Cortez release by Riders

[TheLionKing]

http://cfl.ca/article/riders-confirm-co ... rn-in-2015

[WestCoastJoe]

I have not followed the career of George Cortez, aside from noting from time to time where he is working.

He has been around. Many stops on his journey.

His one shot at Head Coach was not successful.

Dunno if Wally has interest in him for a position at this time. Personally, as a fan, I would not find him an inspirational choice as Head Coach. OC? Much the same.

[MexicoLionFan]

Smart guy, good coordinator, but long in the tooth and attached to an offensive system that no longer works in the CFL...can he change? Does he want to change? Or is it "too late" for Cortez at this point. Adapt or be forgotten in this incredibly competitive industry!

[South Pender]

I think that Cortez does possess a good offensive football mind; he showed that in his time as OC in Calgary. He has a pretty distinguished and long history in coaching at all levels--NCAA, CFL, even NFL (QB coach of the Bills). What he lacks, I think, is good communication skills--strong, decisive, clear articulation of issues. And I suspect he is pretty weak in leadership and management ability. He lacks charisma and the ability to inspire from what I`ve seen. Nonetheless, there should be a place for him still, I think, in the CFL providing input on the offensive side of the ball.

[TheLionKing]

No love for Cortez ? Lots of people wanted him here when Chapdelaine was fired.

[Toppy Vann]

I saw Cortez ripping everyone on the sidelines as a HC. You can't do that as a primary tool with pros or amateurs. Tune outs happen fast and it doesn't work.

He simply could not change his ways from a demanding OC to conduct himself as a HC and be calmer and more in control.

Mike B didn't alter his style.

What shocks me is that while Wally is dumped on as a control freak he didn't force Mike B to alter his style and this year was bizarre in the belly bumping dept and ref ranting. I am very delegating type of senior exec but if I appointed a HC and saw in his DC role the kind of irrational activity I'd have had discussion on how he needed to change a long time back.

Wally would have served benny better if he told him to get over beside Dave Ritchie as ST and LB coach and learn and act like he did or he'd not be his future DC and definitely not his HC. But Wally relied on the Junior Wally image too much - read too many press clippings I guess - and his LACK OF CONTROL over his HC led to Mike's failure.

Not micro managing does not mean you don't guide and direct at times those who report to you as you will be losing your job if they do dumb things. If they can't live with that - then you either don't hire or you replace them.

I used to tell my managers and AVPs that I was not going to get fired by letting them do things that I didn't believe in as I was not going to him to tell my wife, kids, dog and canary I got fired letting them do what I didn't believe in - but didn't want to stop them. If they didn't like it , they had choices to make but as long as I was accountable and in charge I'd approve strategy, policy and how we worked. I had no turnover in my direct reports but one who took retirement in senior ranks as he was off on medical leave and I had his replacement fix the department and allow long term staffers trying to exit to other areas move on - this idiot blocked all moves out and hated the staff. I had him just a few months and he knew it was not going to last.

[MexicoLionFan]

No love for Cortez ? Lots of people wanted him here when Chapdelaine was fired.

I think there's lots of respect for Cortez, but a cold response to his availability because the system he is a proponent of won't win you a Grey Cup...right now in the CFL, offences have to find a system that counters pressure, to an extent, CGY, EDM and HAM have done that, and until others follow their lead or develop something better (which is VERY possible) then there will become a steep drop off between the top 2 or 3 teams and the rest. Football, like everything else, is about evolving...Cortez represents the past.

[B.C.FAN]

For what it's worth, Kevin Glenn thinks the Lions should keep Khari Jones as offensive coordinator next year. Glenn told Mike Beamish that if the QBs have to learn a new offence in 2015, they'll be in the same position they were in this year.

IN KHARI’S CORNER: Though quarterback Kevin Glenn played out his option and won’t be returning next season, the former Lions starter thinks it would be counterproductive for the team’s next head coach to change offensive co-ordinators. Glenn believes Khari Jones should stay.

“Hopefully, they keep Khari,” he said. “It makes sense if you want continuity. Travis (Lulay), John (Beck), Travis (Partridge) and Jordan (Rodgers) are all familiar with him. You’re starting down the same road, as we did a year ago, if you bring in a new coordinator. It usually takes a couple of years for an offence to jell.”

Vancouver Sun article

[WestCoastJoe]

No love for Cortez ? Lots of people wanted him here when Chapdelaine was fired.

I think there's lots of respect for Cortez, but a cold response to his availability because the system he is a proponent of won't win you a Grey Cup...right now in the CFL, offences have to find a system that counters pressure, to an extent, CGY, EDM and HAM have done that, and until others follow their lead or develop something better (which is VERY possible) then there will become a steep drop off between the top 2 or 3 teams and the rest. Football, like everything else, is about evolving...Cortez represents the past.

The few times I watched Cortez, it was while he was HC in Hamilton. As a fan, you watch the coach. You watch the players. It did not look like a dynamic relationship. George did not get all the guys rowing together, or so it seemed to me.

I don't think anyone questions his credentials. He has been hired over and over, and with some very good teams. I expect he knows Xs and Os inside out, and anyway you want. As noted in the Chip Kelly / Urban Meyer thread, the coach needs to get buy in. George never got that in Hamilton.

If hired here, even as OC, he would be a re-cycled coach with Wally.

Could George have learned from his time in Hamilton as HC? Sure. But it did not seem to show up well in Regina.

Inspirational? Not for me, as a fan.

Just for discussion ... IMO

[WestCoastJoe]

For what it's worth, Kevin Glenn thinks the Lions should keep Khari Jones as offensive coordinator next year. Glenn told Mike Beamish that if the QBs have to learn a new offence in 2015, they'll be in the same position they were in this year.

IN KHARI’S CORNER: Though quarterback Kevin Glenn played out his option and won’t be returning next season, the former Lions starter thinks it would be counterproductive for the team’s next head coach to change offensive co-ordinators. Glenn believes Khari Jones should stay.

“Hopefully, they keep Khari,” he said. “It makes sense if you want continuity. Travis (Lulay), John (Beck), Travis (Partridge) and Jordan (Rodgers) are all familiar with him. You’re starting down the same road, as we did a year ago, if you bring in a new coordinator. It usually takes a couple of years for an offence to jell.”

Vancouver Sun article

Kevin Glenn has some fans here, including myself. His endorsement of Khari Jones might carry some weight in some quarters, but not necessarily with Wally Buono. He was released pretty much without any thanks or praise, it seems to me. Glenn was very resilient with us. Dunno how many games we would have won if he had been knocked onto Injured Reserve.

Khari Jones? Nice loyalty from Kevin. But will the fan base accept the return of Khari? Did we really see a style of offence representative of what Khari Jones believes in? I suppose we did. Or did the directive come down (from MIke B, or from Wally on the Tower): "You will run the spread offence."

Glenn's suggestion of our offence needing a couple of years to gell does put uncertainty in the focus for LeoLand once again.

[South Pender]

Don't Kevin Glenn and Khari Jones go back a long way? I seem to recall that, and, if true, Glenn's comments might be seen as simply supporting an old friend. No?

[TheLionKing]

“Hopefully, they keep Khari,” he said. “It makes sense if you want continuity. Travis (Lulay), John (Beck), Travis (Partridge) and Jordan (Rodgers) are all familiar with him. You’re starting down the same road, as we did a year ago, if you bring in a new coordinator. It usually takes a couple of years for an offence to jell.”

Fans don't want to see the continuity we've seen this year.

[TheLionKing]

With the surname of Leone, Richie Leone was born a lion.

But whether the 22-year-old punter/kicker from Roswell, Ga. is meant to be a B.C. Lion is yet to be determined.

Half the age of the team’s field goal kicker, 44-year-old Paul McCallum, Leone’s powerful leg impressed players and coaches after he joined the expanded practice roster of the Canadian Football League team on Oct. 20.

Although he didn’t play a game, Leone unnerved the team’s resident punter, Ricky Schmitt, from the moment he set foot on the practice field.

Schmitt had good reason to feel threatened. His official release was announced Tuesday, when the Lions said they were not picking up the options of Schmitt and veteran defenders Dante Marsh, Khalif Mitchell and Jamall Johnson.

“He’s got lots of potential, lots of power,” McCallum said of Leone. “I saw him hit the scoreboard (at BC Place) in practice. I think I’ve proven that kickoffs and punting are past me now. I think I can still kick field goals. But that’s up to them (management). If they want someone who can do all three, I’ll be out of a job.”

Lions general manager Wally Buono indeed is looking for a player who can handle all three kicking duties in 2015, similar to Swayze Waters of the Toronto Argonauts — the CFL special teams player of the year — and Justin Medlock of the Grey Cup finalist Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

With the expansion of active rosters to 44 from 42 players, CFL teams have the luxury of using two roster spots for a domestic kicker and an import punter — as the Lions did last season — or having an American kicker do all three.

The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Leone has a whipsaw for a leg. At the University of Houston, he was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, given to the top punter in NCAA football, in three consecutive years. In his senior year, almost half of his kickoffs (47.4 per cent) went for touchbacks. And he was the Cougars’ field goal kicker for seven games, going five-for-five in a game against Temple in which his longest kick was 40 yards.

What’s keeping the Lions from signing him? Well, Leone still has options in the National Football League.

The Baltimore Ravens signed him as a free agent in May, took him to training camp and kept him there until the final round of cuts. He was in competition against veteran punter Sam Koch, and the presence of Leone pushing him may have been a factor in Koch’s outstanding season. Koch leads all NFL punters in balloting for the Pro Bowl.

“They (Lions) want me to come back and compete for a job,” Leone said.

“I never thought I’d come up there (Canada). But I met some great guys (backup quarterbacks John Beck and Jordan Rodgers) whom I lived with for a few weeks. I really enjoyed my time up there. I can choose to come back (to B.C.). They obviously want me to come back to training camp and compete. But I’m going to wait a couple of months and kind of see what’s the best situation for me. Only time will tell.”

In McCallum’s opinion, Leone might not make it to training camp, six months away in Kamloops.


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Lion ... z3L9RhQwUg

Good article on Leone. Lions must think they have a good chance of signing him if they released Schmitt.

[The_Pauser]

Smart guy, good coordinator, but long in the tooth and attached to an offensive system that no longer works in the CFL...can he change? Does he want to change? Or is it "too late" for Cortez at this point. Adapt or be forgotten in this incredibly competitive industry!

Where does the notion that his offensive system no longer works in the CFL? In 2013 he had the second best offense in the CFL. In 2012 when he was the HC and OC in Hamilton he had the best offense in the CFL. During his stint as OC in Calgary from 2007-2009 his offense ranked 3rd, 2nd, 2nd respectively. He had the 5th ranked offense in Saskatchewan this year, but is it really all that surprising when he basically had no QB for most of the year?

While Jeff Garcia is my first choice for OC (and who knows how likely that is), I wouldn't at all be opposed to bringing in Cortez as our OC. He's a proven commodity, he knows how to coach an offensive system, and he gets results.

[BC 1988]

While Jeff Garcia is my first choice for OC (and who knows how likely that is), I wouldn't at all be opposed to bringing in Cortez as our OC. He's a proven commodity, he knows how to coach an offensive system, and he gets results.

Agreed that Cortez would be a good choice for OC, but not for HC. (which, with the timing of his release from SSK, I 'm afraid the Lions making him HC is more likely to happen.)