LaPolice new Bombers OC

[White Out]

His third firing for the Bombers should be hillarious.

 

Not sure what to think of this move. Seems like we aren't able to go  out and get the guy we really want. Or is this him? Christ. 

[blitzmore]

 

 

I like Lapo the person (I think that's what a lot of people are caught up in -- they like Lapo the person and ignore the slate of coaching evidence) and I'm happy he's involved in the organization. i'm always a fan of good PEOPLE being involved. Do I think Lapo is the best choice for OC right now? Absolutely not. Am I going to give him a chance to prove himself....again.....? Of course....I'm in favour of anyone who can try and keep Drew Willy upright. 

o.k...who is the best choice and why?

 

Someone who hasn't failed here twice already for obvious reasons. Lapo has been stuck on TSN for the last few years, that says something to me about how in demand the guy is. Yeah he's the most experienced candidate out there... but that isn't exactly much to hang your hat on. 

 

Actually if you watch the interview you will hear that he said there are reasons why he stayed with TSN and turned down potential offers.

[Bigblue204]

 

 

 

I like Lapo the person (I think that's what a lot of people are caught up in -- they like Lapo the person and ignore the slate of coaching evidence) and I'm happy he's involved in the organization. i'm always a fan of good PEOPLE being involved. Do I think Lapo is the best choice for OC right now? Absolutely not. Am I going to give him a chance to prove himself....again.....? Of course....I'm in favour of anyone who can try and keep Drew Willy upright. 

o.k...who is the best choice and why?

 

Someone who hasn't failed here twice already for obvious reasons. Lapo has been stuck on TSN for the last few years, that says something to me about how in demand the guy is. Yeah he's the most experienced candidate out there... but that isn't exactly much to hang your hat on. 

 

Actually if you watch the interview you will hear that he said there are reasons why he stayed with TSN and turned down potential offers.

 

 

Not to mention it's been reported/confirmed Oshea talked to him about the OC job when he first started but lapo said he wasn't interested at that time.

[holoman]

 

 

 

 

I like Lapo the person (I think that's what a lot of people are caught up in -- they like Lapo the person and ignore the slate of coaching evidence) and I'm happy he's involved in the organization. i'm always a fan of good PEOPLE being involved. Do I think Lapo is the best choice for OC right now? Absolutely not. Am I going to give him a chance to prove himself....again.....? Of course....I'm in favour of anyone who can try and keep Drew Willy upright. 

o.k...who is the best choice and why?

 

Someone who hasn't failed here twice already for obvious reasons. Lapo has been stuck on TSN for the last few years, that says something to me about how in demand the guy is. Yeah he's the most experienced candidate out there... but that isn't exactly much to hang your hat on. 

 

Actually if you watch the interview you will hear that he said there are reasons why he stayed with TSN and turned down potential offers.

 

 

Not to mention it's been reported/confirmed Oshea talked to him about the OC job when he first started but lapo said he wasn't interested at that time.

 

Probably the payout from his last stint outweighed that of an OC

[rebusrankin]

Ok on Chris Jones, imagine if this off-season, the New York Jets hired away Bill Bellichik as their coach and GM? Think the NFL would allow that Ripper? Think of the responses from fans and the media.

[Noeller]

 

 

 

 

 

I like Lapo the person (I think that's what a lot of people are caught up in -- they like Lapo the person and ignore the slate of coaching evidence) and I'm happy he's involved in the organization. i'm always a fan of good PEOPLE being involved. Do I think Lapo is the best choice for OC right now? Absolutely not. Am I going to give him a chance to prove himself....again.....? Of course....I'm in favour of anyone who can try and keep Drew Willy upright. 

o.k...who is the best choice and why?

 

Someone who hasn't failed here twice already for obvious reasons. Lapo has been stuck on TSN for the last few years, that says something to me about how in demand the guy is. Yeah he's the most experienced candidate out there... but that isn't exactly much to hang your hat on. 

