Bombers fire coach Etcheverry

Posted: 11:37 AM CST Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014 Last Modified: 3:13 PM CST Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014 | Updates

Gary Etcheverry is out as defensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

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Gary Etcheverry is out as defensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2014 (4134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gary Etcheverry is out as defensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea made the announcement today at a news conference. No replacement was named, although O’Shea did confirm he wants the new candidate in place soon.

“It was a long process of evaluation and lots of time spent with Etch trying to come up with a good solution going forward,” said O’Shea. “And in the end, the number of changes I was going to ask Etch to make I just felt he wasn’t going to be able to truly believe in the solutions I wanted and the changes I wanted him to make.”

Paul Wiecek / Winnipeg Free Press
New Blue Bombers defensive co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry says he's 'so far behind the times, we're ahead of the times.' — Paul Wiecek / Winnipeg Free Press New Blue Bombers defensive co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry says he's 'so far behind the times, we're ahead of the times.'

The Bombers ranked last in points allowed per game (26.7), yards rushing per game (135.9) and second last in yards surrendered per game (338.6). Etcheverry’s scheme – unorthodox because it did not involve issuing his players a defence – was built around stopping the pass. As a result, his defensive front-seven sacrificed some size for speed and that was often exploited by teams that pounded the ball along the ground.

Etcheverry’s future with the team has been widely speculated about during this off-season, but the hammer came down on Tuesday. Already, the most-frequently mentioned possible candidates are former B.C. Lions head coach Mike Benevides, Richie Hall and Barron Miles of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and DeVone Claybrooks, the defensive line coach with the Calgary Stampeders.

The move comes on the same day the Bombers announced they have re-signed defensive back Matt Bucknor, a non-import who played all 18 games for the Bombers in 2014 and was considered one of the team’s most pleasant surprises.