When you meet Howie Zaron, it becomes pretty clear he isnβt afraid to say what he thinks, or what he knows. You wonβt find anyone who is more in tune with the goings on in the British Columbia Football Conference; knowledge gained both from his six years involved with the league with the Chilliwack Huskers and the Okanagan Sun as well as prior while he was the head coach of the North Surrey Bears midget team and funneled many of his players to the conference.
Zaron feels he knows enough about the conference, and the Canadian Junior Football League to give him the insight as to the type of athletes a team needs to compete for and win a national championship. Zaron had wanted to attend the clubβs press conference Feb 16th to explain his philosophy on building a championship team, but skipped the event at the request of Sun President Bill Long.
βI think Bill was looking out for me (laughs) because the media there might have been gunning for me a bit, but make no mistake I wanted to be there. The Sun is a big deal there, itβs awesome there is so much interest in the team.β
One thing he has always said is that the Okanagan Sun has zero excuses for not winning BCFC championships, with the next goal being a national title every season. After hosting 13 consecutive BCFC championship games from 1993 through 2005 (winning from 94-2002 and 2004), the Sun hosted the final again last season, falling short 16-14 to the VI Raiders. While many felt that was a huge step forward, the outspoken Zaron said it simply was not good enough.
βI said to Bill Long the other day, if we donβt win now I am going to be the biggest ___(fill in expletive) in Kelowna and he will be a close second. But itβs true, you look at the facilities and the fan support here, there isnβt another team in this conference that is even close. This team used to have the goal of winning a national championship every year, a BC championship was a given. We are going to get back to that.
βWhen we were getting set to host the BC championship last year everyone in the league was looking forward to coming to the Apple Bowl for the game again, itβs the way it should be. I think even the Raiders coaches wanted to play it here.β
While he was promoted to Sun general manager in October to oversee on field operations, he followed by a season Pete McCall as head coach. Now, as Zaron interviews potential coaching candidates to make his recommendation to the board of directors, he is putting his stamp on the team.
βMy role is still the same, I am general manager and Iβm in charge of football operations. All Iβve done since Iβve been general manager is be in charge of football operations and Iβm continuing to do that. Every decision I make for this football club is for the best interests of this football club. I have one goal in mind and thatβs a championship, and thatβs what we are going to do. We are going to hire a coach who I feel will lead us to a championship, and I will keep my promise, that we are going to win a championship. That was my guarantee (at press conference when Zaron was hired in October) and that is what we are going to do. Make no mistake; this will be Howie Zaronβs coachβ
Current members of the Sun staff, as well at least five outsiders have applied for the job and Zaron says Sun followers wonβt have to wait long for an announcement.
βI would say we will have a head coach in place no later than the end of March, but more likely by the middle of the month.β
Zaron is sensitive to the relationship many on the current roster had with their head coach, and while he is talking with some of the leaders on the team will make it clear on the clubβs decision moving forward.
βI think players should have input on what they want, but letβs be honest…if we were worried about what players thought, we wouldnβt have made the decision we did. The players liked their coach, we have no doubt of that, but we are looking for the best coach we can find. Players will never persuade me to hire a coach if I donβt feel that guy is the very best person we can get, but I will listen to their input. Their opinions could play a small role in who we hire, but at the end of the day, it will be the right guy and they will know it pretty quick. They will like the decision at the end of the season.
βI am going to be talking to some of the leaders on the team, guys like Alex (Law). Me and Alex have some history because I watched him play when he was 16 years old in Mission before he came up to Kelowna to play, so we know each other. Guys like Daylon (Pommier), Bobby (Davis)…guys on both side of the ball so I get a feel where everyoneβs head is at, just to make sure we are all on the same page.
βI havenβt had a chance to talk to Bobby, he has been away on holidays (Mexico vacation) but I will be. But I have talked with a lot of the guys, and to be honest every conversation I have had has been positive and everyone is moving forward it looks like.β
With a roster of over 60 players eligible to return, how does the general manger feel about the clubβs chances of recapturing the BC championship that has eluded it since 2004?
