Head Coach - Lions announce Jeff Tedford as 2015 HC

[notahomer]

Yes considering how the pool looked, IMO, Buono did quite well.... Looking forward to seeing an offensively minded Head Coach next season......

[South Pender]

Even made it onto Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports). Very good publicity for the CFL.

Tedford heads to the B.C. Lions
Posted by Mike Florio on December 18, 2014, 5:59 PM EST

Health issues kept Jeff Tedford from serving as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator in 2014. Now released from his contract, Tedford has found a new job, north of the border.

Per a league source, Tedford has accepted an offer to become the new head coach of the B.C. Lions of the CFL.

Tedford, who was out of football in 2013 after being fired by Cal, ultimately took a leave of absence after heart problems emerged prior to the start of the regular season. He never returned, and his absence became a vastly underrated detriment for a team with a defensive-minded head coach (Lovie Smith) and a smattering of offensive position coaches without the experience needed to coordinate the offense in Tedford’s absence.

Tedford’s decision to return to coach suggests he could have returned to work for the Bucs in 2015. Which invites speculation as to whether he wanted to leave Tampa, whether Tampa wanted him to go, or a little bit of both.

[dupsdell1]

Here is his story from YouTube

[Rammer]

Great news. Will give this club some much needed credibility. Interested to see who his assistants will be. I hope he brings back Washington, Holland, Hairston, and Bates. The others? Let's just say I'd prefer to see some fresh blood and new ideas there....

The Positives
* An offensive minded head coach. This market needs excitement on that side of the ball.
* Very well respected on both sides of the 49th. High level college coach with a proven record for winning.
* He has familiarity with this league, although he is many years removed from it. But by hiring him, we've also avoided the CFL "recycle-o-tron" that plagues many teams.
* Likely well connected down south and can develop quarterbacks, which is vital in this market.
* His experience/stature is such that he can likely stifle or deflect any possible meddling by Wally, but still lean on his years of experience for guidance.

The Negatives
* Health concerns. I'm not convinced the CFL is any less stressful or the hours less intense for a HC.
* Flight risk. How committed will he be to this team/province? Will a big contract offer from down south make him a "one and done" HC for the Lions?
* Again, while I have every confidence he can quickly adapt to the CFL, he is still several decades removed from the league. He can expect big changes.

Season ticket holders were given until 12/16 to renew for next year at this year's prices. It would be a wonderful PR move once this is formally announced, to give fans (the fence-sitters) another 24 hours to sign on.


DH

I think you nailed the view on his hire here. If he brings in Cortez, that may help bridge the gap quickly on where the CFL is today. He should have the necessary connections to help with the FA camps, plus putting his name out there as the guy doing the FA camps, has to catch even more attention.

[dupsdell1]

Sorry guys this hiring is not going to sell season tickets, too much damage has been done, it is going to take a few years to get the fans back even if they win , to much stability has been lost with this team.

[TheLionKing]

Sorry guys this hiring is not going to sell season tickets, too much damage has been done, it is going to take a few years to get the fans back even if they win , to much stability has been lost with this team.

I concur. I don't think Tedford's hiring is going to sell any new season tickets. It might encourage ticket holders who have not renewed by the early deadline to reconsider.

[DanoT]

A great hiring. Now promote Kelly bates to O line coach and offer the OC job to Jeff Garcia.

[BC 1988]

From what I'm reading here (from posters who have studied Tedford's coaching strategies), I'd say we have a lot to be hopeful for--as long as the O-Line coaching position is also fixed up.

It's hilarious how the almost simultaneous Chap OC hiring in SSK is producing mostly weeping and wailing over on RiderFan.

[cromartie]

A great hiring. Now promote Kelly bates to O line coach and offer the OC job to Jeff Garcia.

Happy to keep Bates in house. I'm inclined to think he's Wally's next protege. He has potential.

As for the OC job...I get where you're going, and Tedford would be a suitable mentor, but I think that's Cortez' job, honestly. Either outcome is acceptable.

But please, get McMann and Dorazio out of here already.

[The_Pauser]

A great hiring. Now promote Kelly bates to O line coach and offer the OC job to Jeff Garcia.

Happy to keep Bates in house. I'm inclined to think he's Wally's next protege. He has potential.

As for the OC job...I get where you're going, and Tedford would be a suitable mentor, but I think that's Cortez' job, honestly. Either outcome is acceptable.

But please, get McMann and Dorazio out of here already.

Jeff Garcia has supposedly already rejected a potential OC role. George Cortez will be the guy, and you'll see Dan LeFevour brought in on February 15.

[B.C.FAN]

Season ticket holders were given until 12/16 to renew for next year at this year's prices. It would be a wonderful PR move once this is formally announced, to give fans (the fence-sitters) another 24 hours to sign on.


DH

Given the way things were progressing, I expected the team to make an announcement earlier this week extending the deadline to Friday at 5 p.m. Now it might be too late. Team offices are scheduled to be closed for the holidays for the next two weeks. If you call or email customer service after the hiring is official, you won't likely get a response until January.

[Lions4ever]

Sorry guys this hiring is not going to sell season tickets, too much damage has been done, it is going to take a few years to get the fans back even if they win , to much stability has been lost with this team.

If that's true then this marketplace is dumber than dumb. For my money this is one of the most significant acquisitions for this franchise in the last decade.

[dupsdell1]

Sorry guys this hiring is not going to sell season tickets, too much damage has been done, it is going to take a few years to get the fans back even if they win , to much stability has been lost with this team.

