Grey Cup winning coach returns to St. Leonard to show off his silver chalice
By Herb zurkowsky,
Montreal Gazette
Before he became the first Quebec-born coach to win a Grey Cup, before he received the keys to the city of St. Albert, Alta., where he resides, before he and the Edmonton Eskimos received a standing ovation prior to an Oilers hockey game and before restaurateurs refused to allow him and his family to pay for meals, Danny Maciocia was a quality-control coach for the Alouettes in 1996.
The title is a misnomer. The non-paying position involves no coaching or travelling. Once, before a meeting, the quality-control coach was asked to arrange the chairs for the players and staff.
“As long as your ego doesn't get the best of you, you'll be OK,” Maciocia said yesterday during an interview at Laval's Centre sportif Bois de Boulogne, where he and a battery of assistant coaches have been busy selecting candidates to represent Canada at next month's NFL Global Junior Championship at Detroit, a precursor to the Super Bowl.
This is Maciocia's third season coaching the junior team. Canada is the defending champ, defeating the U.S. 38-35 – the same score by which the Eskimos defeated Montreal in double overtime in last month's CFL title game. Despite Edmonton's victory, Maciocia never wavered in his commitment to the junior squad, not forgetting his roots, dating back to 1988, when he was an offensive assistant with the St. Leonard midgets.
He has returned to Montreal the last two weekends for workouts and, following a two-week vacation in Italy after Christmas, will return for a week-long training camp.
“Winning the Grey Cup hasn't changed who I am as a person,” said the 38-year-old. “I might never win another game or Grey Cup, but I'm at peace with who I am. That's why I'm here today. A lot of others wouldn't have bothered.”
It isn't all work and no play for Maciocia. Joining him on the trip has been the CFL's chalice. It was on display Sunday – until 4 a.m. – at a bar on St. Laurent Blvd. Last night, Maciocia brought it to Buffet Le Rizz in St. Leonard for a party with about 100 family and friends. Tomorrow, it will again be prominent at various restaurants and cafes throughout the predominantly Italian neighbourhood.
It has been a bit of a whirlwind for Maciocia since the Eskimos' electrifying win over Montreal. Little could he realize the importance of his accomplishment or the significance Canadians place on the Grey Cup.
“It's unbelievable what one game can do,” said Maciocia, scheduled to attend tonight's Canadiens game at the Bell Centre against Ottawa. “I still don't understand what we did.
“But I'm already concerned about next season … about what might happen if we don't get off to a good start, will my services be retained.
“It's that fear of failure that drives me to succeed. I'll never get comfortable in this job.”
The road to a title was hardly a smooth path for Maciocia. Despite serving three seasons as the Eskimos' offensive co-ordinator and quarterback coach, the transition to head coach was filled with twists and subplots. They take their football seriously in Edmonton, a franchise steeped in tradition and success, and don't take kindly to rookies.
The Eskimos finished 11-7, good only for third-place in the West Division, meaning no home playoff game. They lost lopsided games at Hamilton at the end of September and another at Calgary to conclude the regular season. Yet they became the first team in franchise history to win the Cup after finishing third, winning postseason games at Calgary and Vancouver.
“Over a very short period of time, I took a constant beating on the talk shows,” Maciocia said. “I felt it on the street, driving home, stopping to pick up groceries or getting gas. I felt it. Some people would tell you directly. Or I got the sense people were looking at me and whispering things that weren't pleasant.
“I read the criticism; I won't deny it. It made me stronger and pushed me harder.”
That scenario has been a familiar one for Maciocia.
With his cherub face and standing 5-foot-7, Maciocia gives the appearance of someone who would have been shoved into his high-school locker. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
He wasn't a particularly good student, but always was interested in sports and played high-school football at Laurier MacDonald. As a tight-end/slotback, he idolized former Als receiver Peter Dalla Riva, another player of Italian origin.
Maciocia wasn't particularly fast, but had good hands and was smart on the field.
His fledgling career ended after it was discovered he had an overbite and his jaw was surgically reconstructed.
“I don't have a glass jaw, but I was discouraged from continuing to play,” he said, shrugging.
His athletic career over, Maciocia turned to business, joining the family's insurance company until being fired by his mother, Anna, in 1988, just as he started coaching. Maciocia was told by his mother he'd be advised when he could rejoin the firm. He worked five years for a competitor to pay the bills before being invited back.
“I obviously had some growing up to do,” he said, shrugging again. “I'd go to work in jeans and a T-shirt, worried about practice that night.”
Somehow, it all eventually came together for Maciocia. He became the head coach at St. Leonard in 1995, started receiving a salary from the Als in 1998, when he was named running-back coach, became the assistant offensive co-ordinator under Charlie Taaffe the following year, and the exclusive co-ordinator under Rod Rust in 2001.
Sometimes, Maciocia has to pinch himself. A championship as a rookie coach … producers in Hollywood receive millions putting those stories onto celluloid.
“I wanted to be a head coach one day and to follow it with a Grey Cup … eventually,” he said. “I never thought it would happen in the same year.
“If you're passionate about something and you're willing to exhaust all avenues, and if you're able to realize it, it's like a dream come true. And even if you come up short, you can still live with the journey.”
