CFL/CP
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ season ended on Nov. 1, 2014. 47 days later, after much agonizing and discussion, Mike O’Shea made the most difficult call of his one-year tenure as head coach of the Bombers when he fired defensive co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry.
Given the time it took, fair to say it wasn’t an easy decision. Firing friends, people you respect, never is. O’Shea says he had many discussions with Etcheverry about altering his defensive philosophy but none met with his satisfaction.
“It was a long process of evaluation and lots of time spent with Etch trying to come up with a good solution going forward,” said O’Shea. “In the end, the number of changes I was going to ask Etch to make, I just felt he wasn’t going to be able to truly believe in the solutions I wanted.”
Etcheverry runs what could best be called an unusual and unorthodox defensive scheme which features multiples of odd-looking and off-balance defensive fronts, and which doesn’t include a playbook of any kind. It’s the same kind of defence he has run during his decade with various CFL clubs, and for the first half of the 2014 CFL season, it was effective enough to allow the Bombers to post a 6-3 mid-season record.
But as the losses mounted in the second half, so did the yards rushing against the Winnipeg defence, and when the season ended, the Bombers were dead last in the league in points allowed and rushing yards allowed. Etcheverry’s defensive philosophy had gone from being ‘quirky’ to ‘disastrous’.
O’Shea said he hopes to hire a new defensive co-ordinator “sooner rather than later. At the same time I don’t feel like we are in any rush. We do have time.”
The two leading candidates are no secret to anyone. Recently fired BC head coach Mike Benevides, who has years of experience working with defences, and long-time CFL coach Richie Hall will be the first candidates O’Shea talks to (if he hasn’t already!).
And Hall, who was shunted aside as Saskatchewan’s defensive co-ordinator, would have to be considered the leading contender. Hall has a wealth of experience as both a player and coach, he is respected by all, and he runs the traditional type of defence that O’Shea is looking for. O’Shea said the future of the rest of the Bombers defensive coaches would be in the hands of the new co-ordinator.
Meanwhile, O’Shea removed any type of cloud that might have been hanging over Marcel Bellefeuille’s head by stating that Bellefeuille would be back as the Bombers offensive co-ordinator.
Receivers coach Markus Howell and offensive line coach Bob Wylie are also expected to return, but what happens with quarterbacks coach Gene Dahlquist is uncertain. Dahlquist joined the Bombers from the U.S. college ranks in 21014 with no CFL experience.
Logic might suggest that running backs coach Buck Pierce, who retired at the end of the 2013 season after playing the quarterback position for eight CFL seasons, might be a better choice to tutor Winnipeg’s young quarterbacks Drew Willy and Robert Marve.
