http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/snappy-hed-373580051.html#st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/QmAbKLelGf

He’s got a football team counting on him.

And he’s got a city of frustrated football fans counting on him.

But it wasn’t until our discussion this week turned to the wife and three children that are also counting on him that it became clear just how much weight Mike O’Shea feels pressing down upon him right now as he heads into what is a make-or-break season for the beleaguered Winnipeg Football Club.

Make no mistake — one of two things is going to happen in 2016: either the Blue Bombers are going to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011, or the head coach — and probably a few others in the Bombers front office — are going to be looking for a new job.

And it’s that latter prospect, and what it would do to his young family, that this week brought tears to the eyes of one of the most feared linebackers the Canadian game has ever known.

Yes, you read that right: Mike O’Shea cries. And yes, it was uncomfortable to watch — and not just because it was happening in a crowded restaurant.

"I’m getting emotional now and I’ll tell you why," the Bombers head coach said over lunch this week. "I’ve got a great family. They really do a good job in making their dad feel comfortable at work…

"They’re doing more than holding up their end."

The question heading into this season is whether O’Shea can now hold up his end of a family bargain that saw his wife, Richere, and the couple’s three children — Michael, 16,  Ailish, 13 and Aisling, 10 — leave the only home they ever knew in southern Ontario in 2014 to follow O’Shea to Winnipeg so he could fulfill his dream of being a pro football head coach.

It was a bold move for a young family that O’Shea had gone to extraordinary lengths to protect from the itinerant pro football lifestyle. Indeed, O’Shea says he played his entire 16-year CFL career with just two teams in Toronto and Hamilton — turning down, he says, more lucrative offers to play in Western Canada — precisely so he wouldn’t have to uproot his family.

So moving to Winnipeg was a big thing for the entire O’Shea family. And now that they’ve finally settled in — his son is on high school football and hockey teams, his daughters are competitive gymnasts, the family spent the entire winter here, save for a week-long Bombers cruise — the idea that they’d have to move again this year because O’Shea’s head coaching dream turned into a nightmare weighs on the man of the house.

Don’t misunderstand — he says he is at peace with the fact 2016 is the final year of his three-year contract with the Bombers and there is going to be no contract extension on offer until there are first some winning results on display.

Head coaches who go 12-24 in their first two seasons don’t get contract extensions and O’Shea accepts that.

What troubles him  more, however, is that he cannot insulate his family from the uncertainty. "I’ve just realized recently that my kids really do follow all that stuff (on social media)," said O’Shea. "So it’d be naive for me to think they don’t know about the contract or lack thereof. All of that stuff — they understand...

"And that comes as bit of a shock to me — that they know more maybe than I want them to."

Now make no mistake: O’Shea is not unique. Almost every head coach in pro sports also has a team at home that is counting on him.

And O’Shea is not complaining, either. I dragged this stuff about his family out of him because it interests me to know how a guy in the spotlight copes with the vagaries of chronic job insecurity when those lights are turned off and the house is quiet and it’s just you alone in the dark with your thoughts.

The answer, it seems, is you spend a lot more time worrying about how it will affect those around you than you do about how it affect yourself.

The good news for O’Shea is that while there is no room for error in 2016, he will have by far the best team he’s had in Winnipeg with which to work.

Off-season free agent signings in Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith will make the receiving corps spectacularly better. A defensive line rid of underperformers and bolstered by some other free agent acquisitions, including Canadian Keith Shologan, will be better. The signing of all-star kicker Justin Medlock gives some much needed consistency to special teams. The Canadian content overall will be deeper, including a ratio changer at running back in Winnipegger Andrew Harris.

And, most important, with a proven backup QB in Matt Nichols behind a proven starting QB in Drew Willy, the Bombers are deeper at quarterback this year than they’ve been in a decade.

So the team around him has changed. But has O’Shea?

He admits to making mistakes in his first two years as Bombers boss, but they’re mostly detail stuff rather than big-picture. And so, for instance, O’Shea takes full blame for that blocked field goal in 2014 that cost the Bombers a win against Saskatchewan — poor scheme, he says — but he doesn’t see much in his general approach that needs to change.

