Wally Buono won't commit to Jeff Tedford for 2016

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sj-roc
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maxlion wrote:Not sure Bates would have stayed on to be OL coach. Being HC at SFU was a great opportunity and likely more attractive than anything BC was in a position to offer.

Edit: I see now that Bates was let go before the SFU position became available. Oh well, good for him that he landed in a good spot.
The way I recall it with Bates is that he was handling a few different files during the Benevides era, and when Tedford arrived he wanted to re-allocate some of that work to new people he wanted to bring onboard. So this made it too challenging and impractical to re-structure Bates's role in a way that fit both himself and the organisation, and thus the relationship was discontinued.
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Big Time
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Sounds like Tedford didn't conduct any player exit interviews as reported by TSN 1040 in an interview with Lowell Ulrich. That's not a sign of a coach coming back. Lots of talk that Wally will be the coach on the sidelines next year.
Last edited by Big Time on Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MexicoLionFan
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Big Time wrote:Sounds like Tedford didn't conduct any player exit interviews. That's not a sign of a coach coming back. Lots of talk that Wally will be the coach on the sidelines next year.

I agree. I can't think of any coach that I know that would not conduct, at the very, very least, somewhat informal exit interviews. They are essential IMO.
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WestCoastJoe
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Big Time wrote:Sounds like Tedford didn't conduct any player exit interviews as reported by TSN 1040 in an interview with Lowell Ulrich. That's not a sign of a coach coming back. Lots of talk that Wally will be the coach on the sidelines next year.
That is bizarre.

Does Wally run the show? No doubt in my mind.

Did he ever give it up? It does not seem to this fan that Wally ever gave it up. On the rooftop or tower with Benny. At practice with Tedford. Systems. Assistants. All of it, either heavily influenced or decided. Just IMO ...

If Wally returns as HC, it will clarify the chain of command. Assistants chosen by the Head Coach. Systems at the discretion of the Head Coach. Personnel decisions. Who plays? At which positions?

If Wally does return as Head Coach, it will bring some closure for fans and for his career. Will he be able to compete with the top coaches? One has some doubts.
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Big Time
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I personally have no issue if Wally comes back to the sidelines. His game management towards the end of his career kind of stunk but he's where the buck stops so why not? It honestly can't be any worst than MB or Jeff Tedford. Can it?
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WestCoastJoe
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Big Time wrote:I personally have no issue if Wally comes back to the sidelines. His game management towards the end of his career kind of stunk but he's where the buck stops so why not? It honestly can't be any worst than MB or Jeff Tedford. Can it?
Can it? Maybe not. We are pretty close to rock bottom now in terms of top, middle or bottom third of the league.

But some fans have doubts that Wally can compete at the highest level anymore. As stated it would bring closure. Wally would be the man out front, for better or worse. No Benny to jettisone. No Tedford to take the heat.

If Tedford does not return, Wally seems like the likely HC next year.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Big Time wrote:I personally have no issue if Wally comes back to the sidelines. His game management towards the end of his career kind of stunk but he's where the buck stops so why not? It honestly can't be any worst than MB or Jeff Tedford. Can it?
Can it? Maybe not. We are pretty close to rock bottom now in terms of top, middle or bottom third of the league.

But some fans have doubts that Wally can compete at the highest level anymore. As stated it would bring closure. Wally would be the man out front, for better or worse. No Benny to jettisone. No Tedford to take the heat.

If Tedford does not return, Wally seems like the likely HC next year.
No question that Wally will be the one on the sidelines if Tedford is not back.

I believe Wally wants to coach again. I believe he thinks he would be the best coach in the CFL if he returned.

The odds are that we can only be better next season. Jennings looks like a future star and Lulay will likely be signed again as the backup. Wally will have his quarterbacks in place. The team looked good with Jennings, the receiving unit looks like it will be good next season, and there a lot of young player in place who gained valuable experience this season.

