Brian Dobie stepped in front of a big University of Manitoba Bisons backdrop, his face beaming and his voice crackling with excitement.
That much isn’t new – as the front man of the Bisons football program for over two decades, Dobie is seemingly in a perpetual state of excitement, whether it be before a huge game, spring practice or the simple fact that the sun came up in the morning.
But the tone to this press conference felt a bit different.
And the look of it was different, too.
“It’s not every day I wear a tie to a press conference,” began Dobie with a chuckle.
“It’s a really big day. I rarely wear a tie. But it’s the combination of announcing two coordinators and the signing of one of the best football players in this nation.”
Dobie announced a couple of changes to his coaching crew – the longest serving staff in the country – with Blair Atkinson and Ryan Karhut coming aboard as, respectively, the new offensive coordinator and special-teams coordinator.
And he was positively gushing about the team’s latest recruit, defensive tackle Cole Adamson of the Oak Park Raiders, who capped his senior season by being named the Winnipeg High School Football League’s Defensive Player of the Year (Potter Division) and the winner of the Kas Vidruk Memorial Award as lineman of the year.
Adamson, a 6-5, 265 beast, had whittled his long list of potential destinations down to Manitoba and the University of British Columbia before settling on the Bisons.
“He was recruited by everybody,” said Dobie. “We all talk about recruiting battles across the country. It’s the biggest part of our job, it’s the most important part of our job. The battles were left behind… it literally turned into a recruiting war.
“Guys like Cole Adamson do not grow on trees. He’s a 6-foot-5 265-pound defensive tackle who is athletic… he plays on the No. 1 basketball team, Oak Park High School, and is a major player on that team. I went out and watched him play basketball and I couldn’t believe how this kid moved up and down the court and how athletic he is.
“He’s a 90 average (student)… there’s nothing missing. He’s going to be a great player. I believe he’s going to become one of the faces of our program and I believe he will become an Academic All-Canadian and a football All-Canadian. No pressure on Cole… high hopes. But I tell you what, all the signs are there. He’s that big a recruit.”
Adamson recorded 54 tackles, nine sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick on defence for the Raiders while averaging 37 yards per punt and plans on studying engineering at Manitoba.
Alumni and coaches from both the Bisons and Thunderbirds had been relentless in their pursuit of Adamson, who received calls from Manitoba types like Bombers President and CEO Wade Miller, big-time Bison supporter David Asper, and future teammates in an attempt to influence his decision.
“We pulled out all the stops on this, we really did,” said Dobie. “He was that important to us.”
All of those things were factors but, ultimately, nothing weighed more in the decision than playing in his own backyard.
“Manitoba is my home,” began Adamson. “I’ve been playing football here my whole life and I thought why not have this support system, all my family and friends, behind me and continue my career here.
“(The recruiting process) happens once in your lifetime and not everyone experiences it. It was something new to me… first it was e-mails from coaches and then phone calls and texts and going on visits. It was a great experience to go across Canada and see different universities.”
The changes to Dobie’s staff, meanwhile, are significant. Long-time offensive coordinator Vaughn Mitchell has stepped down to spend more time with his family, while Bobby Reist left to become the new head coach of the Valley Huskers (Chilliwack) of the B.C. Junior Football Conference.
Atkinson steps in to replace Mitchell in a natural progression. A former Bisons player, he was the receivers coach on the school’s Vanier Cup championship team in 2007 and has been a popular and influential coach in the days since.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot from Vaughn, but I feel like I’m ready for the job now,” Atkinson said. “The playbook won’t change a ton. There will be a few tweaks here and there… we’ll rip a few pages out, add a few pages and hope to control the ball a little more. But Vaughn and the offence have had a ton of success here.
“We’re lucky this year. We’ve got a lot of guys coming back… our starting quarterback (Theo Deezar) is back, we’re hoping to have (offensive lineman) Geoff Gray back; he might be in the NFL, might not be. Every single one of our starters in our receiving corps are back.”
“We’re looking good.”
Karhut, meanwhile, was an offensive lineman and captain on that ’07 championship team, and comes back to Manitoba – he previously was a coach with Kelvin High School and head coach of the Winnipeg Rifles – after spending two years at York University.
He proudly displayed a Bison tattoo on his calf, by the way, during Thursday’s press gathering.
“The timing was right,” said Karhut. “Stuff in life was trying to pull me back here and the opportunity was open here at the same time. It was one of those things were the timing fit and everything was matching up perfectly.
“I have a Bison tattoo… it was a great experience. I lost four games in three years here, won a Vanier Cup and was a captain of that team. It was always been a thing of mine when I got into coaching was to one day come back to be a part of the Bisons staff.”
