Football Operations: GM Ed Hervey, HC Wally Buono and the Coaching Staff

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Rocko604
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So Braley won't be selling the team this off-season. Damn it.
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David
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This reminds me of that old Henny Youngman line, "Take my wife....please!"
Herb Zurkowsky‏ @HerbZurkowsky1
#Als have requested permission to speak to a number of B.C. coaches, I’m told. My guess? Marcel Bellefeuille, Mark Washington and Khari Jones
Throw in Dorazio and we'll call it even. :wink:


DH :cool:
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Blitz
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What we need in the future is someone who can work better with the salary cap than we have in the past.

One of the problems of the past has been that Buono has signed players, then finds himself over the cap and then is forced to go back to veteran players and ask them to take a salary cut. That has happened repeatedly during the Buono era when the SMS has been in place.

The results have hurt us. Veteran players are unhappy after being asked to take a salary cut or be released and the timing is often untenable for the player(s) involved and they are forced to accept the cut.

Paris Jackson and Dante Marsh were only two examples of this Buono practice. Buono also asked Bighill to take a $30,000 salary cut and Bighill asked for an NFL option as a result and we lost him for this season. Stephen Clarke was cut when Buono started Lulay this season and there were SMS implications when that move was required. Jovan Olifioye was traded when Buono signed Chris Williams.

Lowell Ullrich at one point this season discussed the Lions salary cap issues with the comment that Buono's 'economics lack reasoning'.

Going into this 2017 season, we lost two perennial All_Stars in Bighill and Olifioye. Smart general managers don't do that nor do they get themselves into a situation where, if they have to start their backup quarterback (Lulay in this case) they have to cut a player in order to do so.

The SMS rarely gets mentioned in the topic of Buono's many screw ups but its an important one. This season, once again, there was discussion about a lack of vet leadership.

But when many of your vet player leaders, over the years, are being asked unexpectedly to take a salary cut, after negotiating a contract in good faith, not because their play has deteriorated but because Wally has got himself into a bad situation with the SMS, it doesn't make those vet leaders very happy.

A lot of vets have left our Leos very unhappy and its certainly not always just been because Wally wanted to change their role with a significantly reduced salary like he offered to Geroy Simon or Ryan Phillips. More often, players have left unhappy because Wally has played games with their contracts.

In some cases, he has also been rotten. The treatment of Dante Marsh, a player who gave it his all for our Leos and was an outstanding performer right down the end of his career was only one example of Buono not respecting a veteran player.

When Dante left Vancouver for a few days during a bye week to visit his family while he was rehabbing an injury he was suspended by the club for a brief time and even though Buono did not want Marsh back with the club at the end of the season, he would not release him from his contract until the end of January.

Paul McCallum, who was brought to training camp with a new contract believed Buono never had any intention of starting him for the 2016 season and wanted his contract money for the SMS but he also believed that Buono signed him and brought him to training camp that season so no other team would be able to sign him during that off-season prior to training camp. Then Buono basically told McCallum to retire or he would be released.

If we want vet player leadership, one way to facilitate it would be for Buono to stop playing mind games with his vet leaders heads. Buono even did that to Dave Dickenson at the end of the 2005 season and Dickenson was incensed with Buono's tactics.

To build a winning culture you need player leaders to help create that culture. But that culture can't be created by playing head games with player leaders, including dicking them around with their contracts or blaming them when things are not going well.

Quite frankly this team needs a different culture and in order to create that we need better leadership from Buono as both GM and HC or a different leader to establish a more positive culture with this Leos team.
"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)
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The_Pauser
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I wouldn't at all be surprised if Buono didn't deal with the SMS at all. Typically that's the job of a capologist, or in the absence of one those duties fall on the shoulders of the assistant GM.
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JohnnyMusso
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Interesting Responses to this news. I hope they take 1 of the 3 off our hands. My bet if they hire one will be Marcel B.


Herb Zurkowsky‏ @HerbZurkowsky1
#Als have requested permission to speak to a number of B.C. coaches, I’m told. My guess? Marcel Bellefeuille, Mark Washington and Khari Jones

Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

Bellefeuille would be fitting


Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

Bellefeuille? Good luck with an unimaginative, stuck in the past coach!


Alan MacDonald‏ @alanmac_d · Nov 17


Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1 @FifthQtr

Pls take Khari, I will pay you!


Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

not even Belicek could save this disaster


Robert Libersan‏ @LibersanRobert · 16h16 hours ago

Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

Mon choix : Mark Washington.


