CIS Corner: Former CFL head coach Gary Etcheverry takes over Ottawa Gee-Gees at critical juncture

Talking with Gary Etcheverry makes it tougher to view the Ottawa Gee-Gees as a CIS program at a crossroads.

If football in the nation's capital during this off-season could be summed up in a word, it's upheaval. Ottawa has a conditional CFL franchise set to begin play in a couple years' time at a renovated Lansdowne Park. At the CIS level, the revived Carleton Ravens made a big splash by hiring head coach Steve Sumurah away from long-time power Saint Mary's and adding two coaches from the cross-town Gee-Gees. That created the vacancy that gave Etcheverry — sometimes polarizing but never dull when he oversaw defences which helped the Saskatchewan Roughriders to successive Grey Cup berths in 2009-10 — his long-awaited shot at coaching collegiately in Canada. It figures: a unique veteran of the coaching ranks dropped into a unique situation where the new kids seem to be getting more buzz than the established team.

"It'll be fun, it'll be great," Etcheverry said Thursday when asked about partaking in the Panda Game rivalry come 2013. "I know most of the coaches, they certainly know me. Some of the best players I coached in the CFL were on the last Carleton team. [Former CFL defensive lineman] Cameron Legault and [linebacker] Jason Kralt were on the Ravens' last team. They were two of my favourite players that I coached in the CFL so there's a bit of irony there.

"Stuff like that is more for the fans and media, which is great. It adds to the flavour of the rivalry."

"I think the sky's the limit for us," Etcheverry added. "We have great players, great attitude, very strong coaching staff thus far, we're going to add a few more. I'm excited."

The Gee-Gees have thrived since the nation's capital became a one-team town after the original Ravens folded in 1999. They won the Vanier Cup under Marcel Bellefeuille in 2000 and had a superb run from 2005-10, going at least 6-2 or either making the Yates Cup final each season. Current Calgary Stampeders backup QB Brad Sinopoli also won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2010 as CIS' top player.

Carleton's return and adoption of Laval's private funding model for football, with alumni such as well-known Ottawa developer John Ruddy ponying up for the program, have created a lot of curiosity about how fast the Ravens will rise when they begin OUA play in 2013. Meantime, the Gee-Gees not only lost coaches to the new guys, but their 5-3 finish and first-round playoff loss to Windsor was below their recent standard.

"It's easy to sit at home and do a lot of talking when you're not going to play for a year," Ottawa defensive coordinator Cory McDiarmid said of Carleton. "So they can say whatever they say. To me it's a non-factor. The people who have gone over there are friends of mine.

"To me it's good ribbing, in jest or what-not ... it's like me saying I'm going to win the 6/49 this weekend. Let's see if I do. They have strong support, they have good coaches, and they'll hire some more good coaches. It'll be great for Ottawa. But I don't want to beat Carleton any more than any other team. It just so happens Carleton is in the same city."

Ottawa is restructuring its athletic department in order to put greater resources toward football.

In the short run, with the ever-experimental Etcheverry in charge, observers will have to wait and see what kind of offence Ottawa runs. When Etcheverry was hired two weeks ago, the university's official release referred to installing a double-wing offence, which is usually associated with the rushing game and misdirection. The veteran coach is being coy about that, noting he might run more of a West Coast scheme tailored to three-down, 12-a-side football.

"That presumes we're going to do that," Etcheverry said when asked about the double wing. "There's a lot of misunderstanding and that's what we want to create, People say the defences I've been associated with are misunderstood. Aren't they supposed to be? We're supposed to be the only ones who understand it. It's no different offensively.

"The thing that's fascinating to me about the whole question of style is first off, I'm not going to tell you. Secondly, it's the difference between being interviewed on the record and interviewed privately. If you were to interview every quarterback in the CFL who went against our defence in 2009 and '10 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, publicly they'd low-key it. Privately, they'd tell you they were confused, got no idea about coverage. And the same would be the case with the offensive line."

Gillanders 'best back in the country'

Etcheverry will have the benefit of returning starters at quarterback and running back with Aaron Colbon and Brendan Gillanders, a slashing runner who shows soft hands when he has to catch the ball out of the backfield. Ottawa's young along the offensive line but Etcheverry believes there's enough depth at receiver to cover for the anticipated loss of all-star Bogdan Raic, who's expected to stick with Saskatchewan.

"Aaron, from what I've seen, he's plenty strong enough," Etcheverry said. "And I think he's going to potentially blossom in what we do and we need him to. The receiving depth is the most positive to me. It's really impressive. If they come in with an open mind, they're going to get excited about moving forward.

"Gillanders is arguably the best back in the country, I'd like to think so," the coach added. "If he doesn't have an outstanding year, we've failed."

Ottawa adapted well enough to losing Sinopoli to the CFL last season. Their defence, though, allowed 40 or more points four times. That's actually the side of the ball which might not change much, since McDiarmid is also a proponent of using agile, quick front sevens. Implementing that last season with a young defence just proved daunting.

"We played with, I believe, nine first-year starters on defence and 10 first-year starters on offence," said McDiarmid, who coached with Etcheverry with both B.C. and Toronto in the early aughties. "Looking at the previous teams that have been there, the record was a little bit lower but it was a very young team. Coming into this year, we expect to have a very good year. The majority of the team is returning."

In other words, the revamped Gee-Gees, with a new head coach and new home field, will be one of the more intriguing teams going into the OUA season. It's easy to say this in this first week of June, but the outlook might not be as grim as some have moaned about on message boards.

Lost out on incoming QB

One bit of bad news, though, is that the coaching change might have factored into highly touted Winnipeg quarterback Theo Deezar decommitting from Ottawa earlier this week. Deezar is headed to his hometown Manitoba Bisons instead. Without commenting on the player or the story directly, Etcheverry noted he finds it disappointing when a player changes course, especially if a CIS letter of intent was involved.

"If you come to a place, you give it a fair shot," he said. "If you don't like certain aspects of the sport you chose, then after a year, everyone's a big boy, you can walk in, have a conversation and say, 'I'd live to leave.' You're not putting yourself with a coach or formation. This is a 150-year-old institution. This is the nation's capital university. There's nothing in the document that says anything about coaches and systems and formations."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.