 

Actually if you watch the interview you will hear that he said there are reasons why he stayed with TSN and turned down potential offers.

 

 

Not to mention it's been reported/confirmed Oshea talked to him about the OC job when he first started but lapo said he wasn't interested at that time.

 

Probably the payout from his last stint outweighed that of an OC

 

Actually, I just read about this, this morning: MOS says he called Lapo when he first got the job, but never offered him a job...just called to "talk about football"....

[Bigblue204]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like Lapo the person (I think that's what a lot of people are caught up in -- they like Lapo the person and ignore the slate of coaching evidence) and I'm happy he's involved in the organization. i'm always a fan of good PEOPLE being involved. Do I think Lapo is the best choice for OC right now? Absolutely not. Am I going to give him a chance to prove himself....again.....? Of course....I'm in favour of anyone who can try and keep Drew Willy upright. 

o.k...who is the best choice and why?

 

Someone who hasn't failed here twice already for obvious reasons. Lapo has been stuck on TSN for the last few years, that says something to me about how in demand the guy is. Yeah he's the most experienced candidate out there... but that isn't exactly much to hang your hat on. 

 

Actually if you watch the interview you will hear that he said there are reasons why he stayed with TSN and turned down potential offers.

 

 

Not to mention it's been reported/confirmed Oshea talked to him about the OC job when he first started but lapo said he wasn't interested at that time.

 

Probably the payout from his last stint outweighed that of an OC

 

Actually, I just read about this, this morning: MOS says he called Lapo when he first got the job, but never offered him a job...just called to "talk about football"....

 

The exact quote

 

"O’Shea revealed on Tuesday that he first approached LaPolice about the Bombers offensive coordinator job when O’Shea took over as Bombers head coach prior to the 2014 season, but LaPolice told him he wasn’t interested at that time."

[BigBlue]

http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/08/lapolice-back-in-blue/

 

For those who haven't seen the presser

[Fatty Liver]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lawless tweeting that the Riders are taking a ton of Jones' Esks staff with him. 

 

I'll be very curious to see what the hires are in BC and Edmonton. Are they going to be scrambling to find decent coordinator hires? I feel like a lot of Bomber fans would be saying that same thing if we were in their place currently.

 

Also, I think the CFL and the Riders have set a dangerous precedent with hiring Jones away from a current contract. Will be interesting to see if it happens again at some point and if the league ever decides to change it. Personally I think Edmonton got screwed losing a head coach currently under contract, and now having all his assistants go with him. At least most of the assistants aren't under contract.

Your post makes absolutely no sense at all. Dangerous precedent?? Coaches leave teams all the time for promotions. Its happened many times, only difference this time is the Esks crying about it. We let Ritchie Hall out of his contract to go to Edmonton to be the HC there. We let Kent Austin out of his contract right after we won the grey cup to go coach in the NCAA.  Many examples where this has happened.

 

Its pretty rare to see a HC with a contract leave for another team. Hall's move to Edmonton was from assistant to head coach. Austin was leaving the league. Neither of these are the situation Jones was in. Its considered a promotion because of the GM title and so that's why it was allowed, but employed head coaches moving to another team is actually pretty rare.

 

Let me get this straight here. Going from Head Coach to VP of football operations/ General manager and HC is not a promotion in your books?  Jones is accountable only to Rider President Craig Reynolds, he is in charge of everything. AND doubled his salary. In my mind I would say that qualifies as a promotion.

 

 

Nowhere in his entire post does he say it's not a promotion. What I think he's saying (and what I'd agree with) is not that the Jones move should not be allowed, but that any moves like this in the future should at least be tied to some compensation going in the other direction.

 

I understand your position but ask why is this any different than any of the other moves?

 

 

Because of the effect it's having on the franchise you don't cheer for.

 

 

I could see the CFL implementing a few guidelines to deal with this situation in their upcoming meetings.  The Esks can probably survive the damage done but if there was ever a scenario were a strong franchise decimated a vulnerable franchise of their building blocks it would not be good for the CFL. 

