While I have very little interest in the CFL if it does not include a team from Ottawa, I can admit to having the proverbial “soft spot” for Hamilton of late. Not only because they had a run of craptitude that looked as though it may rival Ottawa’s for a while there, causing some natural empathy, but because of how many connections to this area they currently have in their organization.
Head Coach Marcel Bellefeuille is a local who worked his way up the ladder with the Sooners, Gee-Gees and a couple of high school programs. Other members of the organization which have played and/or coached with the Rough Riders and/or Renegades include General Manager Bob O’Billovich, coaches Greg Marshall, Dave Easley and John Kropke, and Richard Wade on the operations staff.
Attempting to update the Ottawa Amateurs page a few weeks back, I noticed a similar situation with the University of Toronto. The 2009 coaching staff included several Capital Region connections, either in the form of players originally from here, or former Renegades players. Receivers Coach Cory Kennedy (actually a Metcalf native) and Defensive Assistant Jeff Laforge fit the first category, while Samir Chahine, Donnavan Carter and Clinton Wayne fit the latter.
This led to the creation of a page specific to local coaches. I’ve kicked it off with the two most obvious choices; Bellefeuille and Jim Daley.
To be honest, I have yet to set a specific criteria for selection to that page. However those two gentlemen have such wide-ranging resumes that it seemed like a site dedicated to football in the Ottawa area would be incomplete if it did not include a list of their accomplishments.