With the CFL season currently on hold, Buck Pierce is going to have to wait a little longer to install his new offence after recently being promoted to the offensive co-ordinator position with the Grey Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
In the span of just seven seasons, Pierce went from quarterback, to running backs coach, to QB coach, to his new job as the Bombers’ OC.
“I’m extremely honoured and feel very privileged to have this opportunity,” Pierce said during a Q&A on Instagram Live on Friday.
“I’ve been a part of this organization now for over a decade as a player and as an assistant. I retired in 2013 and been a part of the staff for six years and watched what we built over time, and to have the opportunity in this organization is something that’s very, very special to me.
“It’s always kinda been my aspiration to get into the coaching game when I was done playing.”
With both training camps and the regular season officially postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pierce is looking forward to having players back in the building, whenever that might be.
“Having the opportunity to sit down with them, and coach, and install,” Pierce said. “Just having that feeling of the guys back in the building and getting back to teaching.”
But that doesn’t mean Pierce hasn’t been in regular communication with his quarterbacks via Zoom video chats.
“About three weeks or a month now we’ve been meeting five days a week with the quarterbacks,” Pierce said. “I meet with the receivers coach in the morning on most days, and then have the ability to hold meetings with the quarterbacks. Amidst all this, and the new times, we’ve really been able to spend our time really wisely, getting a feel for each guy.”
Pierce took over the job from Paul LaPolice, under whom Pierce studied as both a player and a coach. And their offensive ideologies are very similar.
“Our philosophies align in a lot of ways of how we see the game,” he said of LaPolice, who was named head coach of the Ottawa Redblacks in December 2019.
“When I first came into Winnipeg in 2010, being able to sit down in a room with him and have him listen to my thoughts and my ideas and form that bond and that relationship from quarterback to head coach was very eye-opening for me. I learned a lot from the guy. I wish him best of luck in Ottawa, except when they play us.”
But the similarity in their philosophies doesn’t mean Pierce won’t be throwing his own wrinkles into the Bombers’ playbook.
“We are going to look different, but we’re also going to do things that we do well,” Pierce said. “I truly believe your offence is based on the guys you have in the room. We’re going to be a physical offence. We are going to be an explosive offence. And to have the ability to do both of those things, you have to continue to build consistency.
“The CFL and within the rules of the CFL allow you to be creative. So you got to be able to be creative, and that will continue to reward you.”
While he’s staying home and practising physical distancing, Pierce has been using all his extra free time on football and family with a five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son at home.
“The work never stops for us as coaches,” Pierce said. “We meet as a staff. We meet on playbook things, certain scheme things that we’re talking about. But outside of football, it’s been a lot of family time, which has been great.
“Being able to reconnect with your family, especially at a young age, has been good for us.”
Pierce said when pandemic-related restrictions are finally over, the first place he’s going is back to the offices at IG Field.
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