He rejects a popular criticism that he should hold individual players more accountable — either on the sideline or before the microphone — and he says it’s simply not true he worries too much about players liking him and not enough about them fearing him.

"I can’t deny I still want to be one of the guys," says O’Shea,  "but that doesn’t mean I want them to be my buddies... I’d love to still be playing…

"But for 16 years, I watched what works and doesn’t work with a coach. And what doesn’t work is a lack of authenticity. I’m just not that guy who’s going to publicly display some player getting in (trouble)...I’m not going to put on a show."

And so while the team around him in 2016 will look different, don’t expect O’Shea to look different. And that includes the shorts he wears on the sidelines during games — which have filled both my mailbox and the Bombers mailbox with emails of complaint from fans.

The shorts are comfortable, he says. And they’re practical, he says. But as we’re walking out towards the parking lot, he also admits the shorts are here to stay for another reason. "If I stopped wearing them now," he tells me, "people would think it was because they complained."

You want to see stubborn? Try those shorts on for size. And then text me a picture on your Blackberry, something O’Shea also clings to.

"This phone works fine," he says. "What do I need an iPhone for?"

The man is who he is, in other words. And for all the worry about his family and his team and the upcoming season and what a very uncertain future holds, he says that, yes, he is willing to die on that hill.

"I would just die quicker," he says, "if I pretended to be someone I’m not."

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

 

2 hours ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

One thing to consider, compared to most HC's O'Shea has been a coach for a relatively short time period since retiring as a player in 2009.  Most coaches are failed players who would have joined the coaching profession at the bottom rung in their early 20's after their playing careers were terminated by lack of skill or injury. 

O'shea is 45 and he got his first job in coaching when he was 39 after a lengthy 16 year professional career.  There are exceptions to be sure but for the most part head coaches have 15-20 years of apprentice coaching in their pocket before they get a shot at the big job.  O'Shea is a very inexperienced coach no matter how you look at it.

Failed players? No disrespect intended as a person but what you said is a questionable comment. All kinds of coaches with varied playing background coach. Not just failed players. Define the term, failed player? Just to balance things out, I agree with your assertion that MOS was too inexperienced when he was hired as our HC.

Edited March 26, 20169 yr by iso_55

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

and man I'd hate to be the team that gave him the experience so he could become a legend in Toronto........like, sick to my stomach....

Why?

1 minute ago, iso_55 said:

Failed players? No disrespect intended but what you said is a stupid comment. All kinds of coaches with varied playing background coach. Not just failed players. Define the term, failed player?

Players who's careers were terminated by lack of skill or injury.  A lot of coaches did not play professional football but at one time that was their goal.  What word would you like to use other than failure?  Successless???

2 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

Players who's careers were terminated by lack of skill or injury.  A lot of coaches did not play professional football but at one time that was their goal.  What word would you like to use other than failure?  Successless???

Don't say it at all as it isn't true. I never thought a knee injury means you're a failure. A coach who played in the NCAA & not the NFL is a failure? I'd still call that a success.  If an employee doesn't become President or CEO of the company he/she works for but only middle management, it means their careers are failures?

Edited March 26, 20169 yr by iso_55

On the way he dresses: The reason he won't change is the issue... I wouldn't care if all he wore was a 'Budgie Smuggler' (Speedo) if he delivered wins.

On holding players accountable: I'm not in the dressing room or the meetings and I don't have a bug in O'Shea's office so I can't tell if he yells at them or shames them or anything else that folks might consider 'holding players accountable behind closed doors'. All I have to go on is there haven't been any consequences to bad play, just a bunch of public excuses. By consequences, I mean losing playing time or airlifting in players to compete for the spot or having the backup start or letting a young guy take a game to see if he can produce or demoting the player to a DI or off the game day roster or offered a PI spot instead of full salary or getting rid of them during the season. 

On not winning back to back games for a year and a half: I'll stop bringing it up when he starts winning back to back games.

On best HC since Richie: Based on what?

Great coaches, whether they played any game at a high level or not, are both students of their sport and individuals who know people and know how to maximize the talents of individuals. Don Mathew's mantra was , " put players in a position to succeed". 

