WFP: Happy anniversary, coach

The 2015 CIS football season will mark Brian Dobie’s 20th as head coach of the University of Manitoba Bisons football team. Melissa Martin from the Winnipeg Free Press reports on how the U of M was the only place Dobie ever wanted to be.

Well, happy anniversary, coach. The 2015 campaign, which kicks off in Saskatoon Sept. 4, marks Dobie’s 20th at the helm. It’s a milestone he’s quietly eyed for years, though he wasn’t always certain he’d make it this far. Not that he ever intended to leave: this gig, he says, is the only one he ever really wanted.

No, seriously. Though he’d sure enjoy a CFL pay grade, he quipped, trying to move up the ladder was not for him. He never even tried. (Truthfully, even setting the actual football part aside, the easygoing and irrepressibly open coach would chafe under the more stage-managed spotlight of the pro game.)

“I love this program,” he said. “This was a life goal for me. I never wanted to coach in the CFL, I never wanted to coach in the CIS. I wanted to coach the University of Manitoba Bisons. And this, hopefully, is where I’ll either retire from… or get fired from, one of the two.”

Full story available at www.winnipegfreepress.com.