βIf we went into the season with just the returning roster we would be close, but we wouldnβt get there (BC championship). We arenβt good enough. What people have to understand is just because a team gets a year older doesnβt mean itβs better. If you look at last year, we had way more returning players than the Raiders did from 2009. But they went out and got new guys to beat us. I think we had the better team, but at the end of the day they went out and got the guys to beat us on the scoreboard in the BC final. Thatβs it. They have most of their team back, but I guarantee they arenβt sitting still, they are out looking for guys to beat us again, or try to anyway.
βWe have 60 returning players, we have another 80 or so coming to camp and the top 75 are going to make the team. We canβt afford to have 75 guys from out of the area; itβs too much to handle with housing and jobs. But with that said, Kelowna isnβt a large enough city that we can build a team strictly on Kelowna or valley players. There are 4 teams in Kelowna, and I think 3 between Vernon and Salmon Arm. Thatβs 7 schools, thatβs not enough when you are competing against teams on the prairies that have 25-30 schools or more each to pull players from. Itβs just common sense, the numbers donβt add up in terms of getting the quality athletes we need to go from competing to winning championships.β
βWe have a lot of very talented players in this area. You look at some of the guys returning, Doege (Steven), Davis (Bobby), Pommier (Daylon), Robson (Tyler),Kraft (Derek), Bokitch (Armand)…I could go on to about 15 to 20 guys who are absolutely as good as we are going to find anywhere. There is a lot of talent in the Kelowna area, but there isnβt enough talent in the interior to win a national championship. There is not enough talent in BC (with the number of junior teams competing for BC players) to win a championship. Itβs as simple as that.β
With Jason Casey overseeing the clubβs Sunday training sessions at Capital News Centre, Zaron, along with assistance from defensive coordinator Casey and offensive coordinator Tony Lindsay continues to recruit in advance of the clubβs May 13-15th spring camp.
βI have called a few (players), a few have called me. But the topic (head coach) doesnβt really come up. Itβs business as usual, their contact has been with me up to this point for the most part anyway. Tony and Jason have been helping with recruiting all along so things have been smooth there, they have done a great job.β
Although his first and foremost concern is the Okanagan Sun, Zaron did want to clear up one misconception with the 2011 season fast approaching, that being the ending of his relationship with the Chilliwack Huskers 4 games into the 2009 season.
βI was there four years and nature ran its course, everybody knew that at the end of the β09 season Iβd be gone. Jim Sache called me (Huskers President), and said we know you arenβt coming back Howie so Iβd like to get Lukeβs (offensive line coach Luke Acheson)feet wet with a few games under his belt as head coach this year, that was it.
βThere were some issues with me and the board there as far as decisions that I wanted to make. I wanted to move our practices closer to the bridge, closer to Abbotsford or preferably Langley so we could get more guys out (to practice). We were running on a 35-40 guys roster and were having a tough time keeping everyone healthy. I felt that moving practices closer to where some guys live would help us recruit them out to play for us. They didnβt agree so shot the idea down. That was pretty much the writing on the wall for me that I wouldnβt be coming back the next season.
I thought for the most part I did I pretty good job, we made the play-offs my third year. I thought we did a hell of a job, I just thought that after 2009 it was going to be time to move on. When Jim asked me to step aside, he asked if resigning was a better thing than firing me so he didnβt have to deal with the media after a firing. I said whatever he needed me to do I would.
βThere are no hard feelings between us, in fact I still keep in touch and have helped Luke out getting some players there.β
Back to the current Okanagan Sun season and Zaron continues his bold statements, this one some advice for Sun fans;
βBuy your tickets now for the Intergold.β
The Intergold national semi-final against the Prairie Football Conference champions will be hosted by the BCFC champs this fall.
By Blake Roberts
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
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