Fire Benny!!!!!!!

[Toppy Vann]

Ed Willes has a column that does a pretty good job of exposing problems including what many on this site have said about QBing and coaching as well as what folks here defended and that was Skulsky's guaranteed win for the Riders part of the debacle.

Willes has identified post game today a number of ingredients in this failure.

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Wille ... story.html

If this is true, then this is a complete failure to grasp the leadership mantle when you go into a playoff faking a player being ready. I disagree but there are many coaches who don't want the injured near the team - but I am one who doesn't want my teams to know one of my tactics is to pretend my top star is ready. I want the guys who can play to believe in themselves - not the fake player.

But this just about represents how the HC misunderstands the leadership role. When you listen to the narrative out of the Als camp post Troy Smith (who seemed only to be tossed when Garcia got to town) and that is how much the players believe and want to play for Crompton - and let's face it he's playing better than he should be and doesn't need to be great as his team fights for the ball and for him. So what do the Lions do - when everyone on their team knows Lulay can't play they say he is no. 2 !!! WTF!!!!

As for Travis Lulay, it turns out after all the drama over his health, the Lions' nominal No. 1 wasn't available to play. That doesn't explain all the effort that went into an elaborate smoke screen that had zero effect on the game. But we'll have plenty of time to kick that one around, just as we'll have plenty of time to consider the full impact of this debacle.

The finger, of course, will be pointed at Glenn but he isn't the issue going forward.

This is my take on the LACK OF JUDGMENT AND LEADERSHIP at the helm when this took place:

It starts at the top where president Dennis Skulsky played his own role in the Lions' demise, guaranteeing a win over the Grey Cup champion in Week 9, then watched the Roughriders and their second-string quarterback beat the LIons' at B.C. Place. The Leos were 5-3 to that point and never seemed to regain any sense of purpose or momentum after that game. The guarantee showed an appalling lack of judgement for a senior executive. It also spoke to a leadership void at the top of the team.

As someone who led issues management for a major organization I'd have counselled against a corporate Hail Mary as there was no upside to it. A President with nothing to do with the team does this and speaks for the coaches and players!!!!???? Bizarre and this showed both a lack of understanding about what leadership is about and weakness.

I think Willes has this next part wrong about the presence of Wally:

Mike Benevides is his hand-picked successor. In 2012, their first year as head coach and GM, it seemed both men would form an effective team. Now, it can fairly be asked if Buonos' presence inhibits Benevides' authority. That opinion has been expressed by more than one player and given the dysfunction that was clearly evident this season, the least you can say is it passes the smell test.

Benevides, meanwhile, looked powerless in the face of the downward spiral, both on Sunday and throughout the season. It's the job of the head coach, in his words, to create his own momentum, to provide answers when things start to go awry.

The only issue about Wally is that he had faith that Benny could pull it off when all he showed me as an assistant was that he was not open to observing and learning from both wally and Dave Ritchie who he took over from. When you have a HC belly bumping as he did this season early on you know the HC has lost his composure.

Belly Bumping Benevides hasn't the judgment to do any of the following and these are HC job requirements:
1. Set a tone in the team and clear culture of performance where players are accountable as are coaches (measured by games won, and things like how disciplined your team is and how clear and consistent the message from the coaches and players is.
attract, select, develop and retain top assistants.

2. Make good judgments and statements about the players - Ryan Phillips, Kevin Glenn , Marsh were a few eye brow raisers.

3. Create a game plan to win.

4. Make good judgments in games.

5. Show a leadership presence on the sidelines.

[MexicoLionFan]

This was the purrfect train wreck finish for a train wreck season. EVERYONE here agreed in the offseason that Benny/Wally's decision to fire JC and Stubler put ALL the weight on the inexperienced HC's shoulders. These moves were done early...Wally/Benny had a LONG TIME to fill out there staff, but it wasn't completed until late because of a lot of bumps along the way...NO ONE of consequence wanted to come here, which speaks LOUDLY on both Wally and Benny! Everyone in the league knows that Dorazio and McMann no longer cut it as positional coaches, not in the new and improved CFL. Jones was a last ditch effort to find ANYONE who had some experience and would coach under these conditions...the same can be said for Joe Paopao attempting to coach our receivers...why did Travis Moore leave? He said it was personal reasons...Washington takes over the defence with not a ton of experience and NONE as a DC...to be honest, Washington was NEVER that good of a player, and was SOFT...Chris Jones is made of steel.

