Finally, the days have arrived when you can see that an organization is starting to move from being innovative to becoming too set in their ways. Wally likes control and hiring in-house. That has some advantages but over the long haul it also can have some serious disadvantages. Bob Ackles was a much stronger leader after his work in the NFL when he returned. O’Billovich had seen a lot outside of Wally’s organization. Dave Ritchie probably made the biggest impact as a Leos coach and he came from the outside.
When you have coaches like Chapdelaine, Dorazio, Kruck, Benevedes, and Washington, most of their experience comes under one roof and that roof is the Buono way of looking at things. Wally is also getting very set in his ways. Past success does that and Wally is also very conservative at times.
We might have been better off if we had allowed the influence of Hufnagel on Kruck and Dorazio continue into this season, in terms of our offensive direction, than going back to the past with Chapdelaine.
We would have been wise to consider hiring Chris Jones, a very smart defensive coordinator out of Montreal, with the imminent retirement of Ritchie, rather than allowing Calgary to scoop him. We might have been wise to hire someone, not out of the Calgary organization, a fired receivers coach, to come in to coach our special teams but instead looked elsewhere. A successful organization hires both inside and outside, looking for both stability and new ideas. We have the stability down, in terms of Wally always going to people he has worked with in the past, but the innovation part of it, is lacking. We seem to always go back to the past when hiring or stay in-house.
Perhaps even more profound, we might have been wiser to have had Wally become our General Manager and hired John Hufnagel to coach, before Calgary hired him but that would have been Wally’s decision. However, Wally was starting to lose his edge in Calgary before he left. Leos fans always write that Fateri made a huge mistake but perhaps the change to B.C. was what Wally needed to get his spark back.
August 23, 2008
I have finally reached the stage where I believe it would be best for Wally to resign as HC at the conclusion of this season. I have never thought that way before today. While he was not an x and o's knowledgeable coach nor a good game day coach, Wally had his winning record and stature which I believed was a huge plus for our Leos. However, I just see a HC who has not surrounded himself as he did in the past with top drawer assistant coaches, with the exception of hiring Stubler this past year. I don't see a Ritchie or a Hufnagel or a Cortez on our coaching staff at present, although I believe Barrin Miles could become an exceptional defensive coordinator in time.
I really would love to see Dave Ritchie come back here as Head Coach. He has stature. He wants to be a Head Coach again. He's had his time with his grandchildren and is chomping at the bit. I doubt Wally would hire him and would insert a Benevedes or who knows, even a Chapdelaine as Head Coach. However, I really believe we need someone at this juncture with Head Coaching experience.
October 17.2010
Here in B.C. almost all of our coaching staff's first CFL coaching experience has been under Wally. It results in a 'Wally World' type of thinking rather than a rich think tank apprach with a wide range of experiences. It results in a narrow 'group think' approach rather than the innovation that is derived from a richer mix of background coaching experience.
There isn't a Rich Stubler or a Dave Ritchie or a Steve Burratoo on our Leos coaching staff and it shows. We have a bunch of inexperieced assistants led by Chap and Benevedes who haven't know anything other than Wally's World.
July 31, 2011
As GM and VP of Football Operations Wally will still have a tremdous amount of influence on who we put on the field next season and the HC will have a lot less influence on our lineup than Buono did in his dual role of GM and HC.
Mike Benevedes will become our new HC and his job will not be easy to say the least. Expectations will be high and we will be losing some key players, and Wally's shadow will still loom large.
2012 will be an interesting season to say the least!!
December 6,, 2011
I thought Benevedes really setttled down this season and seemed more poised....and he is going to need to be as a HC. Be interesting to see when the announcement is. Saskatchewan was interested in interviewing Benevedes and it will be interesting to see if he goes through the process there first or accepts the position as HC that we are all anticipating is being offered to him. If Benvedes didn't I would expect Chap to be the next in line.
December 7, 2011
So, in looking back, I believed that we would have been wise back in 2008 to hire Hufnagel as our HC, that in 2010, we needed a HC to succeed Wally who had Head Coaching experience, and in 2012, before the season began, I believed that Benevedes needed two experienced coordinators working under him as a HC and that rookie coordinators were not the answer for him.The hiring of Rich Stubler as our defensive coordinator is a great move for Benevedes. If Chap also remains as our offensive coordinator it gives Benevedes two experienced coordinators to work with as he begins his first season as a Head Coach.
The key to this move is that Benevedes wil not have to deal with a rookie defensive coodinator but instead will have a savvy veteran coach leading our defence. With Chap maing significant changes to his offensive approach to coaching last season and returning its looking like a good start for 2012 Benevedes right now and certainly looking a lot more positive than a few weeks ago when it looked like we might have two rookie coordinators a few weeks ago.
January 7, 2012
But in terms of hindsight, as has been pointed out, I, along with others who have criticized Benevedes hiring as HC, didn't criticize the lack of a hiring process at the time that Benevedes was hired and in fact, I favored the hiring of Benevedes as HC over O`Shea or Dickenson at the time, because of their very limited coaching experience at the end of 2011.
So, in terms of personal accountability, as a poster on this topic, I had some foresight and also a lack of foresight or, from a different set of binoculars, perhaps hindsight has also given me some additional thoughts I didn`t have at that time.