Jim Mullin
CFL.ca
If it wasn’t official before, it certainly is now.
Day one of the 2011 BC Lions training camp starts today.
Travis Lulay moves forward at quarterback as number one, without another former number one breathing down his collar. As you all know by now, Casey Printers has packed his metallic pearl Escalade and pointed it south toward Texas. South, in the case of the UFL or Arena Football may be the only locale for the angst-ridden pivot to carry on what is left of his career.
But more about Printers in a moment.
Lulay will get a decent trial run to establish himself as the training camp leader next June over these last four regular season games. But his job, like all others, will be on trial. After the Monday Manitoba Meltdown, no one’s job is safe.
The question of the day is, will the coaching staff escape similar scrutiny?
One has to assume that life isn’t all that much fun for Wally Buono these days. It’s not just the losing that takes its toll, it’s the way the Lions have been losing that is most certainly testing that repair job on the ticker he’s already had one heart episode with.
The fact that owner David Braley has let Buono call his own shots on his employment with the team leaves the CFL’s all-time winningest head coach with a decision to make when assessing his own performance.
There are a few options left for Buono to consider when plotting his future and that of the team.
1.Leave the team entirely.Not the best option for a guy who still has a lot to offer the game and a team who needs continuity in the market place, with an absentee owner. In a business that is all about today’s results, people are quick to sharpen the guillotine. But people still need to remember what a mess the team was in before Buono’s arrival in 2003. Three coaches in three seasons. An average of just over 18-thousand per game. They were a team who needed instant credibility in the market, and that’s exactly what Buono provided. He should have a presence here in some form in 2011.
2.Stay on and keep the coaching staff intact.Sometimes continuity is good, other times not so much. This is not an option for the fans who are already screaming for change, especially to a one dimensional and ineffective offence. Offensive coordinator Jacques Chapelaine’s name is a rash on call-in shows and internet message boards in town. Rightly or wrongly, Buono needs to offer up a sacrifice to the angry populace and Chapdelaine is the guy at the top of the pyramid. That leads us to option number three.
3.Hang around as head coach and GM and bring in a new offensive coordinator. This move would be popular in the local community if Buono were to bring in the team’s savior quarterback in 2003;Dave Dickenson who currently is the de facto OC in Calgary would be a popular choice locally to take over the duties in BC with an eye to eventually take over as a Head Coach in a year.
4.Move up to general manager and hire a young head coach from outside the organization. Who and what the Lions have on staff right now will not sell to the masses. See point three for a direction in regards to a potential head coach.
The last two points seem to be the most plausible for a recovery of the fortunes of the club.
Buono was at his best in BC with the late Bob Ackles at the helm as team president. There was always someone with even more wisdom in the office for the future first ballot hall of fame coach to bounce ideas off of, and talk about the game.
For Buono, it is time for the boss to play that role of mentor, and find the next great coach in the three down game in time for 2011.
CP on a rail out of town
There was never anything in between with Casey Printers.
There was the spectacular 2004 season where he deservedly won the CFL’s most outstanding player award. Or his return last year where, when using his natural athletic ability, he brought people to their feet.
But more often than not, there was ‘bad Casey’. He was the man who was held captive by his own anxiety and ego which he could not bring to heal.
His was the strangest career of perhaps any quarterback in the history of CFL, the ultimate one-year wonder.
A most outstanding player award in 2004, where he didn’t take a snap in the Grey Cup.
A 2005 season where he pouted and scowled on the sidelines, but when he got between the lines was in pure fear.
He had banjo eyes. He was dominated by his fear of potential failure. That fear, provided the likely answer to why he was not in the championship game in 2004.
We witnessed how he became undone in Kansas City.
We saw the dog-and-pony show that was his re-entry into the CFL. Where his former agent Jason Medlock pulled him off a connecting flight in Ohio, and brought him back to Houston because Hamilton had a better offer than Montreal.
The problem was no one told the Alouettes, who had a welcome party waiting for him at Trudeau airport.
He was distant from his teammates in Hamilton and was nowhere to be found as his contract played out, and was cut away after one and a half disappointing seasons.
Then, he went into football exile.
During that time, he consulted a life coach and gave himself the title of motivational speaker. Late in the season when Buono was looking for a solution at quarterback last October, he was willing to give Printers one more chance.
And man, it looked like he had promise last year. One win and two starts that were close, exciting losses along with a playoff win in Hamilton.
But upon his return in 2010, the emotion that fuelled his game was replaced with a defensive brittleness, and rehearsed answers. At least with the media. With his teammates that was to be determined.
Alas, the Printers we witnessed at the end of 2009 was not what we saw in 2010. It was closer to the 2005 version.
Then there was the inexplicable Hamilton loss that cost him the starting job. The Monday Manitoba meltdown shouldn’t have been about him, but in the end was.
We were all waiting to see how Printers would deal with adversity.
Well, the adversity proved that it did not build Casey Printers character, it instead defined it.
And Wally Buono had seen enough.
