LaPolice fully aware of what he’s getting into

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This article was published 26/06/2010 (5809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In some ways, it’s safe to say Paul LaPolice isn’t the same man he once was.

No, it’s not like the Bombers rookie head coach has undergone any personality transformation since his days as the club’s offensive coordinator a few years back. It’s not as though life has turned him cynical. He’s just as laid back and upbeat (if those two traits aren’t mutually exclusive) as he was during his last tour in Winnipeg at the turn of the century.

LaPolice hasn’t changed. But he’s the Bombers field marshall now, and in the public realm that can make all the difference.

“I get noticed a lot more, obviously,” he acknowledged, somewhat sheepishly. “When I was here before, people didn’t know who I was. But now… I was at the airport (leaving for Hamilton last weekend) and a nice couple came and talked to me, and talked about how excited they were for the season. Really good people.

“And when I got on the plane the people next to me were going to the game and they said the same thing,” LaPolice added. “It’s great. Those are the kind of people you can work for every day.”

Let’s face it, right now Paul LaPolice has more goodwill banked in this town than the Red Cross.

He’s Mr. Nice Guy, the low key antithesis to the former regime. Or pretty much any regime, for that matter. He’s the cherub-faced poster boy for a franchise intent on making peace with a championship-starved fan base which seems equally open to reconciliation.

So when LaPolice is at the movies, waiting for wife Tina to slip into the ladies room like any other husband, a few folks are bound to sidle up and simply say, “Good luck, coach.”

In fact, as the Bombers continue to mold a team out of wet clay in training camp, there has been a distinct lack of drama involved — which is actually somewhat unusual for any testosterone-fueled enterprise.

Hardly a fist has been thrown in anger during the heat of grueling drills, and on the rare occasions tempers have flared, LaPolice has made a point of capping any violent outbursts. His reasoning? No use doing it in practice if it will only get you a 15-yard penalty or an ejection on the field.

But it’s not just the Bombers unassuming and workmanlike approach. Can you remember a training camp, especially one with a healthy dose of unfamiliarity and turnover at all levels, where the level of angst outside the lines has been almost nonexistent?

You don’t hear so much as a peep of dissent. No grumbling about pinning their fortunes on a quarterback with a spotty medical history. Nary a discouraging word about dumping the likes of starting defenders Lenny Walls, Siddeeq Shabazz, Barrin Simpson and Gavin Walls during the off-season.

Indeed, it seems so serene in Bomberville that it can almost make you forget that this honeymoon isn’t going to last forever; that the hard reality of a slow start or a two- or three-game losing streak will be an acid test for all concerned — from the players to the media to the long-suffering faithful.

Let the record show LaPolice is fully aware of the potentially combustible dynamics involved.

“Like I’ve said before, you like to coach in a place where football is important, and it’s important in Winnipeg,” he said. “I know that can create impatience and questioning things but, hey, that’s why we love it here.”

Sure, but what about those stretches, which have been all to prevalent in recent years, where players admit to a self-imposed hibernation from the general public? “Well,” LaPolice shrugged, “we don’t get out a lot as coaches, so we don’t worry about it.”

LaPolice was kidding, of course, but offered this addendum.

“I hope that people understand that they look at us as an organization, from (president) Jim Bell to (GM) Joe Mack to myself to our players, that we’re a professional organization,” he said. “We’re doing things the right way. And we’re not going to win every one. Nobody ever goes 18-0 in this league and everyone goes through Grey Cup droughts.

“I hope the fans are understanding that our process is right and the wins will come.”

You know, I don’t pretend to speak for all Bombers fans. But, seriously, isn’t 20 years long enough?

Only time will tell if LaPolice can do what no other Bombers head coach has done in two decades: Bring Winnipeg a championship. Or, alas, is he destined to discover like his predecessors what life can be like as the Bombers boss when hope leaves town on the next Greyhound?

So given all the locals have been put through, ‘lo these many seasons, I believe I understand the prevailing sentiment.

Good luck, coach.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

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