Wally Buono won't commit to Jeff Tedford for 2016

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InUrFace
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Everyone and dog and cat should vote .. we need him gone from this organization and team.
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sj-roc
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InUrFace wrote:Everyone and dog and cat should vote .. we need him gone from this organization and team.
I mentioned this poll in the "Lions should clean house" thread; perhaps this belongs in that thread?

Having said that I don't think Wally's future depends on the outcome of this poll which is currently 65% in favour of dismissal. WB is supposed to be on MS's show around 1pm, could get interesting.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
InUrFace
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sj-roc wrote:
InUrFace wrote:Everyone and dog and cat should vote .. we need him gone from this organization and team.
I mentioned this poll in the "Lions should clean house" thread; perhaps this belongs in that thread?

Having said that I don't think Wally's future depends on the outcome of this poll which is currently 65% in favour of dismissal. WB is supposed to be on MS's show around 1pm, could get interesting.
I saw saw that after the fact and maybe having a thread on its own would help votes. Even if its 100% yes doesnt matter its all up to Wally in the end. He doesnt care what people think. Ill be waiting to see at 1pm what WB excuses will be. Let me guess we lost because Calg is a better team and we didnt execute. :juggle:
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David
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Wally to appear shortly (at 1:10pm PST) on TSN1040 with Sekeres. Should be interesting listening.


DH :cool:
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Blitz
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InUrFace wrote:
sj-roc wrote:
InUrFace wrote:Everyone and dog and cat should vote .. we need him gone from this organization and team.
I mentioned this poll in the "Lions should clean house" thread; perhaps this belongs in that thread?

Having said that I don't think Wally's future depends on the outcome of this poll which is currently 65% in favour of dismissal. WB is supposed to be on MS's show around 1pm, could get interesting.
I saw saw that after the fact and maybe having a thread on its own would help votes. Even if its 100% yes doesnt matter its all up to Wally in the end. He doesnt care what people think. Ill be waiting to see at 1pm what WB excuses will be. Let me guess we lost because Calg is a better team and we didnt execute. :juggle:
Wally does care what the media thinks.....very much. Wally's image is very important to him.....why do you think he always blames the players...or everyone and anyone except himself.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
TheLionKing
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It's time for a total house cleaning starting with Wally
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sj-roc
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David wrote:Wally to appear shortly (at 1:10pm PST) on TSN1040 with Sekeres. Should be interesting listening.


DH :cool:
Here it is (almost 17mins long) ICYMI: Buono: Changes needed; won't resign.
BC Lions GM Wally Buono says there was some progress made this season with younger players, but more changes need to be made. But Buono says he won't resign - that a decision on his future will be made by David Braley and Dennis Skulsky.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
InUrFace
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sj-roc wrote:
David wrote:Wally to appear shortly (at 1:10pm PST) on TSN1040 with Sekeres. Should be interesting listening.


DH :cool:
Here it is (almost 17mins long) ICYMI: Buono: Changes needed; won't resign.
BC Lions GM Wally Buono says there was some progress made this season with younger players, but more changes need to be made. But Buono says he won't resign - that a decision on his future will be made by David Braley and Dennis Skulsky.
Like David B said few years back Wally has a life time contract with this organization. I thought that was a joke now I am beginning to think he was serious. The old man club still running ..so far up to this point. Maybe we need to say no to season tickets etc .. until Wally steps down or until David B has concerns about ticket sales and pre sales.
I think its time we in this lionbackers community to take a stand and do something about it.
We were told lies from Wally and Skulsy that we would see exciting football and entertainment value at games .. we did not.
Maybe we need to write David B directly ..if anyone has contact info. Show our concerns as fans and ones that buy tickets.
I dont wont to go through this frustration as a loyal fan another season. We need to take a stand. :bang:
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WestCoastJoe
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Wally will not retire. He asks: "Why should I?" He says that decision is up to Dennis and David. Fair enough. And this fan would suggest that few owners would be that patient, as the win/loss record deteriorates and the fan base dwindles.

