Schonert fired, AC and Dinwiddie become co-OCs

For anyone late to this particular party and wondering what's going on. The official news is up on the Als web site.

It can only be hoped that the QBs will now be coached up by someone who knows a thing or three about being a QB in this league.

I'm not sure that Dinwiddie is an improvement - only time will tell on that one. The fact, however, that he will have AC by his side is a little more comforting.

All is not lost for this wacky season yet -BUT! - the Als have to start racking up Ws soon. Otherwise, the remainder of the calendar will be a tune-up for the 2016 season. Lest there be any doubt, we're in Year Two of the post-AC era. I sure hope it won't last too many more years.

You know what? Win or lose, I just want to not wear a paper bag over my head whenever the offense goes out on the field. Herb had a quote from an unnamed player after Thursday's loss in which the player flat-out acknowledged that the offense was pitiful and embarrassing and was clearly frustrated with the playcalling. When anonymous players are starting to go on record about the O, you know Schonert was losing the room. Mediocre football mind at best, a failure in the NFL, a nonentity in the UFL (!), and a failure up here. He clearly didn't grasp the Canadian game and wasn't able to leverage the unique components of three-down football to devise an effective attack. And game after game, he'd CYA to the press and talk about there were plays to be made but the QB didn't make his reads. Yeah, OK, Turk, the QB should be making his reads from underneath the pile of enemy D-linemen who are plastering him on every play because your protection calls $uck and your pass plays can be read and countered by a five-year-old. Good riddance.

This is good timing too. The fact that they didn't even wait until after LB weekend to make this announcements speaks to the urgency of the situation. They wanted to get Schonert out of there ASAP, get the new OCs installed and let the coaches go to work over the bye week to maximize the time available before next game. The players may be on vacation but the coaches are going to work balls to the wall to construct a decent package of pass plays out of Schonert's dreck...

It is very good news. Glad Popp moved decisively.

No matter what we may say or think, Mr. Wetenhall is always willing to spend money for this team; yes, I am aware that if the team wins there will be more fans in the stand but it's not an assurance; he takes steps for improvements.

The new coaching staff structure reminds me of a similar structure,under Don Matthews; hence, from 2003 to 2005, Doug Berry was offensive coordinator and QB coach while Kevin Strasser was offensive coordinator and WR coach; in 2006 Steve McAdoo was offensive coordinator and RB coach while Kevin Strasser was offensive coordinator.

I presume that Ryan Dinwiddie will be offensive coordinator and RB coach while Anthony will be offensive coordinator and QB coach. I do expect that Ryan and Anthony will work well together.

When you go back 12 years or so you realize that many coaches and a GM were all brought into the league by the Als/ Jim Popp. Jim Barker, Scott Milanovich, Chris Jones, Steve McAdoo and Doug Berry all worked with/under Don Matthews.

Still many months to go, but I say on this Saturday,September 5,2015, that JIM POPP WILL REMAIN THE ALS HEAD COACH FOR THE 2016 SEASON.

Richard

Yes, it did make think of the Strasser-Berry and Strasser-MacAdoo combos from years past, but I thought Berry was O-line coach and co-OC? Memory is failing me.

It takes courage to admit a mistake and take action to repair it. Both Wetenhall and Popp have done so over the past few weeks, and that's to be commended. Regardless of whether we make the playoffs this year, there is no way they could allow our "offence" (and I use the term very loosely) to keep embarrassing us at home, in front of our fans. What happened on Thursday was a franchise low point and W&P reacted accordingly. :thup:

From 2003 to 2005, the offensive line coach was Steve McAdoo.

Richard

Thanks for that. My memory is definitely going downhill.


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He will find a job as a ref for sure :lol:

Now AC is on board :cowboy:

Finallly a refreshing news !!!

Where is Johnny ?????????????

Big news.
Popp says they need better coaching to enable the talented players he assembled to achieve,

This is a bold move, bold, but predictable. He had no where else to move.

I'm a Dinwoodie fan as a potential coach in the CFL.

just 12 mos. ago, as is popular here with derogatory nicknames, he was being called Dimwittie. Shonert and Garcia were accepted as his savior. Garcia left at 5 AM the day after the season ended and Schonert...well... Let's not revert to that juvenile name calling again regardless of how this turns out.

And just for the record. Calvillo was never entrusted for long to call his own game in the 5 years under Mathews. Mathews gave him that task for awhile one year. Calvillo never liked the responsibility and they moved away from that. Too big a load for a QB. Certainly he had the right to change a play but he never called his own game for long. He did not like doing it. But clearly he has experience. But there is risk here. He's moved up in the firing line substantially, quicker than any ex player since Lancaster. Popps success and legacy has always depended on Calvillo. That continues.

Johnny weighed in on another thread but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from him.

I am really looking forward to seeing what AC and Dinwiddie can do in the weeks ahead. I don’t expect instant results – there is only so much you can do midseason with someone else’s (crappy) playbook – but I do expect to see extensions to existing plays, better protection calls, and more imagination in the passing game.