There is nowhere for this franchise or fan base to go from this game EXCEPT cleaning house. Wally hired a guy who was NEVER a good positional coach and didn't play the game at a high level. He has NO X's and O's skills...he has no history of success as a positional coach or Coordinator...he's not a great orator, and has a horrible sideline demeanour. Wally's choice was a DISASTER for this franchise and it MUST be rectified NOW! Wally's time has come and gone in the CFL...he has burned a TON of bridges along the way, including lying to aging veterans including a Lion legend Korey Banks (one of my favourite Lion's players ever). Banks went on record as saying that Wally has done this before and is not liked or respected around the league. Lots of FAs wouldn't come here and our first choices in coaches didn't either! Where there's smoke there's fire!

Wally needs to move upstairs, again, and become a figure head and someone that MGT can turn to for advice...but his decision making, tinkering and manipulation in the PRESS MUST END NOW! I am NOT a Benevides fan, but Wally did everything he could to show and PROVE the nepotism in his decision making...could you imagine John Hiufnagel coming out in the press and ripping Dave Dickenson like Wally did to his HC JUST BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS BEGAN??? MB, Dorazio, McMann and Washington are ALL part of Wally's church group! Its VERY evident thats the only reason these guys are employed in the CFL...think about this, when MB gets fired what will his next CFL job be? A Special Teams coordinator for a lower echelon franchise??? His next HC gig might only ever come in CDN College ball...Dorazio and McMann, would they have a job waiting for them anywhere??? This is how you judge your staff and team...how badly does anyone in the league want your guys...Dave Dickenson...teams are drooling over his potential availability!

There is NOTHING wrong with our talent...when we started the season we had more talent AND depth than any other CFL team...that talent and depth bailed out Benevides a TON of times this season or it could have been much worse. I said during the season that Lions were LUCKY to have such a soft schedule this season, not just in who they played but where and when. This Lions team could have EASILY gone 5 and 13...no joke! If MB comes back next season, not only will the Lions have little or no season ticket base and small crowds, but they will sink to the bottom of the standing, even below Ottawa...who have a good coaching staff and will get some much better players this off season...the same for WPG! There are NO SOFTIES in the CFL anymore...the days of Wally just lining them up and winning are long gone! SSK will retool this offseason and shore up their QB depth...how good will EDM be with another off season??? What if WPG gets some players? What is TOR spends some money? HAM had a horrible situation with the stadium over the last few years and it hurt them, all they ever needed to do was believe in themselves...they are going to be at or near the top every season...

And then what about MTL...Higgins is nothing but a father figure to a YOUNG, INEXPERIENCED and SMART staff...some people here think that there aren't qualified coaches out there...WRONG...to be a coach in this day and age means you have to be good or you won't advance out of High School (except for the Lions)! Even in the CIS there a LOTS of VERY, VERY bright minds that have perennial success...there are at least 3 guys that would make very good CFL Head Coaches...in the States, there are High School programs and coaching staffs that would make the Lions look like Pop Warner! No joke! There are brilliant guys everywhere in the coaching ranks just waiting for a break! Two or Three years of success in Canada will get them a big job back in the States. Don't Worry about firing this mickey mouse staff...there's a strong group out there, BUT they must be given TOTAL CONTROL over the on field operations! We must sever all existing ties and give the new staff Carte Blanche!