 

Interestingly when the CFL first implemented the expense cap it covered a much broader spectrum including scouting, coaching staff and administration, now only the players salaries are capped.

[johnzo]

Not thrilled, but I'll take Lapo over Jones. Jones has never proven he could be a good OC, whereas Lapo has at least a couple good-to-great years in that role.

Though if we don't get more talent at receiver and on the line, it won't matter who we have at OC. Our line was always playing a guy or two short last year. It was like we were giving opposing defences a power play.

Most encouraging thing about the Lapo / Osh presser was the royal blue golf shirts. Good looking duds there. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

[the watcher]

I think Lapo was the best choice at this particular time.Some have posted that he was the "safe" choice as if that was a bad thing.I think he was the safe choice and that is a good thing. There is alot of anger and even worse, apathy about the Bombers.I really think they they absolutely can't blow this year off or the franchise could struggle. Lapo at worst will be competent and may be quite good.Most of the other candidates carry a greater risk and yes perhaps the chance to be spectacular. I've run alot of businesses over the years and I always found there was a time to roll the dice and a time to play safe.

[Mark F]

Ok on Chris Jones, imagine if this off-season, the New York Jets hired away Bill Bellichik as their coach and GM? Think the NFL would allow that Ripper? Think of the responses from fans and the media.

 

actually I think the Patriots kind of finessed bill away from the Jets.... resulting in some animus/emnity  from the jets towards the pats.

[comedygeek]

There is no OC the Bombers could've grabbed that would've made everyone happy. Maas (who isn't an option because the RedBlacks didn't let us talk to him and the Esks are likely going to hire him as HC) might have gotten the most positive response overall, but he still isn't incredibly proven. Jackson would've had detractors (inexperienced), Khari would've had detractors (not a lot of success in past OC roles), etc.

The fact is, LaPo was being considered for multiple OC positions -- and possibly a HC position -- across the CFL this off-season, and the Bombers got him. The last time he was an Offensive Coordinator, he was a success.

 

I have cautious optimism heading into the 2016 season with LaPo behind the offensive controls. I think with a healthy Willy and (here's hoping) some aggressive free agent acquisitions, perhaps our offense can match our performance on defense in the second half of 2015 and actually put forth a formidable team effort.

And if not, then we clean house at the end of 2016 and start fresh yet again. Yipee!

[17to85]

Oh make no mistake I know why O'Shea hired Lapolice, he was the experienced "safe" choice. I disagree that it's the right choice.

[Logan007]

 

Isn't it a pretty damn similar argument for Khari though? Ya he sucked in Hamilton but he's probably learned so much since then....

His second attempt as an OC in BC was worse. He's trending in the wrong direction.

 

Huh?  He was 8-10 in Hamilton and 9-9 in BC.  I didn't look at the points scored for both years, maybe that's what you're talking about?

[HardCoreBlue]

There is no OC the Bombers could've grabbed that would've made everyone happy. Maas (who isn't an option because the RedBlacks didn't let us talk to him and the Esks are likely going to hire him as HC) might have gotten the most positive response overall, but he still isn't incredibly proven. Jackson would've had detractors (inexperienced), Khari would've had detractors (not a lot of success in past OC roles), etc.

The fact is, LaPo was being considered for multiple OC positions -- and possibly a HC position -- across the CFL this off-season, and the Bombers got him. The last time he was an Offensive Coordinator, he was a success.

 

I have cautious optimism heading into the 2016 season with LaPo behind the offensive controls. I think with a healthy Willy and (here's hoping) some aggressive free agent acquisitions, perhaps our offense can match our performance on defense in the second half of 2015 and actually put forth a formidable team effort.

And if not, then we clean house at the end of 2016 and start fresh yet again. Yipee!

Cautious optimism, great way at putting it.

I don't know but I think if we landed Maas,  a lot of us would be changing that word cautious with nervous.

[Blueballz]

There isn't one glaring answer out there that would an obvious better choice over LaPolice, so why not see how this plays out.

