Howell knows mood of room

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2011 (5426 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — Markus Howell joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers coaching staff in May.

Unofficially, he became a football coach in July.

A few days after the death of Richard Harris, Paul LaPolice was asked about the feeling in the locker-room. Not only was Harris going to be missed as a man and as a football coach, but the popular defensive line and assistant head coach always had the temperature of the team away from the field.

When there was an issue, Harris knew about it.

Who would be the new thermometer for the Bombers?

“Markus has the pulse of the room. He knows what’s going on.”

It sounds like a small thing, an intangible reference when dissecting the mental aspects of team leadership and clubhouse politics, but every successful club has a coach or a member of the staff that can act as a sounding board for the players. Harris had that connection thanks to his ‘open-arm policy’ and the fact he played in the NFL for a number of years. The players trusted him.

Winnipeg native Howell wasn’t sure he had that trust when he became a coach, though he had 11 years experience as a CFL receiver with three teams — Winnipeg, Calgary and the Ottawa Renegades.

“It’s a big responsibility,” he said before the Bombers went through a closed-door practice at BC Place Thursday in preparation for the 99th Grey Cup against the B.C. Lions. “I knew it in the summer, too, that I had a connection there. Every once in a while (Bombers GM) Joe Mack will pull me into the office and go, ‘Markus, what’s going on back there? How’s the room? Do I need to worry about anything?’ — that kind of stuff.”

Howell’s line between players and coaches was put to the test just last week, when the club let receiver Terence Jeffers-Harris go. A high-profile release during the playoffs carries a certain volatility to it, so Howell chatted with a few guys to get a sense of the mood in the room so the coaches could figure out how to address any possible flare-ups.

Like most on the Winnipeg side, Harris’s death hit Howell like a truck. His mentor was gone, his own sounding board was no longer around, and the club made the interesting decision to promote him.

A big reason why the Bombers didn’t bring in a defensive line coach to replace Harris?

They thought Howell was ready for more responsibility. With Casey Creehan shifting some of his attention to the D-line, Howell was asked to coach the linebackers, a position he never played before.

“But the toughest part about it was not trying to replace Richard,” Howell said. “I couldn’t do that — no one could, or will. His office was offered to me, I said no. The players walked by there every day, and I knew that it would be… it wouldn’t be right.

“I went off and found some other corner to work out of.”

Howell was added to the coaching staff as a defensive assistant before the season. Unsure if he was ready to be a coach — or if he was ready to put in the long hours to be a coach — Howell picked Harris’ brain daily, but the message didn’t change much.

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“He was always tell me: ‘Markus, just be yourself. You’ve got 11 years of experience in this league — use that. A lot of coaches up here don’t have that advantage, you’re special,'” said Howell.

More advice Howell puts into use every day: Treat everyone like men. Coaches can’t fool players. They know the real deal when they see one.

“He knows what’s going on more than some players,” linebacker Marcellus Bowman said of Howell.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca