Opportunity sure to knock for Pierce

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This article was published 15/11/2023 (666 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — There’s no doubting Buck Pierce is considered among the best prospective head coaches in the CFL.

At Grey Cup week in Hamilton the Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive co-ordinator is the talk of Steeltown. Given his success in recent years, including leading the top-rated offence the last three seasons, it’s only natural for reporters and pundits to ponder just how long it will be before Pierce earns his first crack at running his own team.

Get Pierce to talk about his future and the former quarterback pulls a quick audible, attempting to change the topic. It’s all business on the eve of Sunday’s championship game, where Pierce and the Bombers will face the Montreal Alouettes for a chance to win a third Grey Cup in four seasons.

“My head is, I’m at the Grey Cup and all my effort, all my focus is 100 per cent on that right now,” Pierce said Wednesday. “What my future holds, that will be determined later on. But I am firmly planted where I am, at this moment right now.”

Dig a bit deeper, though, and Pierce let’s down his guard enough to admit he’s at least thinking of the idea. As it stands, there’s only one vacant head coaching job after the Saskatchewan Roughriders fired Craig Dickenson.

With four of the other eight CFL clubs finishing the year with a regular-season record below .500, there’s the potential for more to open up.

“Obviously, I understand what comes with that territory, when you have success and you’re surrounded with players that have been successful, that there’s going to be those kinds of things,” Pierce said. “Has there been conversations in my household? Absolutely. Do I envision myself someday being a head coach? Absolutely. But I am always, and always will be, focused on the now.”

Living in the moment is a philosophy Pierce has adopted for years, and something that’s rubbed off on several of his players. While the 42-year-old Kansas native has all the tools required to be a head coach in the CFL — a work ethic rivalling any in the league, experience and passion for the game that is also rare, and the smarts to draw up winning game plans — perhaps his greatest strength is the effect he has on his players, all of whom have great appreciation for the man he is.

Look around the CFL and that presence clearly matters. Or just zoom in on the two head coaches set to do battle this weekend, with Winnipeg’s Mike O’Shea and Montreal’s Jason Maas among the most respected leaders in the league.

“He’s easy to follow. He’s somebody who is a great role model. Somebody who is always going to go above and beyond with his work ethic and commitment to his unit, to the team, to the organization, so that’s never going to be in question,” Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros said.

“I’ve always said about Buck, one of the ways it makes it easy to work with him is his openness and his communication. Openness to the way I see things or the way we’re able to communicate those things throughout the week and on what we want to do for that game. People are drawn to him, which I think makes a difference. Whatever he chooses to do or whatever attention he’s garnered, it’s well deserved.”

Pierce is expected to be on the Roughriders list of potential coaches. He hasn’t heard from them yet, as league rules prohibit teams from inquiring about coaches that are in the Grey Cup.

It’s also important to note while Pierce has been in the spotlight now for a couple of years, there’s a feeling he’s now in a place, both personally and professionally, to start seriously entertaining offers. He’s been asked to interview for head coaching jobs in the past, but hasn’t accepted the invitations.

Bombers general manager Kyle Walters expects a call will be coming sometime in the near future.

“I would think so,” Walters said. “This whole coaching staff has been together through all of this and they all deserve to be interviewed for promotions. Our entire organization is very good and we’ve got a lot of good people that all deserve opportunities.”

Pierce played nine seasons in the CFL, split between the B.C. Lions and Bombers, before retiring and immediately getting into coaching in 2014. There were other teams interested in him at the time, but with Bombers president and CEO Wade Miller running the football club, there was no chance Pierce, a fan favourite while playing in Winnipeg, was going anywhere else.

He started as running backs coach for two seasons and then moved on to quarterbacks coach for the next four years. Once Paul LaPolice took the head coaching job with the Ottawa Redblacks following the 2019 season, the year the Bombers snapped a nearly 30-year Grey Cup drought, Pierce slipped seamlessly into the offensive co-ordinator role, where he’s been ever since.

“I never got into football when I was a kid to be a professional athlete. I got in it because I liked it. I got in it because I was passionate about it,” Pierce said. “I got into coaching because I’m passionate about the game. I like competition. I like the aspect of teaching and watching players grow, building towards something.”

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What Pierce has built in Winnipeg is one of the most dangerous offences seen in the CFL in years. In the last three seasons, the Bombers have led the league in offensive touchdowns and has been in the top two in average offensive points per game.

When you factor in the person off the field with the results on it, it’s easy to understand why the Bombers would want to do everything they can to keep Pierce in Winnipeg. Although the club would never get in the way of a good opportunity, they’re also not going to go away quietly, either.

“Buck Pierce will be a great head coach when he decides he wants to take that step,” Miller said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make it tough on him to leave. We’re lucky to have him as our offensive co-ordinator. He’s an important part of what we do and we’re going to do everything we can to get him to stay and fight hard for him.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.