Vancouver Province writer Kent Gilchrist talks about Coach of the year choice
Courtesy Vancouver Province:
Wally Buono didn’t win the CFL Coach of the Year award again this year, which will come as no surprise to anyone close to the voting. But it should.
Since 1990, Buono has coached his teams to a first-place finish 12 times; eight when he was in Calgary coaching the Stampeders and the last four straight with the B.C. Lions.
Somehow, instead of owning the Annis Stukus trophy, awarded to the best coach in the league, Buono has won it only three times.
This for an award that is supposed to be based on regular-season performance. You can question — even knock — some of his game-day decisions, you can question his Grey Cup record (four wins in eight attempts), but he is several football field lengths ahead of his rivals in constructing, maintaining and finishing the regular season.
Simply take last season as an example. He lost starting quarterback Dave Dickenson and his No. 2 Buck Pierce to injuries, and his best receiver Geroy Simon was hobbled for the first two-thirds of the campaign. With Jarious Jackson at quarterback, all Buono was able to do was coax his team to a 14-win season, a franchise best.
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