Bombers re-sign offensive coach LaPolice

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/11/2017 (2913 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have signed offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice to a contract extension, head coach Mike O’Shea revealed Wednesday.

Surrounded by reporters for a season-ending news conference at Investors Group Field — following the Bombers’ 39-32 home loss to the Edmonton Eskimos on Sunday — O’Shea discussed few details about the extension, noting he needed to look over the contract again before saying anything else definitively.

“We’ve already taken care of that. He’s been extended,” said O’Shea, positioned in front of a team billboard at the Bombers Store, when asked about the importance of retaining LaPolice. LaPolice’s current contract was set to expire at the end of this season.

The Free Press has learned the deal was signed in June, ahead of the 2017 regular season, though the Bombers wouldn’t divulge whether it extended beyond the 2018 campaign. Given that the contract was dealt with months ago, the idea of a one-year extension — a term often viewed with suspicion — doesn’t appear as suspect as if it had been done more recently.

LaPolice signed with the Bombers in 2016, returning to an organization that had fired him as the head coach midway through the 2012 season. His dismissal came less than a year after guiding the Bombers to the 2011 Grey Cup game (Winnipeg lost to the B.C. Lions 34-23 at BC Place).

LaPolice is coming off a 2017 season in which he guided one of the best offences in the CFL. The Bombers finished second in points scored per game (26.7 average), and produced a number of stars within his scheme.

Quarterback Matt Nichols set career highs in passing yards (4,472) and touchdowns (28), and his eight interceptions were the fewest he’s thrown in a season where he’s played at least nine games. Running back Andrew Harris led the CFL in rushing with 1,035 yards, and his 105 catches set a new single-season record for running backs. Darvin Adams, who missed the last month with a shoulder injury, eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his five-year career.

“There’s just the trust factor that we have with each other, and are both the same type of guys and both over-analyzers and we try and find every little detail, every little thing we can get against the defence,” Nichols said in an interview earlier this week. “He does a great job allowing me to voice my opinion, and if there’s something I’m uncomfortable with, we throw it out.

“It’s really the first time since my college career where there’s never a time in a game where a play call comes in, and as I’m calling the huddle I’m not believing it’s going to work. I’ve had that before up here, where a play call comes in that you feel is designed for a different down and distance, but we seem to always be on the same page. A lot of the times it’s exactly what I was wanting.”

The announcement comes at a time when chatter was beginning to build on whether LaPolice might be courted by other teams looking for a head coach. The Montreal Alouettes, who finished last in the CFL with a record of 3-15, are in need of a new bench boss after firing Jacques Chapdelaine midway through the year.

O’Shea was asked if the Bombers would be fine with allowing LaPolice to speak with other teams, given they were interested.

“I would like to think he’s here,” O’Shea said.

“I think that’s what the extension indicated, that he wanted to be here. Now, do things change as time goes on? Absolutely. But there is a process that has to be followed, there is a tampering issue, rules and regulations that you have to abide by. But in conversations — and they were some time ago — with Paul and his signing and extension, to me is a good indicator that he wants to be here.”

While most co-ordinators are usually free to roam for promotions with other teams, LaPolice is said to be happy where he is, and isn’t expected to seek out other opportunities.

The Bombers committed to LaPolice in June with the understanding he would stay with the club.

“He’s enjoying having his family in this city, and it’s a big part of it,” O’Shea said. “He’s a big part of why we win, also.”

THE CHOSEN ONES?: with the loss to the Eskimos on Sunday, the Bombers extended their Grey Cup drought to 27 years. As has been the case after every disappointing season, O’Shea was asked why fans should believe he, president and CEO Wade Miller and general manager Kyle Walters are the right people to finally bring a Cup to Winnipeg.

“That is a difficult question to answer. Because I truly believe we’ve got to show them,” O’Shea said. “We’ve got to start winning at the end of the year, winning playoff games. I’m not trying to sell anybody on that.

“When fans come to this park, they see a group of players that are busting their ass to win games, and they’re doing it for the right reasons and they’re playing hard for each other. We have a group of guys that understand the community and really respect the fan base. I don’t think they’re coming to watch a game… they (fans) may leave disappointed with the score, but I don’t think they’re leaving disappointed with the effort.

“They (players) work extremely hard, and they know why they’re working hard.”

You want more than that?

“Everybody wants more than that. Every fan, every player, everybody in this building, everybody in this shop right now wants more than that,” he said.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

wfpvideo:AyUt3lNU:wfpvideo