Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
For his final act, could Wally Buono morph into a wildcard coach?
On the BC Lions season preview conference call, the legendary coach suggested he could.
“I have been thinking about being a little more reckless,” Buono said on Wednesday afternoon, when asked about if he might try a few more things knowing that this is his last season on the sidelines.
“Part of me, you know how conservative I am, you know how I am about a lot of things. But talking with Mark (Washington), Jarious (Jackson), with Jeff (Reinebold) … how about this, if I’m going to adopt a Don Matthews mindset a little bit. (It’s) about letting go a little bit — not being dumb, I don’t believe that, but being more aggressive maybe, be more courageous, maybe be more willing to take risks.”
“What’s the worst that could happen? They’re going to fire me? So if they do, God bless them, I’ll just have an earlier retirement than I’ll already have.”
Wally Buono on approaching his final season coaching
Wally Buono heads into 2018 as the CFL’s all-time coaching wins leader (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)
“At the end of it, I feel comfortable that the coaches that are surrounding me will give me the options to be able to do that with confidence. And a lot of that has to do with me.
“This is my last year. I’m going to work harder maybe at trying to win. And if that means I have to take more risks, what’s the worst that could happen? They’re going to fire me? So if they do, God bless them, I’ll just have an earlier retirement than I’ll already have.”
If you’re a fan of the BC Lions, this could be a very interesting year. After stepping down as GM after the Lions missed the playoffs last season, Buono, still the team’s VP of football operations, hired Ed Hervey as the team’s GM. Buono has stressed repeatedly that Hervey is now steering the ship. He made that clear again on Wednesday’s call.
“The only thing I have the final say on is when I get up and what time I go to bed,” Buono said.
“Honestly it’s been very, very refreshing having Ed here. He’s given me some time to reflect and he’s done an awful lot of hard work to make this, I think, into a good football team.”
This season will be the first time in 27 years that Buono hasn’t been the GM of a team he’s worked for. It’s a big change and while the move is not yet six months old, it’s one that Buono says he’s already embraced.
“It’s already been freeing and honestly it’s been very good for me because I haven’t had to go through the ordeal of being the GM, which puts a lot of pressure on you emotionally, physically, mentally. It’s a grind,” he said.
“It’s a grind right now with free agency, it’s a grind with the cap, it’s a grind with all of the issues that you deal with every day and Ed’s given me the right to have input without having the pressure or the aggravation. At this time in my life it’s been great. I’ve thanked Ed about 100 times for that, because at the end of it when I see him struggling or gut-wrenching over a decision, I know it’s in good hands but I know I’m not the one that has to make it.
“It’s been good and as my wife says over and over again, ‘Wally, I don’t know how you’ve done this for so many years.’ We maybe never realized how much work there is when you do both jobs.”
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The BC Lions made Peter Godber their third overall pick last week at the draft (Rice University)
Hervey was quick to add that it’s been a mutually beneficial pairing. As a GM in Edmonton, Hervey worked with Kavis Reed, Chris Jones and Jason Maas as head coaches. He’s never had a counterpart like Buono before.
“There are a lot of layers to this. First of all, Wally has more experience than the coaches that I’ve worked with combined,” Hervey said.
“He also has the experience of a general manager so it gives me an opportunity to bounce ideas off of him. Wally’s being modest when he’s talking. We work as a team. He gives me the freedom to select the players, but we both share the same goals, we both share the same passion for this football team and that’s winning football games.
“That’s what I enjoy about our conversations on the daily is that everything is about making sure that the BC Lions put the best football team on the field. We both want physical players, we both want passionate players. We want players that are going to execute.
“Those areas where I have questions, it’s easy to walk in there and ask him the question and get a different perspective. It’s allowed me to continuously grow in the position I’m in and allows me to make decisions that I feel best fit this football team.”
It may be nerve-wracking as a GM to watch your team pull out all the stops to get wins, but as Buono explains it, the trust runs across the Lions organization.
I want to win, Ed wants to win, the coaches want to win and I think the players want to win,” Buono said. “If that means I have to be a little more outside the box, hey, I’m going to do that.”