He can always see a way to look at things that justifies his approach to the job.

He does not get asked about conservative philosophy.

He does not get asked about time passing him by.

He does not get asked about players playing out of position.

He does not get asked about how much autonomy his coaches have in their philosophy.

He does not get asked about "letting go." He did seem to move down from the rooftop and the tower. Did that represent a letting go of control or oversight? How much autonomy should his Head Coach have? Can he have a different philosophy from the GM?

He does not get asked about how the team fell from 13 and 5 to 7 and 11 over a four year period. Was this normal cyclical behaviour for a football team? Or was it a sign that our approach to football was outdated?

He says football is cyclical.

Wally stayed the course, as expected. So this fan asks: Will our Lions stay the course? That course lately has been all downhill.

Too negative? Well this fan sees 13 and 5 all the way down to 7 and 11, staying the course all the way. So what can we expect? More of the same, it seems to me.
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TheLionKing
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WestCoastJoe wrote:He does not get asked about "letting go." He did seem to move down from the rooftop and the tower. Did that represent a letting go of control or oversight? How much autonomy should his Head Coach have? Can he have a different philosophy from the GM?

Wally is very much involved. He's moved down from the cherry picker onto the field.
Blitz
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TheLionKing wrote:
WestCoastJoe wrote:He does not get asked about "letting go." He did seem to move down from the rooftop and the tower. Did that represent a letting go of control or oversight? How much autonomy should his Head Coach have? Can he have a different philosophy from the GM?

Wally is very much involved. He's moved down from the cherry picker onto the field.
As LU points out, Wally is still down on the practice field every practice, which is not the norm for GM's. Wally is too focused on the coaching aspect and less on his GM role.

The reality is that we haven't won a playoff game in 4 years. Our regular season record has gotten worse in each of those 4 seasons. During that time, we've had three different offensive coordinators, two different defensive coordinators, numerous assistants to those coordinators, and two Head Coaches. The constants have been Chuck McMann, Mark Washington and Buono.

Vancouver is not Saskatchewan. Its a much more competitive and diverse sports market. Fans, except the die hard ones like us and the loyal fans, will not come out to watch either a dull product or a poorly coached one. Our Leos fan base is dwindling. We had 60,000 less fans this year watch games than last year. They will not watch a quarterback consistently stuck in the pocket while missing open receivers or a tailback consistently run into a brick wall or watch a defence sit back and hope the opposition offfence makes a mistake or watch special teams consistently get penalty after penalty, game after game. Wally, being a 'legend' or having a longer term successful track record is not enough.

Football is an entertainment business. If you are not winning consistently you'd at least better be exciting or be showing promise. Jennings brought some promise in a miserable season and that got more fans into the building but we were lucky that Beck got injured or we likely would not have seen him.

We are not going to get the size of crowds this franchise needs by watching old systems that don't work anymore, using old school coaches or old school philosophies nor are we going to get fans into the building with bad half time entertainment.

The reality is that Wally, for the past four seasons, still has a Head Coach focus rather than a GM focus. He doesn't have the edge he needs because basically he knows he won't be fired. If he was treated like his veteran players are treated, he would be gone. If Wally had to perform, like he expects his players to perform or like he expected Harris to perform in his last few games to hope to 'prove' that he still has it, Wally might be focused more on scouting and recruiting and trading and watching some CIS games instead of writing notes for his coaches.

Wally will be back next season. The only pressure on his performance is coming from the fans. Wally has always said its not what you've done yesterday that counts. The same standard applies to him. He cant' get any quality free agents to come to B.C. and play in a stunning stadium in the best area to live in Canada. That says everything.

