Familiar faces among Bomber guest coaches

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/05/2011 (5442 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SLURPEES for everyone, perhaps?

Winnipeg Blue Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice unveiled his list of guest coaches for the upcoming training camp and the hired help includes a couple of very familiar faces — kickers Bob Cameron and Troy Westwood.

Both, of course, were famous back in the day for interrupting the gruelling grind of training camp by delivering the famous icy beverages to their teammates in the middle of practice.

Also coming aboard to aid in camp — which begins next week for quarterbacks and rookies and officially opens on June 5 — are Mickey Donovan, Joe Loth and another ex-Bomber, Jermese Jones.

Cameron, a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, returns for his second consecutive training camp as a guest coach. A four-time CFL all-star as a punter, Cameron won three Grey Cup championships and was named the Most Valuable Canadian in the 1988 Grey Cup game.

The Bombers all-time leading scorer and soon to be inducted into the club’s shrine, Westwood played 18 seasons for the Bombers and was named a divisional all-star three times (’92, ’93, ’94) and a CFL all-star in 1992, along with being named the team’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 1992 and 2003.

Donovan is the special teams and defensive front-seven co-ordinator at the University of Western Ontario who played at both the University of Maine and Concordia University. A two-time CIS all-Canadian, he won the President’s Trophy as the country’s top defensive player in 2004.

He blew out his knee trying out for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and then turned to coaching with the University of New Hampshire, Team Canada in 2009 and as defensive co-ordinator of Team Ontario West in 2010.

Joe Loth, entering his 9th year as the head coach of Otterbein College, was a guest coach at last year’s training camp.

Prior to his time at Otterbein, Loth was the head coach at Kean University and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Southern Methodist University before becoming the defensive co-ordinator at Western Connecticut State University and Capital University.

He also spent time coaching the secondary at the University of Rhode Island and was a guest coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2009.

Jones played seven years in the CFL, including a four-year stint (2003-06) with the Bombers. After leaving the Canadian game, Jones became an offensive assistant at Kansas State and was a guest coach at last year’s Bomber training camp.

Meanwhile, the CFL supplemental draft — originally scheduled for Friday — will now be held on Monday. Four players are eligible:

— Defensive lineman Alex Ellis, Wilfrid Laurier, 6-foot-1, 306 pounds

— Linebacker Stephen Inman, Tabor College, six-foot, 235 pounds

— Defensive lineman Ted Laurent, Mississippi, 6-foot-3, 303 pounds

— Wide receiver Kito Poblah, Central Michigan, 6-foot-2, 213 pounds.

Both Laurent and Poblah of are particular interest to the Bombers, who control the draft as it is held on a waiver-wire priority based on last year’s standings.

The supplemental draft is held for any player who didn’t receive official non-import status from the CFL and CFLPA until after the CFL Canadian Draft.

Here’s how the draft works, straight from the CFL manual:

“The supplemental draft works a bit like an auction. Teams have the option of giving up a pick in next year’s CFL Canadian Draft in exchange for the rights to an eligible player, but they can be trumped by a team willing to part with a higher pick in next year’s draft.

“As a result, the player eventually goes to the team most willing to forfeit a higher pick next year. The team with the highest waiver priority makes its offer last, meaning they have the last chance to match any previous offer.

The order of priority is:

— 1. Winnipeg

— 2. Edmonton

— 3. British Columbia

— 4. Toronto

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— 5. Hamilton

— 6. Calgary

— 7. Saskatchewan

— 8. Montreal

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca