The Dave Dickenson of an earlier vintage, the quarterbacking vintage, was bunkered down in the McMahon Stadium film room those many moons ago, preparing for the money end of back-to-backs against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Pouring over tape, searching out subtleties, tendencies, trying to detect cracks, play Nostradamus and predict what future trickery the Big Blue defence might concoct.
“I’m all wound up,’’ the Dave Dickenson of a current vintage, the coaching vintage, is recalling Monday. “I’ve watched so much film my eyes are hurting.
“Well, Wally walks in and says: ‘What are you doing?’
“And I’m like: ‘We had success against ’em last time. So I just can’t believe they’re going to play us the same way. I’m trying to guess what they’re gonna do different.’
“He gives me that little Wally smile, y’know, that small shake of the head, and says: ‘Dave, you’ll figure it out by the end of the first quarter. Just go get yourself ready to play.’
“I kinda liked that.
“He was saying, in that fatherly way: ‘Hey, it’s just football. Don’t try to make it harder than it is.
“‘You’ll be fine.’ ”
Sunday, mentor and protege collide. The 66-year-old legend vs. 43-year-old freshman head coach. The former star quarterback and his most influential boss.
There are, naturally, no shortage of compelling head-to-heads to dissect ad nauseam as this West finale approaches: Leos’ MLB Solomon Elimimian, the immovable force, vs. Stamps’ RB Jerome Messam, the unstoppable force of nature; odds-on-favourite MOP quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell trading completion/yards stats with future MOP candidate Jonathan Jennings; Calgary’s superlative defensive backfield vs. Manny, Bryan Burnham and that high-end fleet of B.C. receivers; X-Factor Lion returner Chris Rainey vs. the Stamps’ punt and kickoff coverage teams.
But the 1-on-1 that still carries the most resonance is be found along the sidelines:
Wally Buono in search of a sixth Grey Cup title as a head coach, Dave Dickenson a first.
Two hundred and fifty-one regular-season W’s may separate them now but none of that matters starting 2:30 p.m. at McMahon Stadium.
“I’m kinda over it now,’’ says Dickenson, 2-1 against the ol’ maestro in his first year as a man in charge. “It’s just another guy on the other sideline.
“Wally, to me, he just runs a tight ship. A lot of the strategy, game-planning and stuff is done by his assistant coaches. I’m sure he has input. It’s not that different from what I do. I’ve got a little bit more input on the offence, he’s got a bit more on the defence.
“What I took from Wally is this: He lays out his expectations, what you’re giving players and what he expects back. You have to be clear in your language. I always felt he was very clear in how he wanted to work a team.
“The other thing I like about him is that I think is he’s an honest guy. Some people might say too honest but that’s a breath of fresh air, in my opinion.
“He doesn’t really worry about perception, how things look. He’s going to be himself.
“And you know, I’m not even that close to him personality-wise. But by seeing him be himself and the success he had being that way, it’s helped me be myself.”
Out on the west coast, from the Lions’ Surrey training facility, a day after a heart-palpitating 33-32 West semi-final victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Potenza Kid is only too happy to talk up his coaching opposite this coming Sunday. He isn’t surprised the bookish Dickenson was taking crib notes all those years.
“I said last week that I thought Dave was coach of the year,’’ says Buono. “No disrespect to Rick Campbell. People don’t understand how hard it is to get your team to win 15 games, tie one and lose two. It’s no small feat.
“The only people that don’t understand that are people who haven’t done it.
“Which is all of you.”
“The competitor within you doesn’t ever leave, even if you leave the job. That’s just a part of you. It lasts a lifetime.”
– Wally Buono, BC Lions VP Football Operations, GM & Head Coach
The Stamps, as everyone knows, will be trying to shake off three weeks of rust Sunday, B.C. trying to heal up in the wake of the Winnipeg slugfest.
Buono reckons negligible advantage, either way.
“If you go back and study history, there’s no science to it. But that day if you play well, you move on. It’s not like there’s a 92-per cent probability the bye team wins or 92-per cent that the team with the momentum of playing, and having won, wins.
“Calgary was the class of the league all year. So when you look at their level of consistency, that’s not going to change.”
Nor does Buono believe his extensive experience is a distinctive advantage.
“I’m a realist, right? When people introduce me they say: He’s the winningest coach in history. And I remind them: If I’m not mistaken, I’m also the losingest coach in history, too.
“That’s just the price of longevity.”
Last Sunday, as Winnipeg kicker Justin Medlock’s 61-yard field goal attempt, launched from Port Coquitlam (or so it seemed), came up a few yards short of the goal posts at BC Place to seal the deal, 66-year-old Wally Buono’s arms shot up in the air in triumph (and relief).
As if he’d just won his first-ever playoff game, not his 23rd.
A kid again.
“I mean, you’d have had to be dead not to be excited at a moment like that,’’ he chides.
“The competitor within you doesn’t ever leave, even if you leave the job. That’s just a part of you. It lasts a lifetime.”
“Doesn’t surprise me at all,’’ chimes in Dickenson. “He loves the game. He’s been at it a long time. The game’s been good to him, he’ll tell you that.
“I know he’s given me recognition in the media and I have to give it back.
“I think he’s done a great job.”
They both have. Only one goes to bed happy Sunday night, though.
And there’s something Dave Dickenson, with Wally Buono-esque wisdom, is quick to remind one and all.
“The players are the ones out on the field making plays.
“As coaches, we can help them, yeah, try and put them in positions to be successful. But it’s their game.
“It’s not Him vs. Me. Not Wally vs. Dave.
“It’s the Calgary Stampeders vs. the BC Lions.
“Hopefully, there’s a great crowd. Hopefully, the weather’s good.
“So on Sunday, we just line up, two good football teams, and see who’s better.”