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Hall gets first taste as Head Coach tonight
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
As much as tonight’s pre-season opener is an audition for the Edmonton Eskimos, it is also a dry-run of sorts for new head coach Richie Hall and his staff.
“Hopefully, I go down on the sideline instead of up into the press box,” said Hall, a veteran of 15 Canadian Football League seasons as an assistant coach and/or defensive co-ordinator with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“It is (a rehearsal). You can prepare and prepare and prepare, but you never know until you go through the game because (training camp) is not a game situation regarding anything from throwing out the flag to challenge calls, to making a decision on accepting or declining a penalty, or time management.
“It’s not only a pre-season game for the players, but a pre-season game for the staff, because this is the first time we’ve been together and under the gun.” That Hall and Co. make their debut against the Riders — a team he also played for from 1988 to ’91, prior to coaching — makes it that much more intriguing.
“It should be exciting, very exciting,” he said. “To me, first and foremost, it’s an opponent, and it happens to be Saskatchewan.
“If you were to write a script, you couldn’t have designed it any better for myself … . What better way to start out for myself as a head coach than against a team that you’ve been with for so long; a team that has given me the opportunity to be here today.” But don’t be fooled. That patented Hall niceness and brimming smile will be replaced by a ferociousness come kickoff at Commonwealth Stadium. He will be as demanding on his players as he was on himself (he was a four-time CFL West Divi-sion all-star defensive back during his nine seasons with the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan).
“Needless to say, I am very truly excited for this opportunity,” he said with a smile, once again.
“But I think we have to keep things in perspective. The game is about the players. It’s about Edmonton and Saskatchewan and it’s a pre-season game — even though both teams are going out there to win. It’s also a time to evaluate our football team and evaluate the personnel on both teams.” It will be a strange feeling, just the same, as Hall steps on to the lush grass surface for the first time as a head coach.
He has plenty of support, though, especially from his immediate boss, general manager Danny Maciocia, who he replaces as head coach.
“Just be yourself. Go out and have a good time,” Maciocia said, when asked what he would offer as advice.
“Be yourself. Let your coaches coach and let your players play. His biggest challenge may be the pre-game.
Going out there and you’re back-to-back with your opponent, but your opponent is someone you spent 20 years with. Once he takes the field and the national anthem is played, he’ll be in his element.” It will be an emotional element that Hall attempts to control, though.
After all, you only get a first game once, and this is it.
“The good thing I was telling him this morning is we get that Saskatchewan game right off the bat and get it out of the way and take care of it,” said Maciocia.
“It’s his first experience as far as managing a game from a head coach’s perspective and not a defensive co-ordinator’s perspective, so it will be an exciting time. I’m sure he’ll have a few butterflies leading up to it, but it’s good he gets that Saskatchewan game off his chest right off the bat.” “It will be an exciting time and, yes, it will be emotional, but I think that each game will be emotional,” said Hall, who was planning on having dinner on Tuesday night with Riders linebackers coach and close friend Alex Smith, and then relaxing.
“Because it’s my first game, it will be exciting.
“But when we play here on July 2 (in the season opener versus the Winnipeg Blue Bombers), it will be emotional because my family will be here, and when we go to Saskatchewan, it will be very emotional.” But it all starts tonight, and it’ll be interesting to see how Richie the Rookie manages his oversized bench, not to mention his emotions.