QB is obviously an issue as is the DLine...but the OLINE is NOT the problem...we might need to bring in a proper Centre, but Matt Norman, Kirby Fabien and Hunter Steward can all play...I like Hendrick and Olafoye is a still young, 2 time Most Outstanding OLineman winner...plus T-Dre and Cam Thorn have real potential...bring in a good OLine Coach in a great new Offensive system, and these guys will shine! So at worst, we might need a Centre. RB, WR we are literally loaded with talent...with the WRs a number of young CDNs and young Imports that have size, speed, hands and raw talent...great projects for a WR coach who knows what he is doing...on Defence, look at our LBs and Secondary...short of ANOTHER WALLY DEBACLE in LaRose, we are LOADED and YOUNG! The envy of the league...Wally left our DLine for too long...he got rid of Mitchell when he should have stayed and now it looks like he will be gone again...I have NOT been a big fan of Taylor as for the last 2 years it has taken ONE guy to block him, plus the young CGY centre eats him alive! Westerman does NOT want to be here, and losing him is going to be a BIG LOSS for obvious reasons. I don't think Bazzie is going to be good enough and how long can we ride Khreem Smith who maybe played his best season yet? If the new staff can bring in the guys, especially in the middle to protect Sol E. then our defence has a chance to be #1 next season and for a long time...don't forget we have Lokombo to work in as well and Casey Chin...just loaded on the back eight! So for player personnel it will come down to QB...how good is Patridge??? Who knows, we didn't give him a chance this season when we should have...Beck is NEVER going to make it as a starter...we cannot count on Lulay and Glenn is too old and small to build a system around...NOW is the time to find our new guy, give him a chance and run with it. If Lulay is not 100% by February then he should be cut...and we can resign Glenn to a backup role with Partridge and then bring in our guy. Or if Partridge's moxy is backed up by real talent, then give him and go and Beck can be the 3rd string. Now is the future for the QB position. I am sorry about not having confidence in the Lulay situation, but I have played QB and have had this injury....I know the HARSH realities of this issue...doctors can take steps to keep the shoulder from popping out, but GOODBYE range of motion...even now, it will be tough for Lulay to ever become an accurate passer (and he was never really one to begin with). I hate to say it, but we can pretty much write Lulay off, that's why I would resign Glenn to a 1 year contract for backup money and go with our new guy...our talent across the team is YOUNG, we can wait 2 seasons for the full rebound with a new, young QB. I hope Kelly Bates sticks around the Lions because he is a smart guy and a good coach (the one guy that we really didn't use too much) and has done a masterful job with our CIS draft...we will see, but if Wally doesn't clean house soon, and set in motion an exhaustive search for the right staff, this team will finish DEAD LAST in the CFL standing next year and have NO FAN BASE! Have at it Wally, legend or not, you have earned every inch of this MESS!

[MexicoLionFan]

Here's one for you...Richie Hall took too much on his shoulders his first time through as a HC...he also did not have a good front office behind him and not great personnel...his 2nd chance as a HC would be different. Richie is as SMART as they come on the defensive side of the ball, plus he loves PRESSURE...can you imagine our back eight playing in a Richie Hall defence??? FEAR for opponents...putting them on their heals and not toes! The key would be Richie finding the right Coordinators this time through and I am sure Richie knows this and would take part in an exhaustive search!

So there's ONE good choice already!

[korey&dante4ever]

Here's one for you...Richie Hall took too much on his shoulders his first time through as a HC...he also did not have a good front office behind him and not great personnel...his 2nd chance as a HC would be different.

We need offensive minds!! ... Richie Hall would be redundant.

OFFENSIVE MINDS!

[Toppy Vann]

Here's one for you...Richie Hall took too much on his shoulders his first time through as a HC...he also did not have a good front office behind him and not great personnel...his 2nd chance as a HC would be different. Richie is as SMART as they come on the defensive side of the ball, plus he loves PRESSURE...can you imagine our back eight playing in a Richie Hall defence??? FEAR for opponents...putting them on their heals and not toes! The key would be Richie finding the right Coordinators this time through and I am sure Richie knows this and would take part in an exhaustive search!

So there's ONE good choice already!

What Richie lacked though is HC material thinking. I doubt he learned. He became friends with some in his locker room which is not a problem as long as you aren't seen as playing favourites which IIRC sounded was the situation.

I dont think full house cleaning is a good thing but none of them can say they did a decent job.

[DanoT]

In the past I have been one of those fans who was against firing Benny without first finding an adequate replacement and I wondered if there were any out there.

Now after the horrible downward spiral to end the season and the embarrassing exit in the playoffs, I am convinced that just about anyone would be an upgrade over MB.

