Head Coaches

Alouettes de Montréal
1

A thought has occurred to me. . .they do, from time to time. . .

Edmonton has hired Chris Jones as head coach, a former defensive coordinator.

Ottawa is apparently hiring Rick Campbell, a former defensive coordinator.

We''ve promoted Neil Thorpe to assistant head coach, likely grooming him for the top job sooner or later.

So that's got me to thinking.

Why are defensive coordinators being selected as head coaches over offensive guys? Let's look at the recent record.

Here are defensive coordinators who have been given head coaching jobs:

Tim Burke. . . failed
Kavis Reed. .. failed
Garry Etcheverry. .. failed
Rich Stubler. . .failed
Greg Marshall. . . failed
Richie Hall. . . failed

Now, those fellows were all good to really good to excellent defensive coordinators, but flopped as head coaches. Only one exception comes readily to mind, Corey Chamblin (who, to my mind, has been a better head coach than he was a D/C).

Now look at some more offensive-minded guys who've been given head coaching jobs:

Kent Austin
John Hufnagel
Marc Trestman
Scott Milanovich

They all succeeded in the head coaching role. George Cortez and Marcel Bellefeuille, not so much.

So does that not indicate that your chances of success with a head coach are somewhat better if you pick an offensive guy instead of a defensive guy?

Just throwing it out for discussion.

2

Difficult to argue,at least based on these latest names/promotions.

If you go back not too long ago, defensive minded Head Coaches such as Wally Buono and Don Matthews did not too bad.

Is Jim Popp a defensive or offensive minded coach or none of these? Ha! Ha!

Richard

3

Chamblin led the Riders to a Grey Cup. Buono did it in 2011 and 2006. Matthews in 2002. To me, it doesn't matter which side of the ball you're from, as long as you can coach.

4

Je crois que c’est effectivement le cas. Diriger une équipe n’est pas la même chose que diriger une unité, même s’il faut d’abord avoir dirigé une unité avant de pouvoir songer à diriger une équipe.

Pour beaucoup, je crois que ça tient à la capacité de travail, de cerner les enjeux, de mobiliser les troupes, et de prendre les bonnes décisions avant ET pendant les parties. Ces capacités ne sont pas l’apanage des entraîneurs “offensifs”.

Cela dit, on peut certainement percevoir une tendance au cours des 7 dernières saisons, où les équipes dirigées par des entraîneurs “offensifs” sont principalement ceux qui ont eu le dessus sur les autres jusqu’à la fin. Austin, Hufnagel, Trestman, Trestman, Buono, Milanovitch et Chamblin. 5 fois venant de l’attaque, 2 fois venant de la défensive.

Je crois que la saison 2013 des Alouettes confirme cependant qu’on ne peut gagner avec une attaque déficiente. on l’a aussi vu avec les Argonauts jouant avec Cleo Lemon. Si on a une excellente défensive et une attaque potable, on peut se rendre plus loin, comme l’a montré la saison 2011 des Bou! Bombers et la saison 2012 des Argonauts.

Le mieux demeure d’avoir une excellente attaque, une excellente défensive et d’excellentes unités spéciales…

5

Madjack: I posted a similar comment a couple of days back. If a team desires an improved offense, has a decent group of players and, wants a winning season, its best to hire an offensive oriented HC.

6

C’est très sensé.

7

I have to wonder if the Riders win the Grey Cup without Cortez as the OC. I mean when they brought him in Chamblain lit up like a xmass tree. Which also makes me wonder if Cortez will leave the security and popularity as well as probably the Riders making him the Highest paid OC in CFL history to keep him in Green

8

Only way it happens is if we make Cortez HC and OC and match the salary. I don't see it happening, because I don't think we have the balls to do it, but it's what I would like to see.

9

George will be the highestt paid oc in history no matter what team he plays for because Hamilton is on the hook for a 4 year 1.6 million dollar contract that has 2 ramaining years. George will do what George wants…

10

New story from Herb. Lots of info.

Berry disappointed he didn't get the Ottawa job (was a finalist)
Very likely we'll lose Mark Nelson to Ottawa because Campbell and he are very close
Apparently Ben Cahoon has been offered a coaching position in Montreal but nothing can proceed because of the Popp saga
No update on the Popp-WW impasse

11

If thats the case for George I cannot see him leaving the Riders until retirement then.
He really did a job in the playoffs. Using Snaders as a Change up back to Sheets worked really great

12

Only place I could see him go is to BC to help out his good friend Wally.

13

According to TSN690 yesterday, Danny Macioca was offered the HC job in Ottawa before Campbell but turned it down.

14

He is doin a lot of great things with the Caribans. They have arguably been the second best team in the CIS the last two seasons but the playoff set up puts them in the same division as Laval and being on the cusp of beating them this year but losing keeps them out of the National semis and spotlight.
If a National Tournament were to be put together in the CIS where the number 2 team from each conference crosses over and plays the number one team in another extending the National playoffs to 8 team qurter final round it could have very well been Laval vs Montreal in the Vanier Cup.
I think not just taking a CFL HC job that may not be the right situation was a good move for him at this point.

15

That gives me hope for the Afro-Communits to be terrible for many years. Per Herb:

Both Berry and Bellefeuille were notified by Desjardins on Wednesday. Maciocia never seriously considered taking the job and was forced this week to deny he was departing the Carabins program.

If DM never seriously considered taking the job, why accept an interview? If he truly had no interest he just wasted Bellefeuille’s time. If true, he should never get another interview in the CFL; even if he wants the job.

My guess is that, like last year with the Als, his “lack of interest” was a meagre attempt to save face. Or he planted the stories about the team having serious interest simply to “pump his own tires”.

16

"pump his own tires"? He doesn't look like the MIchelin Man. He looks like a Pilsbury Dough Coach!

17

In case you don’t get the reference, it comes from Luongo-Thomas exchanges from the Stanley Cup Finals.

As for the Pillsbury Dough Coach, he always loked like a grown-up cabbage patch kid. :lol: