Tedford finalizes staff

[Blitz]

Tedford;s choice of Cortez makes sense in that Tedford needed an OC who had experience in the CFL as Tedford has been away from the CFL for a long time. Hopefully Tedford will influence Cortez to get out of the spread offence and go multi-formational.

Word is that Buono recommended that Tedford keep Kelly Bates but Cortez and Malone came as a package. Khari Jones should be ok as an assistant, in that he now has more experience as an OC and he has worked with quarterbacks and should be able to do a decent job with the receivers.

With Washington as our DC as well as working with the defensive backs, with an excellent linebackers coach, and a new defensive line coach (which we needed) our defense should be fine. Washington needs to be less passive next year and we need to upgrade our defensive line.

My only real big concern is special teams and the draft. McMann had his struggles with special teams and now we have added running backs to his work load (he was a former running back and has done some coaching in this area in the past) and we are also considering adding the CFL draft to his list of responsibiliites - doesn't make sense to me.

If it would have been me, I would have kept Bates as the running backs coach and and coordinating the CFL draft choices - a very important role that Bates did a great job doing. I would have found a way to keep Bates and dump McMann.

Other than that I have no serious complaints. Cortez is not my cup of tea and he is another spread devotee but he does bring experience and Tedford has run a pro offence as well as the spread and as he gets up to speed I believe we will see changes from the way Cortez has done things in the past. In fact, Tedford called all the plays during games when Cortez was his OC in California so you know that Tedford is not going to be hands off the offence.

[TheLionKing]

Word is that Buono recommended that Tedford keep Kelly Bates but Cortez and Malone came as a package.

Hate to lose Bates but at least it shows that Tedford has complete control of his coaching staff.

[Blitz]

Word is that Buono recommended that Tedford keep Kelly Bates but Cortez and Malone came as a package.

Hate to lose Bates but at least it shows that Tedford has complete control of his coaching staff.

No question about it TheLionKing and Tedford would not have signed on in B.C. without having that control.

As far as I'mn concerned Cortez has runs the same spread offence as Chap did here from 2005-to early 2011. In fact Chap learned the spread offence from Cortez. The only difference between the old Chap offence (not JaquesBall from 2011-2013) is that Cortez has had the advantage of a better offensive line coach for his offences (and the reason that Malone had to come here as part of the package - Cortez was wise enough to know what he would have inherited with Dorazio)

So, it would seem like one could anticipate that we will be getting the old Calgary spread offence, with better offensive line coaching. However there is a promising caveat. Tedford and Hufnagel designed the Calgary spread offence, which was deadly in the 90's before defenses adjusted to it. Tedford went on to the U.S college level as an offensive coordinator and used the spread offence.

But when Tedford became the HC of California he moved away from the spread offence to a pro offence set up, using tight ends and multi-formations. The spread was only one of his many formations. Players like Aaron Rogers and Marshan Lynch played at California in a pro offence. Cortez was Tedford's offensive coordinator (Tedford called the plays) when they used the pro offence in California.

Therefore one can hope that Tedford will also utilize more pro elements (eg: two backs or a tight end set) at times than just allowing Cortez to run the entire offence out of the spread offence, as Khari Jones did last year.

It will be interesting to see our offensive strategy in 2015.

[WestCoastJoe]

Word is that Buono recommended that Tedford keep Kelly Bates but Cortez and Malone came as a package.

Hate to lose Bates but at least it shows that Tedford has complete control of his coaching staff.

No question about it TheLionKing and Tedford would not have signed on in B.C. without having that control.

As far as I'mn concerned Cortez has runs the same spread offence as Chap did here from 2005-to early 2011. In fact Chap learned the spread offence from Cortez. The only difference between the old Chap offence (not JaquesBall from 2011-2013) is that Cortez has had the advantage of a better offensive line coach for his offences (and the reason that Malone had to come here as part of the package - Cortez was wise enough to know what he would have inherited with Dorazio)

So, it would seem like one could anticipate that we will be getting the old Calgary spread offence, with better offensive line coaching. However there is a promising caveat. Tedford and Hufnagel designed the Calgary spread offence, which was deadly in the 90's before defenses adjusted to it. Tedford went on to the U.S college level as an offensive coordinator and used the spread offence.

