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Buono closing in on records
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
It seems fitting that when Wally Buono brings his B. C. Lions into Edmonton for Game 3 of the Canadian Football League regular season, the Eskimos will be trotting out their retro jerseys.
“Is that significant?” asked the elder statesman of CFL coaches, who is entering his 20th campaign as a head man.
A throw back for a throw back?
“Honestly, I only remember the Green and Gold, and the Green and Gold. All this stuff now, I don’t see that as Green and Gold,” continued Buono, very much a traditionalist.
But at 59 years of age, and in his 28th year of coaching including his first stint in junior with the Montreal Junior Concorde and his years of service as a CFL assistant, Buono has virtually seen it all.
Just four wins shy of the CFL all-time coaching wins mark currently held by Don Matthews, Buono takes aim on a season in which the record will surely be cast aside. With 227 victories to date, more than double his 112 losses, the former Montreal Alouettes linebacker/punter remains focused on the big picture and not the small record book.
“The record is a tremendous achievement by anybody in any organization or any group of men. But for me, it’s the immediate. What are we going to do this year? As I’ve said, if I end up being 5-13, I break the record, but it wouldn’t be any good, would it?
“The record is just a byproduct of the whole process. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I’m in the midst of things in my mind that are more essential today and more critical today because all of us want to be in Calgary in November hoisting the Grey Cup.”
That’s what 19 years of CFL head coaching gives you, perspective. Two decades is a long time for anyone in any position, never mind the ultra-competitive field of professional sports.
“Maybe too long for some people, right?” Buono said with a laugh. “I re-examine my situation after every year and, obviously, the older you get, the more you have to self examine.
“I’m hoping that the best has yet to come. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been blessed by being surrounded by a lot of good people in a lot of areas,” added Buono, ever so humble and always popular.
“With me, it’s never been about just one person. It’s been about the guys around you, the team, the organization and I’ve been very fortunate.”
When conversation turns to family, he speaks proudly of his wife Sande and children Amy, Dana, Christie and Michael, and grandchild Jonah.
“He’s a good man,” said Eskimos head coach Richie Hall, whose team goes head-to-head against Buono’s Lions in pre-season play tonight at B. C. Place.
“That’s a reason why he has lasted so long.”
But, if not for a triple bypass operation in December 2004, he wouldn’t be standing on the sidelines or discussing his wonderful career.
“I believed then and I believe today that if God wanted me dead, I would have been dead. God spared me and there is a reason for that. I have no regrets about my life,” he said.
It’s been a fantastic ride, so far.
Buono has one more year on his current contract, but there are whispers that this could be it.
What stands out the most in his career?
“Honestly, the consistency in the ability to put a competitive football team on the field,” he said. “Sometimes that’s not valued enough or respected enough, but I think the people that are in the business that do what I do or are involved in what I do appreciate that. At the end of the day, you are measured by Grey Cups and, at the end of the day, there is only one success story and all the rest are perceived to be failures.”
Buono has won the Grey Cup four times in his head coaching career and coached in the championship final eight times. The man, who was born in Potenza, Italy, and raised by his mom Carmela, having lost his dad at age eight and moved to Canada, loads up again this season for what could be No. 5.
“The problem is what you expect and what you get isn’t always the same. Expectations are sometimes met and sometimes not. And my philosophy has always been you start at 0-0 and what you’ve done in the past isn’t always relevant. What you do week-to-week, game-to-game is always relevant,” he said. “As I’ve said, I’ve had a lot of people help me to win and a lot of great players that have allowed me to win.”
But he’s also led those people to become champions.
“I was looking through their (media) guide. He’s finished in first place 12 times. That’s amazing,” said Hall, who actually played in Calgary as a defensive back when Buono was a linebackers coach.
No, that’s just Wally.