I don't know if MB "lost the players" but I do know that if there aren't substantial changes then they will loose the fans big time.

If the Lions want to sell tickets to me then they need to be able to offer some hope that they have a plan to turn things around in 2015. If MB is part of that plan then it is doomed and will fail.

[MexicoLionFan]

Here's one for you...Richie Hall took too much on his shoulders his first time through as a HC...he also did not have a good front office behind him and not great personnel...his 2nd chance as a HC would be different.

We need offensive minds!! ... Richie Hall would be redundant.

OFFENSIVE MINDS!

KD4 our HC doesn't need to be an offensive guru, we need an X's and O's coach who has at least one discipline that is top notch...Hall is one of those guys...as long as he brings in a top Offensive mind to coach the offence, we would be fine!

And to be honest, with a brilliant Defensive mind, our defence could be lights out for a number of years...

[Don Miller]

Benny has been a major disappointment. Sounds like some big issues in the room. Defence played as good as they could with zero offence. Washington is the only coach that deserves to be back next season. Unless I see some major changes I will NOT be renewing my season tickets for 2015 Long drive and big commitment from Chilliwack to see performances like we saw this year!

[Rammer]

Here's one for you...Richie Hall took too much on his shoulders his first time through as a HC...he also did not have a good front office behind him and not great personnel...his 2nd chance as a HC would be different.

We need offensive minds!! ... Richie Hall would be redundant.

OFFENSIVE MINDS!

KD4 our HC doesn't need to be an offensive guru, we need an X's and O's coach who has at least one discipline that is top notch...Hall is one of those guys...as long as he brings in a top Offensive mind to coach the offence, we would be fine!

And to be honest, with a brilliant Defensive mind, our defence could be lights out for a number of years...

Who knows who will be the right fit as the Lions next HC, all I do know is that right now, Benevides isn't that guy. I would prefer the next HC to have an offensive cooridinator as part of his resume. To me, the Lions D is good enough, capable of more if they have some incentive to think that they can win the game. However, down the stretch teams were able to scheme against the Lions D effectively. A learning curve for Washington that he has to figure out for next season.

Benevides was given a chance, paid his time under Wally, didn't accept the Argo's position as HC for his shot. Now his time is up, sorry to see that, as he obviously has loyalty to the Lions. Not being able to get the right guys in as OL coach and ST coach is Wally's fault, way too loyal to his coaching staff. If the coaching staff was graded out like Wally did his players at the end of the year, they would have been turfed many years ago.

The playoff game just brought forth all that is wrong with the club under this coaching staff. That is the last taste that the Lion fans will have until next spring, and it is much easier to wait for the excitement to the Lion games, then pay. That has to force Wally's hand to at least stop the bleeding that is getting larger each year.

[cromartie]

Well, I hate to say I told you so.

But I guess i should try and cheer everyone up a little bit. So I'll start by suggesting that tossing Wally overboard isn't necessary yet. I'll state again, he pushed aside people he had long term relationships with and a lot of respect for when they underperformed greatly in the front office in 2013. I think that that reorganization has helped the organization from a player personnel acquisition perspective. I see no reason why he doesn't have the aptitude to do so when it comes to coaching as well.

This tells me there's hope, and we aren't Winnipeg. There's talent to there to be properly utilized. Only the Defensive Line, Quarterback and age in the secondary need to be addressed in the offseason. That's a short but not unimportant shopping list. We're alright relative to the cap. The world isn't ending.

But if I were Skulsky, I'd keep my head down and focus on salvaging the sponsorship and season ticket base, because you have taken a serious financial hit as an organization this season. Bombing out like this is going to cost you season ticket holders. The guarantee game has cost over $1 million, and the Grey Cup, without the host team, won't lose money, necessarily, but it won't generate nearly as much revenue as it would have otherwise (especially now that the Riders have also bowed out). That's a lot of money for a business that doesn't swim in profit to leave on the table.

Which takes us to the coaching staff. They're toast. You cannot justify bringing any of them back after a loss of this magnitude. You just can't. This has not just been a situation like 2005 where a very good team lost to one that was just slightly better, this has been a season long bad product. It's indefensible to the fanbase, especially in light of what that has cost you.

