Football Operations: GM Ed Hervey, HC Wally Buono and the Coaching Staff

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WestCoastJoe
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This is how the coaching staff looks for 2018.

Change at the OC, STs and DLine. We welcome all these men back to the Lions.

Jarious Jackson in at OC for Khari Jones.

Jeff Reinebold in at STs for Marcello Simmons. One wonders how involved Wally will be with the STs at practice.

Randy Melvin in at DL coach for Robin Ross.

Some guys were sacrificed after a dismal season. Two of the coaches that came under the most heat return, Mark Washington and Dan Dorazio. Not a surprise. These two men go way back with Wally Buono, although their work has oftentimes been heavily criticized by some.

Mark Washington's defence did not put enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks, IMO. The DBs had major breakdowns in coverage far too often. Some fans do not like what they see as a very soft zone against the pass. The deep drops, intended to stop long passes, did not achieve that aim, but instead provided huge holes in the zone to be exploited. Some fans thought our choices of Internationals in the DLine were not up to a necessary standard. Mark returns for his 5th season as DC (edited with a nod to leo4life, see below).

Dan Dorazio's work as OL coach has also oftentimes come under heavy criticism. Overly frequent breakdowns in pass blocking. This has allowed way too many pressures, hurries, sacks and hits on our QBs. This has also led to frequent injuries to our quarterbacks. Dan came over with Wally from Calgary in 2003. Aside from one year of banishment to Regina, when Jeff Tedford was Head Coach and George Cortez was OC, he will be entering his 15th year here as OL coach.

It is what it is ...

We welcome the changes to an organization that to some seems stuck in the mud, backsliding with old, stale ideas. We will see how things shake out in the new year. It was recognized that change was needed to sell the product, and hopefully because it might have been perceived that new ideas were needed, in a league that is constantly evolving in the modern age.

A lot will depend on how fresh we make our game plans, how detailed we make them to both attack and defend perceived vulnerabilities. Some think that we tend to rely too much on running the same plans, counting on execution to prevail. The way we were frequently fooled, tricked, on STs was an embarrassment. Other teams studied the tape, saw the carved in stone plans, and took advantage.

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John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
leo4life
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Joe,Rich Stubler worked as DC before Washington and his D led the CFL in many catogories before being fired by Bouno after the 2013 loss to Riders in the West Semi Final.Since then Washingtons D get blown out yearly in playoff games or even last game of season and nothing changes🤔🤡
TheLionKing
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leo4life wrote:
Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:21 pm

Since then Washingtons D get blown out yearly in playoff games or even last game of season and nothing changes🤔🤡
Players didn't execute the schemes that was called. :rotf:
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WestCoastJoe
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leo4life wrote:
Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:21 pm
Joe,Rich Stubler worked as DC before Washington and his D led the CFL in many catogories before being fired by Bouno after the 2013 loss to Riders in the West Semi Final.Since then Washingtons D get blown out yearly in playoff games or even last game of season and nothing changes🤔🤡
Thanks, leo. Yes, I recall Stubler's service as DLine coach, which would have been in 2010. And back even further he was DC for us in our Grey Cup win in 2000.
2000 BC Lions (DC)
2010 BC Lions (DL coach)
2011 Edmonton Eskimos (DC)
2012–2013 BC Lions (DC)


Off to Edmonton. Back to B.C. When I was writing the post I didn't recall that sequence, but Stubler has had success in his many stops in the CFL. This fan preferred his defence to that of Mark Washington.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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pennw
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Stubler D folded badly in the playoffs for us . BC lost that game after a big lead late in the game to a not that great Rider team . That's why he was fired . Not a hard act for Washington to follow . We never had a championship D with Stubler here . Some may have a different opinion , that's your right .
leo4life
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Youre welcome Joe...i wonder why our D scheme is the way it is...Washington worked under Stubler as DB coach & won a Grey Cup under Dave Ritchie's agressive D back in 2006..Must be Bouno control thing🤤
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pennw
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I'll add a correction to my post , we did win with Stubler back in 2000 . But that was a different era , and BC was not a great regular season team then , 8-10 I believe.
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pennw
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leo4life wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:14 pm
Youre welcome Joe...i wonder why our D scheme is the way it is...Washington worked under Stubler as DB coach & won a Grey Cup under Dave Ritchie's agressive D back in 2006..Must be Bouno control thing🤤
Everything that ever possibly went wrong was Bouno's fault .
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WestCoastJoe
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leo4life wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:14 pm
Youre welcome Joe...i wonder why our D scheme is the way it is...Washington worked under Stubler as DB coach & won a Grey Cup under Dave Ritchie's agressive D back in 2006..Must be Bouno control thing🤤
It seems to me that every Head Coach has his preferences, leo. Coordinators better deliver what the Head Coach wants. Wally's preferences have brought him wins and championships. Time to change? Maybe. Many fans on here were hoping to see two more changes in the staff.

What can we expect next year?

More aggressive defence? Tighter coverages? I don't think so.

Better STs? Maybe. Fooled less often? I think so.

Different offence? Don't know about that. Jarious might feature the running game more. Move the pocket around more? Feature Rainey more in the backfield? Some different route packages? Using the wideouts more? Maybe.

The pass protection will once again be Dan Dorazio's responsibility. And it is obviously key to an effective passing game.

We have some change. We have some hopes. Playoff contender? The odds might be slightly against us.

Just IMO ...
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
leo4life
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Meh how does Dorazio return year after year? Any other pro team hes yesterdays news
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WestCoastJoe
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This fan has great respect for Jarious Jackson.

How will he do as OC? Don't know.

