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Winnipeg Blue Bomber coach Mike Kelly says he shares former Blue coach Cal Murphy�s approach to football, and life. (PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA )

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Punctuality is a virtue to Mike Kelly. (PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Some football coaches insist it's the little things, the attention to every teeny-tiny detail, that can all add up to being critical in the difference between winning and losing, from finishing 10-8 instead of 8-10 and -- hello -- ending an 18-year Grey Cup drought.

Count new Winnipeg Blue Bomber head coach Mike Kelly among those who preach that philosophy as if it is one of the game's critical commandments. And so even before the 30 or so newcomers stepped onto the field Wednesday afternoon for the first rookie training camp session, the boss had already started implementing some of his core beliefs.

It's not exactly Moses coming down from the mount with the stone tablets, but it's getting there.

Take, for example, the seven atomic clocks he had installed around the Bombers' football-operation offices -- including one directly above his door -- that are all synchronized and set to go off at 7 each morning.

"There's no excuse now for being late," explained Kelly the other day. "Nobody can now say, 'I didn't know what time it was.' It's all about being on task. Guys wandering in late... that's not acceptable."

There will be a stricter dress code, both for road trips and on the field daily. And you can guarantee there won't be 20 guys doing a stretch and 20 guys watching before practice. Now, there's no hard evidence that any of this will mean a lick of difference on the field, but it is Kelly's way of establishing who is in charge and, he believes, protecting the Bomber brand.

"I think we've lost a lot of self-discipline in our culture," he said. "And in football if you're not disciplined, you won't be successful. It permeates everything we do. That doesn't mean I'm looking to bring the hammer down every single day, I just expect guys to handle themselves as mature men and professionals and not act like they're in a hip-hop video.

"I don't expect everyone to look like they just came out of GQ magazine, but I do expect them to dress respectfully. For example, I'm not interested in looking at someone's armpits while I'm having a meal. They're going to have to have T-shirts on, at a minimum. It's important that we approach our business in a professional manner. This is your job. This is the biggest job interview most of them will ever have and they have to handle themselves accordingly.

"I'm looking for a group that is tough, hard-nosed and respectful of the community we live in."

Just in case you're wondering what serves as the genesis of this approach, you need look no further than Kelly's own upbringing. His late father Jim was a U.S. marine who served in Korea and was also the heavyweight boxing champ of the ship on which he was sent overseas. And this almost-militaristic thinking was further enforced when Kelly got his first pro job as a coach back in 1992 with the Bombers under Cal Murphy.

"My dad and Cal were very similar individuals, maybe that's why I've always gotten along so well with Cal," said Kelly. "My dad always used to ask me when I was going to school, 'Is that the proper attire?' And Cal used to say to me, 'Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.' That's important because it projects an image: Are you a person that pays attention to detail or are you someone that's a slob? And I don't particularly want slobs.

"Part of my talk I'll have with the club will be that I expect shirttails to be tucked in and if your jersey comes out I want it tucked in. There are no black socks allowed, we're wearing white socks. Black socks are for when you're putting on your 'Sunday go to meeting' clothes, not when you're out there on the field.

"That's part of being a team and you can't have individuals on a team."

Here endeth Lesson No. 1.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 4, 2009 C1