From Buono to Benevides: B.C. DC takes over as Lions’ coach

Tuesday's CFL news that B.C. Lions' defensive coordinator Mike Benevides had been promoted to head coach was hardly surprising, as he had been largely seen as the front-runner for the job before Wally Buono even formally announced he was leaving that role. The Lions finally made Benevides' promotion official at a news conference Tuesday, though, and that shifts the focus from if and when they'd hire him to how he'll do. There are plenty of indications in Benevides' favour, but CFL head coaching success is very difficult to predict. Some promising candidates with backgrounds similar to Benevides have done well, while others have been rather stunning failures. The question is which camp the Lions' new hire will fall into.

Benevides (seen above) carries a pretty impressive CFL resume. He's been in the league since 2000, working as the Calgary Stampeders' special teams coordinator for three years under Buono and then coming west with Buono to B.C. in 2003. He initially served as the Lions' special teams coordinator and took on the job of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2008. The Lions' defence put up incredible numbers during his tenure, including this season where they allowed a league-low 385 points (21.4 per game) and were critical to B.C.'s Grey Cup triumph. Benevides has also taken on more of a role in the club's identifying and drafting of Canadian talent over the last six years, and they've found some great players there, including Jason Arakgi, Shawn Gore, Ricky Foley, Dean Valli, Jason Pottinger and James Yurichuk.

Benevides is also stepping into a good situation. The Lions won the Grey Cup last year, were by far the most dominant CFL team over the second half of the season and should be returning the vast majority of their lineup. Buono's sticking around as general manager, but he's built a strong relationship with Benevides over the last decade-plus, so that seems much more likely to work than some situations where a new head coach came in to work with an established front office. The talent-evaluation capabilities of Buono, Roy Shivers, Neil McEvoy and the rest of the personnel department are right up there with the league's best, too, so Benevides should have a solid stock of players to work with.

Still, plenty of well-qualified defensive coordinators have gone on to fail as CFL head coaches. Consider Rich Stubler in Toronto in 2008 or Greg Marshall in Saskatchewan in 2011, both well-respected assistants with tons of experience who didn't even make it through their first season as a head coach. Of course, there were complicating factors in each situation, but the point remains that experience and success at the coordinator level alone doesn't necessarily make for a great head coach. Meanwhile, some of the most impressive young head coaches currently in the CFL, including Winnipeg's Paul LaPolice and Edmonton's Kavis Reed, only had minimal experience as coordinators. All indications are that Benevides will be a solid head coach and carry on B.C.'s success, but there's always the element of uncertainty. It will be interesting to see how he does.