Bombers wouldn’t have far to look for new defensive coordinator

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/12/2017 (2882 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It could be a computer glitch, a web page problem, or it could be it has been taken down from the website to add more spin to the year-end defensive statistics. It could be the festive season triggering visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, or it could very well be the coach was relieved of his duties and it hasn’t yet been announced to the public.

For, as of the time this column was submitted to the sports editors of the Winnipeg Free Press on Sunday night, if you were to click on Richie Hall’s name, under the coaching subtitle, on www.bluebombers.com, all you’d get was a “PAGE NOT FOUND” headline, with a “Sorry; no page was found at this location.”

Now, before we all start speculating whether this is a cryptic Christmas message from the brass at IGF, it is worth mentioning there are exactly 10 coaches listed on the franchise web page. If you click on any of them, save for Richie Hall and offensive line coach Marty Costello, you get a short biography and summation of their coaching exploits. Hall and Costello are the only two where, as I was trying to do research for this column — I know, surprising — there was nothing to be found.

While this may be nothing more than wishful thinking for many a fan of this team, you cannot deny that on the top of most every Winnipeg Blue Bomber supporter’s Christmas list, is a vastly improved defence. How this is achieved — by hook, crook or a look elsewhere — matters little to most.

What does matter is that the clock is ticking, and with every day, week and month that passes, if a move has not already been made, the prospect of finding a promising replacement grows more difficult.

As has been well documented, it is difficult for a coordinator with zero experience in Canadian football to sign with a team and make the situation better and not worse. In fact, the “coaching carousel” of the CFL is what it is, mainly because expertise in this league is rare; and good, proven coaches are not often without employment for long.

So, if the football club were indeed hoping to make a move and improve at the defensive coordinator spot, where could they find such a candidate, at this relatively late hour, that would help them more than harm them?

Ideally, this coach would have league experience as both a defensive player and coach, and, as a bonus, experience winning championships at both levels. They would have to understand the nuances of CFL defences like the back of their hand, and have the absolute respect of their players.

A reputation as a team-first guy, and a tough, uncompromising attitude to go with it, would be even better.

But even if the Bombers wanted to go this route, which we still do not know, where could they find such a dream candidate for defensive coordinator? Sometimes, the things you spend the most time looking for are right in front of you.

Let’s pretend this deconstructed web bio isn’t just a coincidental omission, and a move to change the leadership at defensive coordinator, is already in the works. Wouldn’t the head coach of the team, who was just inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame for his work as a middle linebacker — the leader of most every defence — be the ideal candidate to take over? Roughly half of the head coaches in the CFL already possess multiple job titles, and/or oversee their own offences or defences, so we wouldn’t be reinventing the pigskin here.

You couldn’t bring anybody in that would know the roster of players, and their capabilities, and limitations, any better. You couldn’t find anyone the players would instantly and automatically play for, respect and be able to relate to better. And you most certainly couldn’t find a candidate who has 24 years of experience in the league, as a player and coach, who has won titles, as a player and coach, and is renowned for his toughness and dedication to the game.

In fact, all you could say, as Mike O’Shea enters his ninth year of professional coaching, is that the one thing he has never been before is a defensive coordinator, and therefore has no actual on-the-job experience. Yet he played it for 16 years, and he’s been the overseer of it in Winnipeg, going on five years now.

Sure it might take a little adjustment, but if you were inheriting a group that surrendered the most passing touchdowns in the league, the second-worst net average offence allowed, the second-worst average yards per play, and the second-worst number of plays from scrimmage, you certainly would have more to gain than lose.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears weekly in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97