Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca
In a world gone digital the BC Lions’ Wally Buono has managed to remain analog.
Buono is the only CFL head coach who doesn’t wear a headset on the sidelines during a game.
“Probably in the world,” said the 66-year-old who also doubles as the Lions’ general manager.
Even without a headset Buono must be doing something right. He’s won more CFL games than any other head coach and is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
“My job is to manage the team,” Buono said in explaining why he hasn’t stepped into the wired world.
“I feel with a headset I can’t manage the game. You have too many distractions. If I put a headset on it’s almost like I go into a vacuum. I’m not feeling the game. I’m not feeling the bench, I’m not feeling anything. I don’t believe I can have the same effect on the game as I need to.”
» The Weekly Say: Is Buono the coach of the year?
Wally Buono’s Lions have the second best record in the CFL through Week 11 (THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Buono will continue his old-school ways when the Lions host the Montreal Alouettes Friday at BC Place Stadium. He is content to let Offensive Coordinator Khari Jones call the plays and Defensive Coordinator Mark Washington handle the defence.
“I don’t want to call the plays,” said Buono. “I’m not well enough prepared, I’m not into the game.
“I’d rather be talking to the players and coaches who are on the bench, saying ‘hey, what do we have to adjust too.’ I can’t talk to the players on the headset. I’d rather look at somebody face to face.”
Jones said he couldn’t imagine coaching without being in contact with the assistant coaches in the booth upstairs.
“I applaud him for sticking to that,” said the former quarterback who was named the Most Outstanding Player while with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2001. “It would probably be hard in this day and age with all the information that you can have.
“He seems to get most of that without the headset or talking to us if necessary. He gets more of the feel and flow of the game. For that he doesn’t necessarily need (a headset). It works for him.”
Calgary Stampeder head coach Dave Dickenson, once a quarterback with the Lions, has a theory why his former coach shuns a headset.
“Wally has always had nice hair,” said Dickenson. “Why mess it up?”
Part of the next generation of CFL coaches, Dickenson believes wearing a headset helps him shutout the distractions of the sidelines.
“I like the conversations between coaches,” he said. “I switch over to the defence sometimes. I try not to get in the way. I want to hear why they are doing certain things.
“It’s probably what you are used to. If he did it (wear a headset) he might enjoy it, but it’s probably what he’s used to. He’s had good success so he will stay with it.”
Buono did wear a headset briefly when he was first hired as the Stampeders head coach in 1990.
“The headset used to be attached to a cord,” he said. “How many times would you get stepped on?
“It became such a hassle. I just took it off. I move to where I need to get information. Then I could do what I need to do, and that’s manage the game.”
“If I put a headset on it’s almost like I go into a vacuum. I’m not feeling the game. I’m not feeling the bench, I’m not feeling anything.”
Wally Buono
Wally Buono says he prefers face to face conversation with his team (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)
This year the CFL has dropped the policy of cutting the radio communication between the coaching staff and a quarterback with 10 seconds remaining on the play clock. That allows coaches to talk to their pivot as they walk to the line of scrimmage and even after a snap.
Both Jones and Dickenson have resisted the temptation to get on the radio during a play to tell their quarterback about an open man downfield, or a defender closing in from behind.
“I know as a quarterback, I would hate having different voices in my head during the play,” said Jones.
“That’s a little too much. Then it gets kind of video-gamish. He has to see it and feel those things out there.”
Dickenson said a quarterback has enough to contend with during a play without someone yelling into his helmet.
“I believe you coach them the best you can, then you just have to trust their eyes,” he said. “If you are trying to micro-manage you are going to end up getting in the way.
“I believe this as a quarterback, the quarterback should have one thing on his mind, that’s getting in the huddle, talking to his guys, getting out. I really still believe this game should be about the players.”
Buono looked to have written a storybook ending to his coaching career when he retired as head coach after BC’s Grey Cup victory in 2011. After four years in the front office as general manager — a stretch where the Lions failed to win a playoff game — he returned as head coach this season.
One of his concerns on returning was whether he would need a headset to help determine if he should throw a challenge flag on disputed calls. Turns out most of the decision are made by the coaches upstairs.
“I can’t see the challenges most of the time anyways,” Buono said. “All they do is say challenge or don’t challenge.”
Buono shrugs off any suggestion he’s a throwback to another era in football.
“I’m fine, I’m comfortable,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it any other way. You have to be comfortable in being who you are.
“The thing I tell new head coaches is be who you are. Don’t try to be somebody else. I’m not trying to be you and I don’t want you to be me.”