Slant : You are quite correct, Calvillo was not involved in play calling. Starting with Mathews and, continuing under Trestman 90 % of the play calling was from a coach and, this system was to the liking of Calvillo. We can hope the play calling will improve under AC, mainly because of his long experience in the CFL ( Schonert's play calling experience was NFL play calling). However, the notion that a great QB will become a great Coach, in the CFL is not true. Historically in the CFL great QBs tend to not become great coaches. Etcheverry, as a coach did win one Grey Cup, but a year after this he was gone. Russ Jackson, the great Ottawa QB, indeed one of the best QBs ever, also did not distinguish himself in the coaching role. Even Ron Lancaster, an all star QB from Sask, did not excel in the coaching role ( Sask and Hamilton) although he did last longer in the coaching role than Jackson and Etcheverry. A great QB is not a requisite for a great coach in the CFL.

Anthony spent five years calling his own plays under Don Matthews. During that time, he won a Grey Cup and became only the sixth (I believe) QB to pass for 6000 yards in a single season, with at least one season where we had four 1000-yard receivers.

[i]OH YEAH!!!

Good to see Popp and Wetenhall not giving up on the season. The offence can only improve, and with our defence and special teams, our team might just be a force to reckon with.

When do we play them ticats again? :cowboy: [/i]

There is nowhere for our offense to go but up. That's the one bright spot in this mess of a season. After last game, we officially hit rock bottom.

Kent Ausin was one CFL QB who has made the jump from player to Head Coach. I especially recall Austin as a extraordinary QB. Going back to the time American cities, like Baltimore, had CFL teams. The American cities did not have to play Canadians. In the first year of this arrangement, one Canadian team ( my memory lacks here, cannot recall which city) played against Baltimore for the Grey Cup- City X. I was cheering for City X as they had Canadians + the usual supply of imports in their lineup. Great result, Team X, with their supply of Canadians, won the Grey Cup against the 100% American players of Baltimores. Kent Austin was the winning QB at that game representing Team X. Yea- we beat the Yanks! Unfortunately, the next season, Baltimore won the Grey Cup, to my dismay as, this was an American team, which beat the Team Y- a team which included the usual amount of Canadian players.
So, link Kent Austin as the successful Canadian Coach, who will likely win the Grey Cup this year The winning Coach in 2014 was Hufnagel. At present Mike O’Shey is Head Coach in Winnipeg and, likely other CFL playing athletes will follow.
The rumor is that Dave Dickinson will likely be Head Coach of Calgary in 2016. My note that Canadian QB’s do usually not become winning QB coaches was incorrect. Indeed, there are numerous Canadian players, including QBs in the CFL, some of whom will qualify for the position of Head Coach in future.Many CFL players are at present, position coaches throughout the CFL, and are potential Head Coaches in future years. I would believe that Calvillo, presently sharing the OC position with Dinwiddie, will be a good bet for a Head Coach in the CFL. Indeed, it appears that there will be less American coaches in future as, we appear to be favoring CFL players ( both National and International ) for CFL coaching positions. We will likely see CIS coaches moving into head coaching positions in future. To date Hamilton is the only club to date, who has hired a CIS coach to the Head Coach position.

Yes, Dickenson is definitely going to take over in Calgary next year. That was confirmed by Hufnagel a while back.

As for Calviddie (Dinwillo?), I watched the short RDS i/v with both guys and it was interesting. Dinwiddie said that they may lack experience but nobody's going to outwork them, and that he and AC mesh well together. Anthony said it basically comes down to choosing the 20 best plays they have and going from there. So I would imagine that they'll be working with a pretty limited playbook next game as they figure out what works, what needs fixing, what they can productively add to existing plays, and the situational calls that will hopefully lead to a better attack, particularly in the passing game. The run game needs the least modification IMO. We have a pretty solid package of plays and when we stick with the run, we generally have success, especially when Sutton and Rutley are both threats on the ground and opponents also have to respect Logan or Giguere on the end around. The passing game, as we all know, has to improve.

Heppell noted in the BC postmortem that one of the (many) problems was Schonert dialing up screen plays to Alex Charette of all people while S.J. barely got a sniff of the ball. He said that has to change and I agree. We need to get the ball into the hands of our playmakers and that's Green, Sutton, Rutley, and in certain situations Lewis. I like Charette but now is not the time to be giving a raw rookie the rock that frequently.

Lastly, we need to take some deep shots to back enemy defenses off, or they will sit on the underneath stuff and smother it all night.

The key factor relating it to Calvillo is that all had several years of experience as an assistant/coordinator before stepping into the HC role.

The unknown in AC’s progression is the future Als HC. If Popp stays on next season one can expect that Dinwiddie and AC will lead the offence. But if a new HC comes aboard will they accept having AC imposed on them as OC or co-OC; especially if it isn’t Thorpe and he is also a condition of employment. Do we want a HC who would do so?