But when Tedford became the HC of California he moved away from the spread offence to a pro offence set up, using tight ends and multi-formations. The spread was only one of his many formations. Players like Aaron Rogers and Marshan Lynch played at California in a pro offence. Cortez was Tedford's offensive coordinator (Tedford called the plays) when they used the pro offence in California.

Therefore one can hope that Tedford will also utilize more pro elements (eg: two backs or a tight end set) at times than just allowing Cortez to run the entire offence out of the spread offence, as Khari Jones did last year.

It will be interesting to see our offensive strategy in 2015.

For sure, it will be interesting, Blitz. As it always is.

Fans got a lot of what was wanted for Christmas this time around. New Head Coach. A most promising one at that. New O Line coach. Also with some promise. New OC. We could not ask for an OC with better credentials than George Cortez. Benny tried to lure him here last year. It seems there have even been times when some of us thought he might be a good Head Coach here. And now we have him for OC. Robin Ross looks like a good one.

Autonomy for our Head Coach. Check. It is too bad that this autonomy seems to have cost us the services of Kelly Bates. And we certainly do have concerns about the upcoming draft. Things seemed to go so well with Kelly Bates having a large role to play there.

2014: T Dre Player, Casey Chin, David Menard. (No 1st round pick. Some of us thought we paid too much in trade for Kevin Glenn. But we were desperate, caught short.)

2013: Hunter Steward, S.J. Haidara, Bo Lokombo, Matt McGarva, Matthew Albright (now with Ottawa), Cameron Thorn.

2012: Jabar Westerman, Kirby Fabien, Matt Norman.

That is an incredible amount of talent. And in 2014 we did not even have our 1st round pick in the draft.
.........

STs? We will see. Can Chuck McMann raise the level of play of this group? Show some readiness for the kind of trick plays that we see so often in the CFL, on other teams?

Offence and defence have been given attention, with the coaching changes. But ... STs are so important in the CFL. And the draft is so important. One hopes our team does not suffer in those areas.

[TheLionKing]

Too early to pass judgment on Casey Chin IMO

[Toppy Vann]

Blitz:

Other than that I have no serious complaints. Cortez is not my cup of tea and he is another spread devotee but he does bring experience and Tedford has run a pro offence as well as the spread and as he gets up to speed I believe we will see changes from the way Cortez has done things in the past. In fact, Tedford called all the plays during games when Cortez was his OC in California so you know that Tedford is not going to be hands off the offence.

Why did Cortez leave California?

signed too lazy to Google.

[Hambone]

Blitz:

Other than that I have no serious complaints. Cortez is not my cup of tea and he is another spread devotee but he does bring experience and Tedford has run a pro offence as well as the spread and as he gets up to speed I believe we will see changes from the way Cortez has done things in the past. In fact, Tedford called all the plays during games when Cortez was his OC in California so you know that Tedford is not going to be hands off the offence.

Why did Cortez leave California?

signed too lazy to Google.

Hard to guess with a coaching nomad like Cortez. If you look at his resume his three longest career stops were in Calgary under Buono from 1997 thru 2001, at Cal under Tedford from 2002 thru 2005 and way back to 1979-82 when he was OLC at Rice. Every other stop was 3 years or less.

[Toppy Vann]

I think he went from Cal to Buffalo as QB coach with Trent Edwards IIRC.

I also read that as noted here that Tedford called the plays and he was not the play caller. I kind of hope that is not what we are getting into here in BC as the HC has enough to do to build a coaching staff and lead a team - also he's not been in the CFL for a long time and things change with the players, smarter and faster and defences better than when he left the CFL.

[cromartie]

I think he went from Cal to Buffalo as QB coach with Trent Edwards IIRC.

I also read that as noted here that Tedford called the plays and he was not the play caller. I kind of hope that is not what we are getting into here in BC as the HC has enough to do to build a coaching staff and lead a team - also he's not been in the CFL for a long time and things change with the players, smarter and faster and defences better than when he left the CFL.

I have to think, how to put this diplomatically, he has a different set of career goals here, enough so that he realizes its in his best interests to hand the play calling off to Cortez.