If that's true then this marketplace is dumber than dumb. For my money this is one of the most significant acquisitions for this franchise in the last decade.

I am sorry but hiring this coach is not going to get people running out to buy season tickets, not just our market but any market,

[sj-roc]

Sorry guys this hiring is not going to sell season tickets, too much damage has been done, it is going to take a few years to get the fans back even if they win , to much stability has been lost with this team.

I concur. I don't think Tedford's hiring is going to sell any new season tickets. It might encourage ticket holders who have not renewed by the early deadline to reconsider.

True, that sort of growth doesn't happen overnight. You can look back to how crowds were still stagnant here in the first year of Ackles's return in 2002. In fact our average attendance in 2002 was actually a 6.7% drop over 2001, from 19,857 to 18,507, before the real growth occurred. We didn't average into the 30k's until 2005. We might well see another drop in 2015 before any growth is realised from his hiring and contributions.

You can also look at what happened at Cal, where Tedford also arrived in that same 2002 year to relatively sparse attendances in response to at least two years of poor play on the field. Their attendance also dropped in his first year but soon rose into the 60k's (capacity ranged from the high 60k's to low 70k's through most of his time at UCB) where they sustained themselves until the team began to falter near what proved to be the end of his tenure (and has continued to erode with team performance after his firing). Also worth noting that in 2011 — in somewhat of a parallel to our Tempire era — the Golden Bears played temporarily at a smaller stadium (45k capacity) on the other side of the bay in SF, while Memorial Stadium was being renovated to a reduced capacity of about 63k.

Year, W-L, Avg Attendance (with/without Big Game vs Stanford included in even (hosting) years)
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
2000, 3-8, 46.3k/41.0k
2001, 1-10, 33.4k
2002, 7-5, 37.1k/31.4k (first year of Tedford era)
2003, 8-6, 38.3k
2004, 10-2, 64.0k/61.8k
2005, 8-4, 60.4k
2006, 10-3, 64.3k/62.3k
2007, 7-6, 63.1k
2008, 9-4, 61.6k/60.2k
2009, 8-5, 59.5k
2010, 5-7, 57.9k/56.2k
2011, 7-6, 37.7k (45k capacity)
2012, 3-9, 55.9k/55.0k (final year of Tedford era)
2013, 1-11, 49.3k
2014, 5-7, 47.7k/45.9k

Not saying we'd have the same sort of attendance growth if he's equally successful here — you have to understand the full history of this market — but it shouldn't hurt the gate if he can so deliver.

Here's hoping our Tedford era gets off to as great a start as the one in Cal did in 2002. The Golden Bears defeated Baylor (who went on to a 3-9 record that year) by a blowout score of 70-22 in his Cal debut. Here's an 8min highlight reel.

[video][/video]

[dupsdell1]

Sorry guys this hiring is not going to sell season tickets, too much damage has been done, it is going to take a few years to get the fans back even if they win , to much stability has been lost with this team.

I concur. I don't think Tedford's hiring is going to sell any new season tickets. It might encourage ticket holders who have not renewed by the early deadline to reconsider.

True, that sort of growth doesn't happen overnight. You can look back to how crowds were still stagnant here in the first year of Ackles's return in 2002. In fact our average attendance in 2002 was actually a 6.7% drop over 2001, from 19,857 to 18,507, before the real growth occurred. We didn't average into the 30k's until 2005. We might well see another drop in 2015 before any growth is realised from his hiring and contributions.

You can also look at what happened at Cal, where Tedford also arrived in that same 2002 year to relatively sparse attendances in response to at least two years of poor play on the field. Their attendance also dropped in his first year but soon rose into the 60k's (capacity ranged from the high 60k's to low 70k's through most of his time at UCB) where they sustained themselves until the team began to falter near what proved to be the end of his tenure (and has continued to erode with team performance after his firing). Also worth noting that in 2011 — in somewhat of a parallel to our Tempire era — the Golden Bears played temporarily at a smaller stadium (45k capacity) on the other side of the bay in SF, while Memorial Stadium was being renovated to a reduced capacity of about 63k.

Year, W-L, Avg Attendance (with/without Big Game vs Stanford included in even (hosting) years)
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
2000, 3-8, 46.3k/41.0k
2001, 1-10, 33.4k
2002, 7-5, 37.1k/31.4k (first year of Tedford era)
2003, 8-6, 38.3k
2004, 10-2, 64.0k/61.8k
2005, 8-4, 60.4k
2006, 10-3, 64.3k/62.3k
2007, 7-6, 63.1k
2008, 9-4, 61.6k/60.2k
2009, 8-5, 59.5k
2010, 5-7, 57.9k/56.2k
2011, 7-6, 37.7k (45k capacity)
2012, 3-9, 55.9k/55.0k (final year of Tedford era)
2013, 1-11, 49.3k
2014, 5-7, 47.7k/45.9k

Not saying we'd have the same sort of attendance growth if he's equally successful here — you have to understand the full history of this market — but it shouldn't hurt the gate if he can so deliver.

Here's hoping our Tedford era gets off to as great a start as the one in Cal did in 2002. The Golden Bears defeated Baylor (who went on to a 3-9 record that year) by a blowout score of 70-22 in his Cal debut. Here's an 8min highlight reel.

[video][/video]

Yes I do remember 2002 but when wally cam in with Dickenson in 2003 things were looking up they averaged around 23,000 then in 2004 close to 25,000 and so on, this is how it is going to be , I tell you if this fails with this coach I could see the lions going from 15,000 season tickets to 10,000 just like it was in 2001.