Consistency the key, winning the goal with Bombers’ regime
At first glance, they are simply two signatures scratched on new contracts and all part of the paper moves that happen daily across the Canadian Football League.
And yet having general manager Kyle Walters and head coach Mike O’Shea to agree to terms on multi-year contract extensions announced Friday means so much more than that to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
It means continuity and stability. And given where this franchise was back in 2013 – picture a giant crater surrounded by a vast wasteland – it means the Bomber brand has some respect again.
“It’s what we – myself, Mike and (Bombers President & CEO) Wade (Miller) – are most proud of,” said Walters in a chat with BlueBombers.com. “The Winnipeg Football Club has come from, truth be told, an afterthought a few years ago to a solid franchise in our league.
“Wade has stood by us the whole time and shown patience where the traditional way of doing things in Winnipeg in the past was short-sighted decisions in the sense of firing staff and bringing in new people. To his credit, he believed in Mike and I and stuck with us through a couple tough years. Now we all believe we’re heading in the right direction.
“You talk to our players and the players around the league and I think we’re well respected as to how we run our business, the way we treat our players, with the facilities… it’s right from the top down.
“We’re a professional organization. And we’ve worked hard to put some shine back on the ‘W’ again.”
– Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters
It certainly hasn’t been a straight line back to respectability for the Bombers football brain trust. Miller came aboard in August of 2013, with Walters officially being named GM at the end of that season and then naming O’Shea as his head coach.
Winnipeg missed the playoffs in both 2014 and 2015, but the faith in their blueprint began to show results in 2016 with an 11-7 record – the best since 2003 – and a playoff appearance.
And so winning = continuity.
Consider that the Bombers had three different GMs over a span of six years when Walters took over in 2013, from the end of Brendan Taman’s tenure in 2008 through Mike Kelly in 2009 and Joe Mack a year later. Over that same span the club went through four head coaches, from Doug Berry to Kelly to Paul LaPolice to Tim Burke.
The Canadian content had deteriorated significantly, the scouting network had rotted, and the franchise’s search for a star quarterback resulted in audition after audition after audition.
And while the Grey Cup drought was extended this past November, there is now a belief this team is no long being pieced together on a foundation of rubble and with every transaction accompanied by circus music.
Consider that of the 25 Canadians currently on the roster, injured list or practice squad, 12 were drafted under the Walters watch, nine more were added as free agents while one – Patrick Neufeld – was acquired via trade. Of the Canadians, only Jake Thomas, Rory Kohlert and Teague Sherman were around before Walters slipped into the GM chair.
RELATED: BOMBERS EXTEND O’SHEA, WALTERS TO MULTI-YEAR EXTENSION
It’s worth noting, too, how the revamped scouting department is now spitting out quality talent like Kevin Fogg, Terrence Frederick and all-star Travis Bond, all of whom made significant and immediate impressions as CFL rookies in 2016.
All told, 26 players (46 per cent) of the roster that finished the ’16 season were in their first or second years while all five of the players named to the CFL All-Star Team this week – kicker Justin Medlock, running back Andrew Harris, defensive back T.J. Heath, safety Taylor Loffler and Bond – were new faces this season.
One more nugget: thanks to the shrewd deal that sent Drew Willy to the Toronto Argonauts for T.J. Heath and draft picks, the Bombers now hold the first, sixth and 15th choices in the 2017 CFL Draft.
Walters spoke glowingly of the working relationship he has with O’Shea and Miller, that the three of them will get behind closed doors and occasionally argue over issues, but the respect factor also means no point of view is brushed aside.
And while the vultures were circling in the 1-4 start this past season, it was that belief in their process – and the patience to stick with it – that led to a 10-3 finish and where we are today: with Walters and O’Shea signing extensions.
“I really like what we’ve started here,” said O’Shea. “I really do believe we’re headed in the right direction. We managed to win some games and then build on the positivity that winning brings.
“We’re starting to see it pay off organizationally. There’s still work to do. We believe in what we’re doing, but we’re around it every day.
“What I think is happening now is around the league there’s a different chatter about who the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are.”
