as HC or hire a top candidate outside, neither is worth bad feelings between fellow Lionbackers, is the way I''m looking at things.
"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)