So it will be very interesting to see what Wally comes up with. On the plus side, this will likely be the only opening in the league, and it is not without its advantages as an opportunity.

It sucks, but it isn't the end of the world. Growth does not occur without pain. By Christmas, it will be a different franchise with a different outlook.

[TheLionKing]

Wally has always gone to Hawaii for Christmas before making any changes. Same this year?

On the scale between rash (mercurial) and deliberate (glacial), Wally is at the far end of deliberate.

I think Wally already knows what changes need to be made.

[dat]

Let's call a spade a spade. I have never been one to want to see any coach fired or a player cut but as they say football is a performance based business. Montreal QB Troy Smith was abysmal the first half of the season and they had to give up on him. I think the Lions have to say the same about Benevides. They would have liked to see him work out but it never materialized. One mark of a good owner, GM or manager is to know and admit when they've made a mistake. The Canucks realized Tortarella was never going to work and after running the team into the ground last year they had no choice but to let him go. I see a similar parallel here. Wally sometimes talks about how many victories Benny had his first year. That team had so much talent Betty White could have been the HC and they would have won. They should have won a Grey Cup in one of those first two years. Last year they threw Stubler and JC under the bus while Benny avoided blame or scrutiny. The HC is responsible for the team regardless of who the coordinators are. Whether it's football, hockey or soccer the fans don't expect their team to win every game. But what they do expect is to see a decent product. On a few occasions this year the Lions played well. For most of it however they were below average and a lot of times horrible. All fans have their own opinions good and bad but in the end results speak for themselves. If you went to your local restaurant and the food and service had become terrible you probably wouldn't go back until it got better. That's what's happened with a lot of Lions fans this year. I love the Lions and prefer watching football over any other sport but only went to one Leos game this year. That was because of the teams performance that game, actually the D was decent but the O put me to sleep. I think Wally has done a lot of good things since he came here but even he will have to admit this season was a gong show. Losing record at home, anemic offence all year, barely scraping into the playoffs and getting manhandled their last 3 games. Like Cromartie said I'm really interested in seeing what they do to address their many issues.

DAT

[David]

I feel badly for Benny as he really bleeds orange. He's invested a lot of himself with the organization and seems like a decent guy. But I don't think he's CFL head coaching material. I think he'd do very well in the CIS as I think college players would respond to his type of motivational techniques and speeches much better than the pros. He may have even survived here, but it would have had to have been with the absolute top-level of assistants.

Wally may see it differently. His stubborn side may want to bring Bene back to prove to himself and others that the extension was justified. He may even convince himself and those around him that with a better O-coordinator and quarterback, he would have had much better success. But I think he's really fooling himself. I've watched this team long enough to know that all signs point to a coach that had lost the room. His troops were constantly doing stupid, selfish things on the field. And how many times this season did we see the sluggish "two and out" starts, lousy 3rd quarters, poor in-game decisions (followed by post-game mia culpas), and odd personnel decisions?? That HAS to fall on the Head Coach. The players are more perceptive than we give them credit for. They sensed Bene was in over his head and lost hope toward the end.


DH

[ballhawk]

“At the end of the day I love coach Benevides and I'm going to play for him and in my eyes he's a great coach,” Elimimian said. “Individually, I don't feel guys played to where we needed to play."

Further-

"And in the opinion of one veteran who may or may not get a chance to play a 12th CFL season for the Lions, partly because of his candour, making too many more changes, or the wrong ones, could make a bad situation even worse."

[Sir Purrcival]

Even nutbars have their disciples. Bene's style may work for a few but the overall appearance is of a team that has turned it's back. The defense particularly seemed unhappy with the complete ineptitude of the offense and at the end, who do you expect to make that right; the HC. MB wasn't able to make it right or even better and in the end fans and players have lost faith in him. His position as HC is now untenable. If Wally fails to act accordingly, then he may well be expendable too. In a strange way, this last debacle may be for the best in the long run. Had we stumbled along and gotten to a final, then there would have been some wiggle room to maybe make only small changes. This complete arse up at the end of the season really makes that not viable any longer.