Reider wrote:Was there seriously ever a doubt that Kent Austin would win it?
Doug Brown thinks otherwise....
Buono, not Austin, deserved CFL coach of the year honours
Winnipeg Free Press
Tue 04 Mar 2008
Page: C4
Section: Sports
Byline: Doug Brown
WHILE I was off on my annual snow retreat to sunnier destinations to play beach volleyball like a man who was looking to become one with the sand, the CFL had its annual congress in Calgary, Feb. 25-27.
Every team had multiple representatives in attendance and, now that I have safely returned to share in the remainder of our ice age, it gives me an opportunity to convey my two cents worth on some of the issues that were discussed.
First of all, as you should already know, the winner of the coach of the year award for the CFL was announced and Ken Austin, formerly of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was the victor, beating out B.C.'s Wally Buono by a comfortable margin with 21 of 42 first-place votes.
That seems like a logical conclusion since the Riders did win their first Grey Cup since the wheel was invented, but not necessarily the way I would have gone since the award is supposed to be reflective of "leadership, discipline and dedication to excellence" during the regular season and not the post-season.
I can't say the B.C. Lions were the kings of discipline this past year with all the carnage created by the WWE superstars on their offensive line, but when it comes to dedication to excellence, nothing is more indicative of that than setting a record in B.C. for the most wins ever in the regular season and league-leading record of 14-4.
In addition, according to my undercover operatives who were in attendance at this congress, the main points of address delivered by commissioner Mark Cohon were in respect to code of conduct between the franchises and the advent of a new partnership with TSN.
As we have all seen, when front-office types and even coaches take issue with one another, they tend to make their feelings known through the media.
My sources tell me that the commissioner has now made it clear to all the clubs that if any representative or coach has a vendetta with another member of another franchise, he should be notified to mediate the dispute instead of via the press.
Fortunately for you -- fans who enjoy good mudslinging -- the players have no such mandate on the docket and will continue to take liberties with one another intentionally and otherwise through proper media channels.
I was told referee abuse was also a code of conduct policy that they were looking to be channeled more constructively, but as we all know, the best way to eliminate that problem is by throwing more money and training at the men in stripes, not curtailing the criticisms.
The position TSN is reportedly taking as the network assumes the entire CFL broadcasting experience is that they are looking to partner with all the member clubs in order to expand their access points and give our viewership more in- depth coverage -- similar to what we see with the NFL.
If all goes as planned you will be hearing head coaches miked-up with the usual allotment of players and camera access in the locker-room immediately after the games to capture all the human elements of victory.
I feel the more coverage the better when it comes to selling the game and the personalities in the CFL, but they better have a verbal and visual censor on hand before they relay any footage of the head coaching dialogues.
And finally, the most exciting news to be leaked onto my lap from the annual congress are the pending results from the CFL's first-ever attempt at salary cap enforcement.
All the CFL clubs will have access to the audited financial information for each member club by the middle of March and the information will then be released to the public by the end of April -- in my opinion -- so each team can figure out how to spin the news of whether they cheated or played by the rules. Fittingly, the CFL draft is also at the end of April so some fans might be surprised about the forfeiture of a draft pick or two, depending on the penalty their club incurred
Another thing of interest is his suggestion in the last paragraph that there will be some surprise as to the loss of draft picks by some fans....hmmmm.