Cortez left Calgyra, where he was on Hufnagel's staff, for Buffalo, which you can read more about here:

http://lionbackers.com/bc_lions/viewtop ... =2&t=18030

Not much on why he left Cal, other than a desire to return to Texas. Calgyra is kind of like Texas, I suppose.....

http://calgoldenbearfootball.blogspot.c ... ortez.html

[Hambone]

I think he went from Cal to Buffalo as QB coach with Trent Edwards IIRC.

Cortez had 2 stops between Cal and Buffalo. He was OC with Saskatchewan in 2006 then moved on to be OC in Calgary from 2007 thru 2009.

From Wikipedia:

1979–1982: Rice (OLC)
1984–1985 :Montreal Concordes (RBC)
1986: Montreal Alouettes (DLC)
1987–1989: Lamar (OLC/RBC)
1990–1991: Ottawa Rough Riders (STC/DLC)
1992-1994: Calgary Stampeders (OLC)
1995–1996: SMU (QC)
1997: Calgary Stampeders (SC)
1998–2001: Calgary Stampeders (OC/QC)
2002–2005: California (OC/QC)
2006: Saskatchewan Roughriders (OC)
2007–2009: Calgary Stampeders (OC)
2010–2011: Buffalo Bills (QC)
2012: Hamilton Tiger-Cats (HC/OC)
2013–2014: Saskatchewan Roughriders (OC)
2015 - Current: BC Lions (OC)

[B.C.FAN]

The four years Cortez spent with Tedford at Cal was as long as any stop in his coaching career.

[Rammer]

The four years Cortez spent with Tedford at Cal was as long as any stop in his coaching career.

I am going to say that Cortez's 'personality' limits his duration with most staffs and moreso with the players, unless they are University programs where the kids are limited in how much time they spend in the program and that they don't want to rock the boat with NFL aspirations.

[Toppy Vann]

I think he went from Cal to Buffalo as QB coach with Trent Edwards IIRC.

Cortez had 2 stops between Cal and Buffalo. He was OC with Saskatchewan in 2006 then moved on to be OC in Calgary from 2007 thru 2009.

From Wikipedia:

1979–1982: Rice (OLC)
1984–1985 :Montreal Concordes (RBC)
1986: Montreal Alouettes (DLC)
1987–1989: Lamar (OLC/RBC)
1990–1991: Ottawa Rough Riders (STC/DLC)
1992-1994: Calgary Stampeders (OLC)
1995–1996: SMU (QC)
1997: Calgary Stampeders (SC)
1998–2001: Calgary Stampeders (OC/QC)
2002–2005: California (OC/QC)
2006: Saskatchewan Roughriders (OC)
2007–2009: Calgary Stampeders (OC)
2010–2011: Buffalo Bills (QC)
2012: Hamilton Tiger-Cats (HC/OC)
2013–2014: Saskatchewan Roughriders (OC)
2015 - Current: BC Lions (OC)

You got it right ... I meant Cal as with the Bears and not Cal as if it were the Stampeders. Not sure how I got that wrong. Four different times with the Stamps. 2xs with Sask. He does get around but not different than most others.

Assistants move like the Gypsies as tenure is not exactly what any of them have.

Some might move for even a small increase if they aren't higher paid or the belief their next gig is going to be brilliant.

[David]

Global TV's Jay Janower did a piece on Tedford that ran on the News Hour sports at 6:45pm and again at 11:45pm. Nothing too earth shattering.

* Tedford now hard at work in his Surrey office.

* Not much we didn't already know. Spending a lot of time evaluating.

* Likes our defence; was diplomatic about the offence - something to the effect of "room for improvement."

* Has had a positive meeting with Travis. Came away impressed but doesn't know about his shoulder.

* There will be QB competition in camp (I would like it if he'd at least asked, "are you planning on targeting any CFL free agent QBs?" i.e. LeFevour, Sunseri....but you can't name them).

* Said he's been to Grey Cup a few times but wants to win one. That's what he's here to do. Much less passionate speaker than Benny. Maybe that's a good thing?


Coaching staff will be introduced to media shortly (after Super Bowl).


DH

[WestCoastJoe]

Thanks for the summary, David.

Hard at work

Evaluating

I guess it might be too early for us fans to give up on the health of Travis Lulay. Dunno ... We will see.

Defence: Protect? Play safe? Attack?

QB competition

Season almost visible ahead.