We don't know if Buono will retire at the end of next season or sign an extension. My hope is that its his last season and he focuses on his job as GM this off-season and starts getting the job done, instead of being a pseudo Head Coach. Hopefully, Buono will also enable Tedford to bring in some assistants who can do a better job, if he so chooses. But I cannot see Tedford being able to let Mark Washington go. I can't see Buono giving that the ok. McMann, maybe, but not Washington.

I also wonder how much influence Geroy Simon will have this off-season. He was a fan of Jeffers Harris and not a fan of Cortez.

If we could draft a starting center, we could go with four import receivers next season. If we signed Arsenault, we coud go with four import recievers in Arsenault, Hawkins, Jeffers Harris, and Boldewijn. That would be an excellent receiving crew with excellent size and speed but we won't be able to do that if we don't sign Harris and we go with an import tailback.

Defensively, we desperately need a rush end who can get consistent pressure and we need to find the right role for Bighill.

But it won't matter a whole lot if we keep using old plug and play systems that Wally favors and we keep retaining or hiring coaches who will use those outdated systems. We need to design our offensive and defensive systems around the strengths of our personnel.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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Belize City Lion
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When Bouno arrived in Vancouver back in 2003 the CFL was still a bit of a gong show in many cities and that didn't change for the first few years of Wally's tenure in BC. Calgary had the F-troop, the Glieberman's were in Ottawa, Toronto was orphaned, Saskatchewan was not the merchandising money machine they are today, Hamilton was struggling on field and at the gate, Winnipeg had David Asper throwing a public temper tantrum, etc.

So compared to what the other 8 clubs had to offer, Wally and the BC Lions were a very attractive option for players who had options. "Oh, Dave Dickenson, you want to come back the CFL? Welcome to Vancouver!" Fast forward to 2015 and BC does not have a lock on stability or professionalism anymore. Now players can pick choose and refuse where they want to play without worrying that they are joining a circus and that their paycheques might bounce. In today's CFL Wally with his reputation for lack of loyalty to his players may have become a liability to the organisation.

Well, that and the cost of housing in Vancouver.
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JohnHenry
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I don't buy that Wally is the root of all the Lion's problems. Get rid of him and "poof" we'll be back on the winning track. I doubt it's that easy and who would the Lions hire to replace him? Somebody new and exciting I guess, who might know what they're doing...but then again might not. Should we gamble and find out? Maybe we could be more like the Bombers? Is anybody better than Buono and his meddling in the coach's affairs? He's only the winningest coach in CFL history with a tremendous track record in developing outstanding players, especially QB's. As a coach his teams finished in 1st place 13 times in his 22 years as head coach. But that's ancient history I guess?

In the CFL it boils down to QB'ing. The Lions have suffered at QB since Dickenson was released, other than with the Lulay blip in 2011/12. Jennings gives fans hope for the future but the franchise still needs a guiding hand. If the Lions had a top QB who could remain healthy our record would have been much better over the past few seasons...and there would be little talk of firing the G.M. :wag:
maxlion
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CardiacKid nailed it in the cleaning house thread: there needs to be a viable alternative.

Buono is likely nearing the end of a long and hugely successful career. I am sure that he has thought long and hard about a succession plan, and suspect that he will willingly step down when he is confident that the franchise is in good hands moving forward. Personally, I feel comfortable with Buono making that call provided that there are signs that we are moving towards a succession.
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B.C.FAN
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Jeff Tedford said Monday he has a great relationship with Wally and leaned on him a lot this year but expects to exert more authority next year in the final year of his contract (and Wally's). That's a natural evolution for a first-year head coach who has been out of the league for so long. Change will happen naturally without Wally losing his job.
“I was in a position in my first year to do a lot of listening,” said Tedford after returning to the CFL for the first time since he worked both with, and later under, Buono as an offensive assistant in Calgary (1989-91). “I can impart many more of my ideas and opinions on things, but I’d be foolish to think that all my opinions and ideas were the right way to do things without talking with someone who has been here for so long.”
Province article
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