He did not strike one as the most creative of QBs. Did not seem to improvise much. Executed the game plan. Tended to go deep. Lacked touch on short passes. This fan did not consider him a good scrambler or runner of the ball.

A great teammate. A solid citizen. A good soldier, as they say.

* Play book. His or Wally's? Both I would think. A collaborative effort.

* Game plans and play calling. Hopefully Jarious wishes to attack vulnerabilities as perceived on the tape. This fan thinks we have the tendency under Wally to stay with the "tried and true," focusing on execution. I expect Jarious will bring more of a focus to the running game. I expect he will focus more on passes to the RBs, especially Chris Rainey. I expect Jarious will move the pocket more, and look for ways to enhance the pass protection.

* QB coaching. I think Jarious will be very good for Jonathon Jennings. Jarious has that older brother type of presence. Very supportive. Very encouraging. Both Jarious and Jonathon like the long ball. JJ10 is, in my opinion, a better scrambler than Jarious was. That might feature in the game plans. And Lulay is in the mix also. Hopefully he makes a good recovery.

We will see.

This fan has more concern about the defence, and feels encouraged about Reinebold taking over the STs. One can hardly picture Reinebold coaching STs in any way but what he wants. Otherwise, it is hit the road on the motorcycle.

Just IMO ...
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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B.C.FAN
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Former Lions director of U.S. scouting Ryan Rigmaiden has joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
On the scouting front, the Bombers have hired former B.C. Lions director of U.S. scouting Ryan Rigmaiden.

Rigmaiden, based in North Carolina, will run free-agent camps, scout NFL games and U.S. college bowl games and coordinate the work of the Bombers’ regional scouts.

He spent the last six seasons with B.C.

“He has helped the Lions find some quality football players in the past number of seasons, and has an extensive history of finding football talent,” GM Kyle Walters said in a statement.

Rigmaiden replaces Craig Smith, who was diagnosed with leukemia in August.

Before joining the Lions, Rigmaiden was the director of player personnel, then GM, for the Arena Football League’s Spokane Shock.

The Shock won two league championships in his time there.

Bombers sign three, add scout
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David
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Rigmaiden found us some very good talent (Micah Awe, Dyshawn Davis, TJ Lee, Kendall James etc.) but ultimately, I believe he paid the price for not delivering sufficient upgrades on the O and D lines this year. Our national tackles were charitably average (at best). Our D-line recruits were all acceptable but mostly unremarkable, and that's not going to cut it when you need consistent pressure on the quarterback. When you have as many bodies as we had on the D-line it usually means you haven't found the right 4.


DH :cool:
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Qman
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David wrote:
Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:38 pm
Rigmaiden found us some very good talent (Micah Awe, Dyshawn Davis, TJ Lee, Kendall James etc.) but ultimately, I believe he paid the price for not delivering sufficient upgrades on the O and D lines this year. Our national tackles were charitably average (at best). Our D-line recruits were all acceptable but mostly unremarkable, and that's not going to cut it when you need consistent pressure on the quarterback. When you have as many bodies as we had on the D-line it usually means you haven't found the right 4.


DH :cool:
our scouting has been horrible last few years. didn't we bring in a dozen new D-Lineman to camp last year and none are still on the roster. Our import tackles are brutal.

Some nice additions in the secondary, but its been terrible. Part of the reason is braley is so cheap -- 3 US scouts vs Saskatchewan with 20+. F-ing joke. Sell the team to someone who cares you cheap bastard.
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Hambone
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Qman wrote:
Fri Dec 29, 2017 8:55 pm
our scouting has been horrible last few years. didn't we bring in a dozen new D-Lineman to camp last year and none are still on the roster. Our import tackles are brutal.

Some nice additions in the secondary, but its been terrible. Part of the reason is braley is so cheap -- 3 US scouts vs Saskatchewan with 20+. F-ing joke. Sell the team to someone who cares you cheap bastard.
Cheap or smart? There's spending money wisely and there's spending money for the sake of spending money. I put the Riders in the latter. For the number of scouts they supposedly have and the number of tryout camps they run they don't show much for it. They already ran a half dozen of them before Christmas and have 10 more scheduled by the end of Feb. They run probably 3 times as many as any other club. To be honest I don't see any value in running them until after all NFL and college seasons have been completed. I think the real meat on the bones from tryout camps will come after the NFL has gone through their process of signing free agents prior to the draft.

There was much ballyhooing in Rider Nation when Jones and Murphy were hired and declared the greatest recruiting minds going. Rider fans declared them the architects of recent Stamp and Esk GC teams with Hervey and Huf being bit players. The supposed 20 scouts? They bragged about that too. Are they actually full time scouts? Or just part of Jones and Murphy's network who are on some sort of retainer only paid when they are directed to check out a player or team or bowl game? All teams have a lot more pieces to their scouting network than what shows on their websites. If you can find a list of these mystery Rider scouts I'd be pleased to see it because the Riders have never provided one.

So far all these vaunted resources have proven adept at is signing free agents from other teams and timely plucking of players turning down PR spots. At times I wonder if there isn't some hanky panky going on. It seems more than coincidence to see so many decline PR spots to immediately sign in the same spot. It's like somebody puts a bug in their ear "hey I can see you're on the bubble. If they offer you a PR spot and decline it we'll sign you and stash you on the IR for full salary".

By my count only 6 2017 Rider players who managed to start more than 6 games last year came fresh to the CFL and Riders after Jones and the 20 scouts started working their magic. That's despite a roster turnover that leaves only 11 players left from what Jones inherited. That's not a good return on investment.
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