[Dragon37]

Meh. I like the person, never liked his conservative offence. However, there wasn't a lot of choice out there for MOS and Walters to save their jobs. Now it is up to Walters to actually get some decent players for LaPo to work with. If he has the same crew you can guarantee that there will be some major house cleaning in the coaching and management ranks.

I have zero confidence in Walters, btw. Sorry LaPo

[Brandon]

I'll say it again... I'd rather give it to a young guy who hasn't hit his potential yet. 

 

We've seen LaPo peak and it's nothing special....  I'd rather they take a risk on a guy like Brady or even Jackson... guys who have shown well and who are trending upwards and possibly can be a really good coach. 

 

With LaPo I'm not thrilled and I'm also not saying it's the end of the world...  I just expect a whole bunch of average with him...

 

Now had they grabbed Brady or McAdoo made him the OC and Assistant Coach... that would of got me excited for the next season.

[DR. CFL]

Ultimately this crew will all sink or swim together. It will be cause and effect. Good coaching? Good players? Good management? It won't matter for any of them if this all does come together.

[Blueballz]

I'll say it again... I'd rather give it to a young guy who hasn't hit his potential yet.

We've seen LaPo peak and it's nothing special.... I'd rather they take a risk on a guy like Brady or even Jackson... guys who have shown well and who are trending upwards and possibly can be a really good coach.

With LaPo I'm not thrilled and I'm also not saying it's the end of the world... I just expect a whole bunch of average with him...

Now had they grabbed Brady or McAdoo made him the OC and Assistant Coach... that would of got me excited for the next season.

And with the way our offense performed last year you'd trust someone with minimal experience try and work some magic with them?

I would like someone up and coming too, just not at this point.

[Goalie]

Maybe Howell and buck will be retained and they are the up and coming coaches who just need to learn more. Lapo has experience good and bad. Not sure his head coaching failure is an indication of him being a bad oc. Coordinator and coaches are 2 different things. Guess I'd rather have lapo than be bc or Edmonton right now not really having much to choose from.

That's the part people are missing. Cortez retired. Chapdelaine abandons the run too much. Khari has very little experience as does Jackson. Brady? Sure but who knows if he even wanted to leave the argos. Lapo was the most experienced guy out there. Experience is a good thing no? Success as an OC. That's good.

First choice? Maybe not but if the list of actual candidates only included lapo Khari and Jackson? Probably.

[Noeller]

Fwiw, re: coaches... Twitter says Ottawa quickly re-upping both Campbell and Desjardins to new contracts in the coming days.

[Captain Blue]

There is no OC the Bombers could've grabbed that would've made everyone happy. Maas (who isn't an option because the RedBlacks didn't let us talk to him and the Esks are likely going to hire him as HC) might have gotten the most positive response overall, but he still isn't incredibly proven. Jackson would've had detractors (inexperienced), Khari would've had detractors (not a lot of success in past OC roles), etc.

The fact is, LaPo was being considered for multiple OC positions -- and possibly a HC position -- across the CFL this off-season, and the Bombers got him. The last time he was an Offensive Coordinator, he was a success.

 

I have cautious optimism heading into the 2016 season with LaPo behind the offensive controls. I think with a healthy Willy and (here's hoping) some aggressive free agent acquisitions, perhaps our offense can match our performance on defense in the second half of 2015 and actually put forth a formidable team effort.

And if not, then we clean house at the end of 2016 and start fresh yet again. Yipee!

 

I think the Bombers should get credit for going out and getting their guy. People always blast them for being perceived as behind all the other teams. Everybody else is still looking for an OC and candidates are getting scratched off the list fast. Jackson declined chances to be an OC, Brady looks to be staying put, Edmonton needs to put a whole staff together and Ottawa will need an OC.

[Blueballz]

Two things I do like about this signing.

1.) We acted fast and didn't have to wait to pick from the scrap pile.

2.) We got an experienced sought after guy who actually wanted to come here.