Rich Stubler's latest run with the Edmonton Eskimos lasted only a year. He's agreed to return for a third stint with the Lions, this time again as defensive coordinator
The decision by Barron Miles to coach a set of defensive backs instead of safeties has a financial component to the Lions like anything else, as Mike Benevides is discovering.
The loss of a future Canadian Football Hall of Fame safety has resulted in the addition of Rich Stubler, who’d be in anyone’s hall of fame once they got to know him.
Benevides had been burrowing his way through the endless amount of work associated with forming his first coaching staff when word came Thursday that Stubler was not returning to the Edmonton Eskimos.
That came as a bit of a surprise to those who had were led to believe before Christmas that Stubler had verbally agreed to remain with Kavis Reed. Not to Benevides, who spoken to Stubler for a time before Christmas when he had torn up a bicep muscle after he had gone bowling of all things.
The talk at the time was about how a first-year head coach with a defensive background might go about dividing his time and expertise, something Stubler learned during his short stay running the Toronto Argonauts
First-year head coaches don’t generally run to the general manager seeking an addition to staff the first month on the job though. But coincidental or not, the departure by Miles to coach a group of defensive backs with the Saskatchewan Roughriders rather than safeties with the Lions quickly reached the point where an agreement in principle had been reached as a result of another talk between Benevides and Stubler Wednesday night.
The premise being kicked around at the start of the week with the Lions, knowing that Miles was leaving, was potential good news for Kelly Bates and Randy Melvin, who are expected to be part of a coaching staff to be announced by the new in charge in about a week.
Bates, who worked with Dan Dorazio last year, could find himself coaching running backs, giving more time for Chuck McMann to work solely on special teams, plus work on Canadian scouting. Melvin, you’ll remember, was credited as a big reason behind the Lions’ second-half surge.
That plan remains as an option. But for a few moments Thursday the Lions had to stop for a moment and celebrate their good fortune in being able to bring back a proven commodity and weaken a divisional opponent at the same time.
Benevides, who had already shown when he hired Stubler in 2010 that he has no problem bringing in top-shelf help even if it represents a threatening presence to outsiders, had just placed a sizable exclamation mark after writing his first full sentence in his new job.
