Courtesy Vancouver Sun:

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He’s not mad.

Nor is he frustrated.

To be honest, Wally Buono’s actually a little proud.

For the second straight year, the B.C. Lions general manager and head coach finds himself answering questions on how he’s going to fill the hole in his front office rather than gaps on the field. Bob O’Billovich — the Lions director of player personnel since Buono took over the team in 2003 — was named general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Wednesday.

“It’s like losing a key player or losing a key coach — it’s a part of our business that exemplifies we’ve had success as an organization and people are looking to emulate or get a part of that,” said Buono, who lost offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine to the Edmonton Eskimos last off-season. “It just means we have to go out and find someone else.”

Topping a list of candidates is former Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager Roy Shivers. The one-time Lions assistant coach has a long history with Buono as a member of the Calgary Stampeders management team. The Stampeders went to four Grey Cups — winning two — during their tenure in Calgary during the 1990s.

“I’m not going to skirt the issue, I had a tremendous run with Mr. Shivers in Calgary and I thought he and I were a pretty good combo,” said Buono, of his longtime friend who was fired by the ‘Riders midway through the 2006 season. “Now, I don’t know what his interest level is, if he has interest at all. Other than that there are a handful of other guys that can fill that bill.”

Shivers, who lives in Las Vegas, did not return calls on Wednesday. Other names being mentioned include Mike McCarthy, senior advisor to ousted Hamilton GM Marcel Desjardins, as well as Ticats personnel director Craig Smith.

One person it won’t be, is Neil McEvoy. The 31-year-old Lions player personnel coordinator already has his hands full handling many of the day-to-day operations of the team as well as negotiating contracts and assisting the coaching staff with game and scouting preparation. Did we mention he also does windows.

“Neil has a capacity with us, but we don’t want to put too much more on his plate,” said Buono. “I think for an interim period he could assume some of the responsibilities, which he does, already. He deals with a lot of the agents who are trying to place their players, he does a lot of evaluation of the player profiles we get … so that’s not going to stop.”

O’Billovich’s voice was scratchy and horse when he answered his Lions cell phone on Wednesday. A day of press conferences and meetings will do that to a fella.

The CFL mainstay said the decision to leave the Lions was one of the toughest of his 35-year professional football career.

“Wally’s right, my hiring is a compliment to the organization — it’s top notch from Bobby Ackles down,” he said. “I’d like to think I left the team in very good shape — it’s a lot better now than when I came in 2003. I even signed a few new guys this week from NFL camps.

“My loyalty was with B.C, until this was announced today. In fact, I still need to talk to Wally to see what else I have to do so all is right when I leave.”

Like returning their phone?

“I’m sure they’ll want it back sooner than later,” he quipped.

GRID BITS: Buono said there is nothing further to report on negotiations with quarterback Jarious Jackson. The two parties are in discussions, but Buono isn’t expecting anything to be finalized before he departs for a family vacation to Hawaii this weekend. “We started the business of trying to get something resolved, if I say anything more than that it just gets complicated,”said Buono, who has until Feb. 1 to sign Jackson before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.