Danny Maciocia tells the story as if he were reading a book. The scene takes place the day after the Alouettes’ victory in the Gray Cup game. On the way back from Mirabel Airport, Maciocia asks his coach Jason Maas bluntly: “What do we do now?” With this question, the Alouettes general manager is already thinking about the year 2024.
There’s the old sports saying that staying at the top is harder than getting there, and Maciocia has never won two championships in a row.
Additionally, the Edmonton Eskimos, whom he led to the Gray Cup in 2005, missed the playoffs the following year.
It was a difficult time for the Montrealer.
“The Eskimos organization has been affected by several changes this year,” says Maciocia, continuing to read about the events.
“It hit the core of the players and the upper management. Hugh Campbell [membre du Panthéon du football canadien dans la catégorie des joueurs] fell ill and his office as president was replaced by someone who had a different vision and ran things differently.”
“These changes have had negative impacts at every level. When it comes to football operations, we made bad decisions and paid the price.
Nightmare he doesn’t want to experience again
The Eskimos finished fourth in the East Division with a record of seven wins and 11 losses after going 11-7 last season.
The famous Ricky Ray was the team’s designated quarterback and his replacement was a man named Jason Maas.
“That’s why I asked Jason that question,” Maciocia continues, returning to the story’s starting point.
“I lived [en 2005] a feeling I never want to experience again. That’s why I told Jason that we need to push each other and that this is the challenge we have to face from now on.
The pursuit of success is the greatest thing in sport.
When victory is no longer there, the coach is the first to suffer. If things continue like this, the managing director will ultimately fall through the cracks. That’s what happened to Maciocia in Edmonton.
Danny Maciocia hit the nail on the head when he hired Jason Maas. Archive photo, Pierre-Paul Poulin
Humility exercise
Suddenly unemployed in 2010, he took a step back when he returned to Montreal.
Tony Iadeluca, who ran the Phénix at André Grasset College, asked for his help to enable the institution to win a first Bol d’Or in its 52-year history.
Said and done.
“This experience was good for me,” says Maciocia.
“I didn’t want to stay at home. For me it was therapy.”
And perhaps an exercise in humility?
“I would say yes,” Maciocia replies.
“I have always believed that we learn the most through adversity. The examples are numerous. I’m thinking in particular of Alain Vigneault, who returned to the junior ranks after leading the Canadian.
“Rarely [sont] Coaches who agree to take a step back. I have worked hard in the nine years I have worked for the Carabins. I was waiting for an opportunity to present myself to the Alouettes, but never imagined I would have to wait 19 years to return to the organization.
Ready for anything for Maas
Maciocia announces that signing Jason Maas was his best move of the season. When I hear that, I think of Guy Carbonneau.
Uh? you’re probably saying to yourself.
Remember when Bob Gainey said the same thing about Carbo when he was general manager of the Canadiens. Two months later, Gainey left the seventh floor of the Bell Center to replace Carbonneau behind the bench.
Call it a journalistic reflex.
All this to say that the present is no guarantee of the future. But when Maciocia talks about the experiences he had with Maas with the Edmonton Eskimos, we tell ourselves that their relationship is built on solid foundations.
Maas is the only candidate from outside the organization that Maciocia interviewed for the head coaching position. Three of the four other candidates Maciocia met remained with the organization, namely Anthony Calvillo, Byron Archambault and Noel Thorpe.
The other member of the quartet, André Bolduc, left the team to join the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Maciocia spoke to three people about Maas: Ricky Ray, with whom the Alouettes’ head coach played with the Eskimos; Henry Burris, whom Mass managed as offensive coordinator with the Ottawa Redblacks; and Mike Riley, winner of two Gray Cups as head coach of the Blue Bombers in 1988 and 1990 and who served as Maas’ head coach at the University of Oregon.
“All three of them told me that if I hired Jason, I might not win a popularity contest,” Maciocia said.
“But they added that they would not hesitate to do it if given the opportunity. They assured me that Jason would deliver the goods. I was willing to play my position on this.”
Maciocia won his bet.