Big Country Lions‏ @SamBClions · Nov 17

Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

Pls take jones.


Jean-Francois Genest‏ @JF_Genest · Nov 17

Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

If we keep the GM, who would want this job?



Christopher Reid‏ @Cbutts60254530 · 20h20 hours ago

Replying to @HerbZurkowsky1

The fact they are considering Bellefeuille should scare alot of people.
maxlion
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Bellefeuille brought some stability and respect to hamilton, but could never get the team over the hump. Still, the team was in much better shape when he left than we he arrived. He might be a good choice for Montreal in their current circumstances.

Washington's defenses have been very inconsistent--excellent at times, terrible at times. In the end, it seems they were left wanting. It is very unusual for a coordinator to be promoted to head coach without having had substantial success as a coordinator.

I know that not many others will agree with me, but I will say again that Khari has done a very good job as OC over the last two years. Not surprised that he is drawing some attention from around the league.
Last edited by maxlion on Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
JohnnyMusso
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Marcel B has head coaching experience and speaks French, which I feel gives him the edge for the Montreal job. I doubt Buono would stand in his way or ask for compensation. I agree with some many coaches would be wary working for Kavis Reed. He was too quick to pull the plug on Jacque C.
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The_Pauser
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We should give Montreal a deal. Take all 3 (Washington, Bellefeuille, and Jones), and get a Dan Dorazio for free.
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Hambone
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JohnnyMusso wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:50 am
Marcel B has head coaching experience and speaks French, which I feel gives him the edge for the Montreal job. I doubt Buono would stand in his way or ask for compensation. I agree with some many coaches would be wary working for Kavis Reed. He was too quick to pull the plug on Jacque C.
As a position coach Marcel has likely been working on 1 year contracts meaning he is not under contract to BC beyond this season. The only question has his deal already expired? Does it expire at the end of November or end of December?
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B.C.FAN
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Hambone wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:38 am
JohnnyMusso wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:50 am
Marcel B has head coaching experience and speaks French, which I feel gives him the edge for the Montreal job. I doubt Buono would stand in his way or ask for compensation. I agree with some many coaches would be wary working for Kavis Reed. He was too quick to pull the plug on Jacque C.
As a position coach Marcel has likely been working on 1 year contracts meaning he is not under contract to BC beyond this season. The only question has his deal already expired? Does it expire at the end of November or end of December?
Assistant coaches are usually under contract until the end of January. This gives departing coaches some stability through the holidays while they look for new positions.
TheLionKing
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The_Pauser wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:30 am
We should give Montreal a deal. Take all 3 (Washington, Bellefeuille, and Jones), and get a Dan Dorazio for free.
:beauty: :wink:
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B.C.FAN
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A couple of Ottawa assistant coaches with B.C. links, offensive line coach Bryan Chiu and receivers coach Travis Moore, are reportedly leaving the Redblacks. Chiu is a Vancouver College grad who was a 7-time all-star centre in Montreal and coached Toronto's O-line before moving to Ottawa. Moore had previously been receivers coach in B.C. under Wally after playing for Wally in Calgary in the 1990s. I wouldn't mind having Chiu in charge of the B.C. O-line.

Redblacks coaches Chiu, Moore won't be back
TheLionKing
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I would love to see Chiu in Lion colours.
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David
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I said to a friend earlier this year how good it would be to have Bryan Chiu here coaching up the O-line. I thought Ottawa had a really strong line but were beset by injuries in the back half of the year.

The only problem with this is that Chiu is now an easterner. He and his family are firmly entrenched in the Montreal community. I believe I read that he met his wife there. Could they be uprooted and move out here? Possibly but doubtful. CFL Vancouverites seem to have a history of thriving elsewhere and never coming here. Not only did they not play here, but it didn't even seem to be a consideration: Bryan Chiu, Doug Brown, Kevin Eiben, Ray Elgaard, Jon Cornish to name a few.


DH :cool:
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JohnnyMusso
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I for one can hardly wait for the Grey Cup to be done, so we can start hearing BC Lions news. However, there is a fear we will be disappointed with the news we hear. My greatest fear is Wally back as coach & GM and the whole staff back as well. No changes, except for maybe one if Montreal hires one of our coaches to be their head coach.

I sure hope there is some kind of shakeup. Hope to hear something a few days after the Grey Cup.
Last edited by JohnnyMusso on Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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