Amazing what wins can do

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/08/2011 (5195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Following Saturday’s win in Vancouver, his message to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers players was this: Get away from football for a week.

Unfortunately, Paul LaPolice only practises half of what he preaches.

The head coach of the top outfit in the CFL after the first seven games of the season is enjoying — if we can stretch the meaning of that word in this instance — his bye week with his family in Nashua, New Hampshire. Staying with parents, reconnecting with old friends and visiting old haunts are at the top of his to-do list, he says.

Between those social distractions, though, he’s thinking about football.

Yes, just when you think 11 days before the next game is enough time to sneak in a little pigskin hiatus (the 6-1 Bombers don’t play again until Aug. 26 versus Hamilton), you understand that coaches never completely unplug the gridiron.

“I get up early in the morning, watch some Hamilton film to get some early ideas, do that for about 2-3 hours or so and then spend time with the family,” LaPolice said via phone Monday. “There are a couple things I’ll try to write up about Hamilton. It (football) is always in the back of your mind, but I’ll try to spend some time with family.”

This must be a strange time for LaPolice. His office-hours message always puts the focus forward on the coming week’s matchup. But with no game this time around, where does his attention rest? Might he be allowing himself to reflect on — maybe even, gasp, enjoy — what his club has submitted thus far?

“I’ll put it like this,” he offers. “It’s great to see the players having success, but for coaches (winning) just makes the work environment better, if that makes any sense. Things are a lot calmer.”

This serenity, of course, comes from the experience endured as a rookie head coach in 2010 and dealing with the constant mind bender of trying to find the right equation to find the win column once in a while.

Consider some of the issues with the Bombers at the bye week break a year ago:

— The team was 2-6 and, fair or not, there was still a bad taste in many mouths from the Mike Kelly era. That and that whole 20 years without a Grey Cup thing. Paying for the sins of the past, let’s call it.

— Quarterback Buck Pierce couldn’t stay on the field, having finished just two of the four games he was healthy enough to start. His signing was looking like a disaster. Steven Jyles had his moments of mention, true, but so did his inexperience.

— The Bombers gave up countless big plays both on defence and more famously with special teams, where opposition kick returners licked their chops when they saw the punt team come onto the field.

LaPolice’s biggest concern during the current break is organizing his days to mix in a little football with a lot friends and family.

“This year, I’m looking for improvement when I look at film,” he said. “Last year, I was looking for frickin’ answers.”

While the wins are stirring the juices in Bomberland — for those both in uniform and in the stands — the strange reality is that this current joy ride is finding more of a confirmation than a celebration for LaPolice.

Not much has changed personnel-wise for the Blue and Gold from last year, so sticking with the same program and not having the success blossom would have meant an even more disgruntled fan base, insubordinate players and a call for change in the head coaching chair.

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Six wins in seven games is a validation that the plan and the systems they believe can work in the CFL are, at the very least, workable.

“If you go two years out of that and you don’t get the results, then it would have been hard,” LaPolice said. “It would have been hard to get anyone to believe in the process if we didn’t have a good start.”

Amazing what a few wins can do.

Last season at the bye week, believers in the process were few and far between. Now, with a winning product and a chance to put the feet up, everyone is starting to process their belief.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca