Don Landry
CFL.ca
Motivating factors are not hard to come by for Blue Bombers’ Head Coach Paul LaPolice. He finds them in players. He finds them in lost friends. And he finds them in the people of Winnipeg.
Hours away from his first Grey Cup appearance as a head coach, LaPolice is not finding time to savour the moment, at least not in any major, time-consuming way.
“Certainly, after winning the East Final and getting back to a Grey Cup, you have great emotions. I was so happy and excited to be on the sideline with the players, said the man nicknamed Lapo. “There’s like ten guys around me jumping up and down. That was great moment.”
But the moment has passed. There’s no tendency for LaPolice to pause and really take stock of, or feel satisfied with, being the head coach of a Grey Cup team.
“It’s not good enough just to be here. It’s about finishing when you do (get to the big game). You just try to take care of the players. Try to do your work.”
Certainly the self-motivation of trying to win a championship can often suffice and drive an individual to top level performance. But if there’s any extra driving force needed at all, LaPolice points to a number of factors – people, actually – who provide just that.
The untimely death of beloved assistant coach Richard Harris earlier this season affected the Bombers greatly. But they got through it, in part, because of their insistence on making their dearly departed mentor proud from on high. LaPolice is asking his players to re-dedicate themselves to that ideal, though he wants to be careful not to exploit the memory of Harris. He’d like it to remain dignified and authentic.
“I think when things like this happen, some people and sometimes the media, will try to overuse that. It’s not a reality show. It really happened. It happened in our building. We all saw it happen. It’s not an after school special. We don’t want to demean the guy by, every time we need to do something, we have to do it for Richard Harris. That is not anything I’ve done this year. I haven’t talked about him a lot. Certainly I have not (often) stood in front of the team and talked about coach. But, I did last week. That we need to show up for him and represent him in a way that he would be proud of.”
The rise of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2011 has coincided with a renaissance being felt by the whole city. With a new football stadium ready to open next year and the return of NHL hockey to the Manitoba capital as well as a general upturn in economic fortune, you could call that town “Winning-peg.” LaPolice feels it, and is fuelled by the exalted place the Bombers have in the city’s heart.
“It’s so neat that we’ve sold merchandise… it’s been the highest total they’ve ever sold in a year. They’ve smashed records upon records. You see Bomber gear everywhere.”
The pride LaPolice feels in the the city’s renewed love affair with its football team goes beyond the number of jerseys he sees in the streets.
“I always thought the people of Winnipeg could be like the people of Saskatchewan,” he said. “When I was hired I said I wanted it t be the loudest place or second loudest place in the CFL. I said ‘I’m coming from a place (Regina) like that. Let’s do that.’ I think we are the loudest now. Win or lose, they’ve really bought into this team and what we’re trying to do here.”
Of course, playing or coaching in such a keen atmosphere can make things a little tough at times, but LaPolice wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It boils down to this: You want to coach in a place where football is important. And it certainly is in Winnipeg. There’s a lot more pressure, but it feels good to coach in a place where it’s important.”
He then offered up an anecdote from 2010 that illustrates clearly why he has such a fondness for the people who live and die with the fortunes of his team.
“The day after we finished the season at 4 and 14, I dropped my daughter off at daycare. A guy comes up to me and says: ‘Coach, good job this year.’ I said: ‘You and I have a different understanding of good.’ He looked me right in the eye and said: ‘Cut the crap, coach. You did a good job and we’re gonna be much better next year.’ All off-season I got positive things.”
So now, and for many reasons, Paul LaPolice is focussed on bringing something positive to Winnipeg. It’s first Grey Cup celebration in 21 seasons.
THE EXTRA POINT
LaPolice is finding a little extra desire in trying to make a champion of veteran defensive lineman Doug Brown. It’s been well-known for quite some time that Brown will hang up his cleats for good after Sunday’s game.
“One of the things I’m very proud of as a head coach is that I got this guy back to a Grey Cup,” began LaPolice. “I don’t say that with arrogance, like ‘I did it,’ but like I was part of getting him back to the Grey Cup. Hopefully we can finish for him.”
