Wally Buono panic? Not his style

In Lotus Land, where the B.C. Lions are 1-6, there are fans yelling, "Women and children first!" and some in the press are striking up Nearer, My God, to Thee,* but Wally Buono isn't falling for it.

Not his style. Ask his friends.

"Wally's a very patient guy in that respect," says Bob O'Billovich, the Hamilton general manager who worked with Buono for years in both Calgary and Vancouver. "He doesn't jump to any quick decisions, fly off the handle and things.

"He thinks things out."

There's been a lot of thinking going on for Buono, who came into this season with an all-time best 235-122-3 record as a CFL head coach, but has only added the one win to the resumé so far in 2010.

This is a man who in more than 20 years as the boss on the sidelines has had three 15-3 clubs in Calgary (where he was never worse than 6-12, and that was just once), and in B.C. once went 14-3-1.

Buono has won four Grey Cups and lost four others, and finished first in the West on a dozen occasions.

Now, hard times have hit. But there's Captain Wally with the megaphone in his hands reminding everyone not to panic.

"I think there's a difference between an urgency and a panic," Buono says over the phone. "And we're trying to create a state of urgency because 1-6 is not acceptable …1-6 is not what we are paid to do."

Losing your head, however, is a little silly for just seven games into the schedule, even if there are those wondering if it's time for Buono to give up the dual coach/GM portfolio and just manage.

"We don't want to panic because we're not writing the season off," he says. "But there has to be an urgency in changing the behaviour. There has to be an urgency, whether it's myself, the assistant coach or the player, because we're the triangle that determines success or failure."

Eskimos tack different course

One province over, they've taken a different approach to a 1-6 start.

The Edmonton Eskimos have already fired general manager Danny Maciocia, fired offensive line coach Jeff Bleamer, seen long-time assistant and Eskimo legend Dan Kepley resign, and starting it all had the team president threaten everyone if the club didn't improve. 

B.C. and Edmonton are tied for third in the West and, with the crossover playoff system, are each one game behind the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and their 2-6 mark for the post-season.

Lots to play for, in other words.

Missing starting quarterback Casey Printers for much of the season so far and carrying a number of other key wounded, the Lions have been terrible on offence, sitting last in 10 of the stats categories.

On the other hand, B.C. is right on the average, or above average, in 24 of 25 defensive categories, the only blemish being they don't intercept a lot of balls.

O'Billovich looks at these stats and the films and says other teams around the league should not be fooled into thinking Buono's boys are an easy mark.

"There's a very fine line between winning and losing and the problem is, when you win and make … mistakes, people forget about it because you won," he says. "If you lose those games, then you are all of a sudden 10 times worse than it really is.

"That's what Wally's going through right now."

Obie too. His Cats started 1-4, and he told folks in Hamilton not to panic because while that was a bad record, it wasn't a bad team. Three straight wins later, his club is 4-4 and right back in it.

The Lions opened the season with a win over Edmonton (when everyone thought both clubs would be competitive out of the box), then came six straight losses. These include a four-point defeat to Montreal, a four-point loss to Toronto, a three-pointer to the Eskimos (that one hurt) and a four-point loss to Calgary.

Close, but not enough. Now after the bye week to pull things together, the Lions have to face Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton.

Buono and his staff are coaching like crazy, something you don't have to do when your team is purring along.

"I think sometimes when a team is flying, you're not really coaching it," he says. "You're just allowing them to go out and do the things they do, which is usually predicated on disciplines, executions and just going out and doing that over and over, and over again."

But when players struggle, you have to work to get them to produce the discipline and the execution. And you stick with the plan, whether you win or lose — "don't start changing how you coach, how you prepare because you win and then because you lose," Buono says.

Change for change's sake?

Those of a certain age will remember the old Argo Airlift and the way the rest of the CFL used to laugh at it.

In the 1960s, when Toronto was terrible, team management would panic at the first sign of two losses and start bringing in NFL and AFL cuts to see if they could stop the bleeding. Never worked.

The lift ended for a while under coach Leo Cahill, but after he was fired the mid-1970s featured a smaller, but still active, version of the old panic.

O'Billovich came to Toronto in 1982 and immediately put a stop to it, preferring to work slowly at finding the right guys and giving the ones he had the chance to show themselves.

"I still feel that's the way you build a winner," says the guy who took the Argos in 1983 to their first Grey Cup in 31 years. "You have to start somewhere, play with the hand you are dealt with."

He's been gradually changing the roster since taking over the Cats two seasons back, believing that when you make mid-season changes you do it "one or two, that kind of thing — nine or 10 doesn't work. When you are making that many changes, it will add up in terms of continuity."

As a note, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have turned over almost all of their roster in the last two years as two new coaches and two GMs beavered away on the lineup.

Buono isn't against changes, by any means — part of the game — and just this week he signed defensive lineman Jonathan Brown, linebacker Chase Bullock and offensive lineman Joe McGrath. There could be more.

"The players and the coaches are being reviewed all the time, after every practice, after every game," Buono says. "They are reviewed, they are given grades, reports, verbal acknowledgment. That never changes. When you win, that occurs. When you lose, that occurs."

But you aren't going to see the old coach panic.

"Maybe I panic on the inside, but not on the outside, right," he says, chuckling. "It doesn't serve well, I've never believed, to make a decision when you are pressured, or when you are confused. When you start to panic, you cause confusion and you cause undue pressure."

Buono has never lost more than 12 games in a season, as mentioned. But you never know.

"As Cal Murphy [the legendary coach] says, if you are in the business long enough you will experience all the scenarios, win, lose or draw."

*Note to Titanic buffs: Please save your emails. We know that many believe the final tune from the band as the ship went under was actually the hymn Autumn.