Bombers sack two defensive coaches, keep co-ordinator

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This article was published 05/01/2018 (2849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nearly two months after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were eliminated in the first round of the CFL playoffs for a second straight season, head coach Mike O’Shea made changes to the area of his team that bore much of the weight of those two failed years, firing two defensive assistant coaches, promoting one and adding another.

Defensive backs coach Tony Missick, who first joined the Bombers as a guest coach in 2016 before taking over the role full time, and Todd Howard, who ran the defensive line the past three seasons, were both told this week their contracts would not be renewed.

“Like a bunch of decisions we made in the previous four years, this is just another decision that we go through a process to find out the answer that I believe is going to work the best,” O’Shea said on Friday. “I certainly wouldn’t call Todd or Tony scapegoats, that’s for sure. As I evaluate it, there’s certain things I wanted to be done differently.”

Jordan Younger, a player-turned-coach whose relationship with O’Shea goes back more than a decade, has been hired and will be responsibile for the defensive backs — a unit that ranked at the bottom of the league last season.

No one will replace Howard. Instead, linebackers coach Glenn Young will see his role increase next season, which will be his third with the Bombers. Young is now responsible for both the linebackers and the defensive line.

O’Shea said he would also be increasing his fingerprint on the defence,.

“Popping in and out of meetings and sitting there during some planning sessions isn’t enough. I’ve got to make sure I’m available whenever they need it and make sure I’m more of a presence around the defensive meetings,” he said.

It’s the move O’Shea didn’t make that will likely garner the most attention — and criticism. Defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall has been spared the axe despite being the leader of a defence that ranked near or at the bottom of most statistical categories in 2017 and were often burned by big plays.

For many, it seemed almost a foregone conclusion Hall, who was hired in January 2015 after O’Shea fired Gary Etcheverry, would be gone. O’Shea was not one of those people, and praised Hall for his contributions.

“Nobody, including the defensive staff or the players were happy with the results,” said O’Shea. “I believe he’s a tremendously valuable asset, not only to the defence but our organization. To me, included.”

The choice to retain Hall doesn’t come as much of a shocker. In his season-ending press conference days after the 39-32 home loss to the Edmonton Eskimos in the West Division semifinal, O’Shea, though conscious of the defence’s deficiencies being the “elephant in the room,” also believed they were fixable.

When he was reminded that his defence allowed an average of 396.9 yards per game — ahead of only the last-place Montreal Alouettes and only slightly better than the league-worst 407.9 yards the Bombers allowed in 2016 — O’Shea countered that no other defence had the number of takeaways his team had over the past two seasons.

Winnipeg combined for 101 takeaways in 2016 and 2017 while the next closest team was the Calgary Stampeders with 90 (no other team reached as high as 80).

Then there was the fact the secondary allowed the most passing yards in 2017, surrendering an average of 321.6 yards through the air per game, with the defensive line not faring much better with the run game, giving up around 97 rushing yards each week.

O’Shea acknowledged those numbers were not acceptable but countered with the fact the Bombers led the league in interceptions for a second straight year and finished 2017 with the third-most quarterback pressures, with 116, behind only Calgary (125) and Edmonton (121).

“Not trying to cover up the fact we gave up a lot of yards but I’m not throwing it all out,” O’Shea said then. “There’s a way to maximize our takeaways and pressures and minimize the yards we give up. I have to figure out how to do that.”

The answer for O’Shea, it would appear, is not to replace Hall, but to provide him the help he needs to be better.

“He works extremely well with our coaching staff. Because it’s not just about how well he works with the defensive coaching staff,” said O’Shea said. “He interacts with (offensive co-ordinator Paul) LaPolice every single night when they’re preparing for practice the next day. That kind of interaction is very good. And when I sit in on their meetings, they work well together. That’s a big part of it.”

Continuity remains the highest priority for the Bombers behind winning, and the trio at the top — CEO and president Wade Miller, general manager Kyle Walters and O’Shea — truly believe to achieve one you need the other.

They also feel they are on the right track to winning a Grey Cup. After boasting a regular-season record of 12-24 the first two years together, the trio are 23-13 the last two. Because of the vast improvements, the Bombers believe only minor tweaks are needed to put them over the top.

“No, I don’t believe that,” O’Shea said when asked if he needed to change the defence. “We have to fine-tune some concepts and we have to fine-tune some teaching, create some habits that are going to allow us to make more plays, that’s for sure.”

Hall also fits the kind of person O’Shea likes on his staff, someone he feels is good at what they do but also buys into the philosophy they’re trying to employ.

“That’s important to me,” said O’Shea, when asked about his desire to truly know a person, and not simply by reputation, when it comes to hiring someone.

That’s likely why Younger, a familiar face to O’Shea, is the only new body to arrive from all the changes. Though Younger’s CFL coaching career is limited — he spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons as defensive backs coach with the Toronto Argonauts, but last year was head coach of a prep school in Southern Ontario — O’Shea knows who he is and what he stands for.

Together they have been part of two Grey Cups in Toronto: once as teammates in 2004 when O’Shea, a grizzled veteran, was on the way out and Younger was a “sure-of-himself” rookie, and again in 2012 when Younger was the captain on defence and O’Shea was the Argonauts’ special teams coach.

O’Shea said he planned on Younger fitting right in as the Bombers get prepared to for the 2018 season and another chance at snapping a 27-year championship drought.

“When it comes to our staff and our team and getting to know our players he’s going to be willing to learn about them,” said O’Shea. “It’s not just going to be, ‘Here it is.’ He’s not going to be a dictator.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @jeffkhamilton