Players are excited about having Rick Campbell as their new head coach (Image Credit: B.C. Lions)

By Chad Klassen

LIONS NEW HEAD COACH

B.C. Lions believe veteran head coach Rick Campbell can lead quick turnaround

Feb 12, 2020 | 3:38 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Lions are hoping to wipe the slate clean in 2020 after a disastrous 5-13 season a year ago. The team fired one-and-done head coach DeVone Claybrooks and hired veteran Rick Campbell in the hopes of returning to the postseason.

“Once you check his track record, taking Ottawa to three Grey Cups in four years, that speaks for itself,” said Lions defensive tackle Claudell Louis, speaking at the Kamloops School of the Arts on Wednesday. “Having him in the building and the type of experience he’s bringing to the Lions this year.”

Linebacker Jordan Herdman-Reed is “very excited to have Rick Campbell as our head coach. He’s had a lot of success in Ottawa, so I hear nothing but good things.” The three Grey Cup appearances by the RedBlacks in four seasons resulted in one championship in 2016, capping off arguably the greatest upset in Grey Cup history against the 15-2-1 Calgary Stampeders.

Louis and Herdman-Reed were in Kamloops Wednesday (Feb. 12), speaking to students at the Kamloops School of the Arts.

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Campbell, the son of CFL legend Hugh Campbell, brings decades of experience as a football coach. It’s something Claybrooks lacked as a rookie head coach in his only season.

“It was a big learning curve for everybody with the playbook and everything else that was going on,” noted Louis. “We were playing catch-up, especially in the CFL with the high turnover rate of the roster. It was unfortunate he was let go.”

Herdman-Reed said, “Maybe it was the fact it was a new coaching staff, new team. We did have a lot of great players, but we just needed that time to play together long enough, so we could start building that comaraderie, that relationship.”

The Lions had a talented roster on paper but couldn’t put it together. They started 1-10, only defeating the lowly Argos by a point on a missed field goal. Four of those losses were by five points or less. Campbell said at his introductory press conference in December he’s coming into a good situation, despite last year’s results.

“There’s some damn good football players here,” he said at the Lions’ training facility in December when he was first hired. “I got to see them up close twice last year. I’m not going to name all the names, but Mike Reilly and the crew, there’s some really good guys here. The CFL’s a league where you make one or two tweaks to things, or you add a player or two or a coach or two, and all of a sudden you find a way to win those close games and all of a sudden things can go in the right direction.”

The Lions won four in a row, albeit against East Division opponents, following the 1-10 start. They kept the final three losses close.

“If people watched the games in the back end of last year, we started coming together as a group,” said Louis. “We had players coming in from different teams and trying to put all the pieces together, it will take time with learning the playbook. But this year, we have Mike Reilly, a lot of our core guys here with a new system coming in. Once you have Mike Reilly and his leadership and the player of that calibre on your team, it just gives you a chance to compete every year.”