However Wally is not only as good as his talent but he is also only as good as his assistants. He is not an x and o`s strategy guy. He can`t turn around a team based on his coaching, like a Chris Jones or a Kent Austin. Wally `manages`his coaches and he `manages` his players. Wally is often given credit for developing quarterbacks and to the degree that many excellent quarterbacks have been developed over his watch, they have been coached by offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches.

What Wally brings is some fear, toughness, and high expectation of performance. He is a lousy game day coach and in big games he is motivated more by fear (often described as a conservative philosophy) than by aggression. He prefers boring, conservative, vanilla zone defense and is a devotee to the spread offence created by Hugnagel and Tedford in Wally`s first season as a HC in Calgary.

Wally`s overall record in Calgary and B.C. should have created greater respect from a die hard football fan like me. But there are definite long term patterns of behavior as well as patterns of coaching that greatly reduce what should be a high regard. I`ll elaborate at a later time.
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Regardless of who is the HC next year, there needs to be a new OC and ST coach at the very least.

IMO there are much greater coaching deficiencies with this team than player deficiencies. The quality of backups in many positions and Nationals is another matter.
maxlion
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In the video linked to below that was posted on the Lions site a couple days ago, Tedford talks quite a bit about evaluation and moving forward. It sounds to me like a coach who expects to return, but who knows. http://m.bclions.com/video/index/id/120335
TheLionKing
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There is so much written and speculated whether Tedford will or will not be returning in 2016 or whether Buono will return to coaching again. We'll know soon enough after Sunday.
Rocko604
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Wally is an all or nothing kind of guy. If he does stay (I guess there's no "if" about it, he's not going anywhere), I think it does the team better for him to be in complete control, both on and off the field. If the team struggles to make the playoffs again next year, then he has to be let go completely. No other GM in professional football, (except for maybe Jerry Jones) does what Wally did this year, and there's a reason for it.
TheLionKing
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Rocko604 wrote:Wally is an all or nothing kind of guy. If he does stay (I guess there's no "if" about it, he's not going anywhere), I think it does the team better for him to be in complete control, both on and off the field. If the team struggles to make the playoffs again next year, then he has to be let go completely. No other GM in professional football, (except for maybe Jerry Jones) does what Wally did this year, and there's a reason for it.
Buono has shown the past few years he has troubles "letting go". The only he can let go is that he is no longer with the club.
JohnnyMusso
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Now that Grey Cup is over, later this week, we should hear some news on whether Telford will be back?
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CardiacKid
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JohnnyMusso wrote:Now that Grey Cup is over, later this week, we should hear some news on whether Telford will be back?
There better be some movement on this issue so the team can progress into next season. This has to be hanging over the team like a cloud. There was some positive gains over the latter third of the year but if this business of who will be coaching next year drags on, I am afraid those gains will be lost.

Plus other teams are already on the move to shore up coaching staffs. It was mentioned (not really reported) on Angus Reid's Monday morning segment on Global, that the Riders mere minutes after the Grey Cup was over, contacted the Eskimoes for permission to talk to Chris Jones. Now that seems to me they are acting with a sense of urgency and PURPOSE.

Braley finally got started with getting the ball and chain of his recent ownership style cut free from the team. Now his management team need to do the same. If Skulsky is part of a group who wants to purchase the club, he needs to remove himself ASAP to not have the stink of conflict hanging over the club nor be unduly influenced in making decisions that benefit his purchase but hamper the club. Wally also needs to figure out what his role is and ACCEPT it and make it public.

Right now the team feels like they have been placed in quicksand by the actions of their ownership and management and told "Don't move, you will just sink faster!" and left as the brain-trust skivs off somewhere to dither.
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JohnnyMusso wrote: I do remember Monroe Eley and Harris, but the later not so much. If they had a quarterback maybe they would have been better. Don Moorhead was terrible.
And yet he had them at 8-4 before the injury bug began to bite and they lost back to back close games to the Lancaster/Reed Riders before the wheels kind of came off in the back to back to the Eskimos, led by MOP Tommy Wilkinson and who would be the West's Grey Cup rep in that monsoon at Empire.
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