Listening to O'shea on CJOB this morning,  it's hard not to like the guy, but liking him as a coach is a different beast.  I'm hoping for a great year, but if it's another lackluster one, i'm not opposed to moving on

Edited March 26, 20169 yr by Taynted_Fayth

I like O'Shea the guy.  I really hope this year works out and when I look at the roster I don't see any reason why this team can't be competitive.  So hopefully O'Shea and Lapo can make it work.  But I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

I like O'Shea the guy.  I really hope this year works out and when I look at the roster I don't see any reason why this team can't be competitive.  So hopefully O'Shea and Lapo can make it work.  But I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

I'm with you on this, except I always get my hopes up too high. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Cautiously optimistic version 11.7f

;)

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

I'm with you on this, except I always get my hopes up too high. Wouldn't have it any other way.

What's the use of holding back? You go into each season with renewed hope and high expectations and expect no less than a winning year. I'm not afraid of setbacks. I can face adversity. This is sports, this is excitement, a high-entertaining game blistered with disappointments. Winning is the ultimate reward, and it's great to be part of it. Soon, we will be part of it again. And I'll be wearing shorts when we do.

He's proven to be a good guy but yet to prove he's a good head coach.

Boy, there was a guy named Lancaster that I think won only a couple of games in his first two years with an underperforming Riders squad then went on to win cups with a couple of other teams that had a little more talent as well as being a very well respected color commentator in between. You guys are pretty tough on Mr Oshea. Although it's true he has not always made the greatest decisions on the field, he's rapidly improving and I have no trouble backing him. He says and does the right things for the long term health of this club. I believe in MOS and his coaching and really think as long as there are no great injury situations this will be a turn around year and we should be challenging for top spot all year.

pretty simple when you boil it down - keep Willy healthy and we make the playoffs.

If you have time to write the Bombers and complain what the coach is wearing on the sidelines, you have too much time on your hands.

I like O'Shea, though my concerns about his coaching ability continue to mount. Hopefully he puts it together this year. This is the best coaching staff and roster (at least from a pre-training camp view) we have assembled in his tenure. If he doesn't show improvement, the debate will be settled.

Also he needs to get a real phone.

I like Osh as well but I like winning & he has to start doing that.

While I understand that winning is the be all and end all, I don't think you can say "He's a good coach" or "He's a bad coach" simply based on W/L. There's more that determines coaching ability. 

If he can post a 10-8+ record this year i can forgive/forget the last 2 years. and get behind him as a coach for years to come.  It still kind of bothers me that he's completely removed from one aspect of the game (Offense) but cup half fulling it,  then i can say at least he didnt have much or anything to do with the crappy play calling last couple years

10 minutes ago, Noeller said:

While I understand that winning is the be all and end all, I don't think you can say "He's a good coach" or "He's a bad coach" simply based on W/L. There's more that determines coaching ability. 

What? 

37 minutes ago, Noeller said:

While I understand that winning is the be all and end all, I don't think you can say "He's a good coach" or "He's a bad coach" simply based on W/L. There's more that determines coaching ability. 

Of course you can say he's a bad coach when he loses twice as many games as he wins. What other criteria would you use for a bad coach?

11 hours ago, Captain Blue said:

If you have time to write the Bombers and complain what the coach is wearing on the sidelines, you have too much time on your hands.

 

If we are winning games, MOS can show up on the sidelines wearing a tropical mu-mu for all I care.

13 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

If we are winning games, MOS can show up on the sidelines wearing a tropical mu-mu for all I care.

I think I'd draw the line at mu mu lol

If Oshea is gonna win, he'll need all the help he can get, I'd suggest this

Does the fact that a team has a losing record automatically mean that the coach is a bad coach? Or can there be other factors? I think that when you have a losing record, it's easier to find fault in the team as a whole, including coaching, but it's not necessarily a bad coach coaching the team. It may just be a bad team.

Bad coach, bad team, bad scouting, bad management.....or any combination you like. This entire group has had their fair share of mulligans. It's time to produce or perish.