Stepping out of the shadows

Maybe it's because he wears a hoodie that there is an incredible resemblance - fashion-wise, anyway - between Mike Benevides and Bill Belichick.

Benevides was named the successor to Wally Buono as head coach of the B.C. Lions on Tuesday, revealing something everyone already knew, but more so because of logic than a leak.

It was actually the least-kept secret since the one about the Toronto Argonauts hiring Montreal offensive co-ordinator Scott Milanovich as their new head coach. But the difference was Benevides was hired from within the Lions coaching staff, as opposed to being lured from another team, and you could see this one coming like Geroy Simon posing as Superman after scoring a touchdown.

Benevides has been with Buono so long, you'd swear they are father and son.

Heck, Benevides is known as Little Wally.

They first worked together in Calgary from 2000 through to the end of 2002 when Buono was head coach and general manager of the Stamps. Buono moved to B.C. as the Lions' GM/head coach in 2003 and Benevides joined him.

Benevides moved up the ranks of Buono's assistants, finally becoming co-ordinator of the defence, but you knew Buono, a former linebacker, had to have had some significant influence on the formations and schemes.

Buono decided to retire as head coach at the end of the 2011 season because the grind of it all had become too much for the 61-year-old. Coaching is a young man's game, so Benevides, a 45-year-old native of Toronto, takes over while Buono, unofficially known in the Canadian Football League as the Godfather, restricts his duties to managing the Lions football operations. He ended his coaching career with a Grey Cup victory in B.C., a script written so perfect you'd swear it was pre-ordained by an organization of the coaching fraternity in the heavens.

While he never said anything as legendary as Vince Lombardi's "winning is the only thing," Buono let it be known that regardless of what a coach has done, anything short of ending a season with a victory would be considered a failure. It was what you would call a Wallyism truism, but he won more games than any other coach in the CFL. Yes, he said "that's my opinion" so often at the end of a sentence it became commonplace, but you couldn't argue with his success.

This coaching transition in Lions land is fairly seamless, but Benevides is taking over for a legend and that's not easy. Just ask Belichick, who was linked together with The Big Tuna, Bill Parcells, for the longest time, and whose relationship has some similarities to Benevides and Buono in terms of their close personal and working relationship. Benevides, like Belichick, earned his stripes as a special teams coach, linebackers coach and later defensive co-ordinator. Benevides won two Grey Cups as part of Buono's staff.

Belichick won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants co-ordinating the defence for Parcells, who coached the team. They almost won another with the New England Patriots. Belichick eventually came back to New England as a head coach and has gone on to win three of four Super Bowls.

He is a legend of his own - no longer in the shadow of Parcells - and is known for famously wearing his hoodie. Mind you, it gets cold in New England in the winter, particularly when you constantly play home playoff games because your team is that good.

Benevides' biggest task, just as it was for Belichick, is proving he can be a successful head coach instead of just a good co-ordinator. The list of quality co-ordinators who bombed as a head coach is a mile long. Included in that list is Belichick, who had a record of 36-44 with Cleveland from 1991-95 in his first go-around as a head coach.

The success he had with Parcells was measured against the failure he had on his own.

Similar to many head coaches who fail the first time, Belichick improved in his second time as a head coach. The lessons learned the first time in terms of macro managing a team as opposed to micro managing a particular segment of it are huge. Belichick learned well.

So now Benevides, who rejected an offer to become head coach of the Toronto Argonauts in 2009 presumably because staying with B.C. offered more stability and a likely promotion to succeed Buono, finally becomes his own man. There really isn't a lot known about him, because he wasn't what you would call an emotional assistant. And if the truth be known, there was actually more of a spotlight on offensive co-ordinator, Jacques Chapdelaine, when the team didn't succeed and went through quarterbacks like socks.

Really, the only distinguishing thing about Benevides may have been his ubiquitous hoodie. He was either wearing a sweat shirt - even indoors at B.C. Place Stadium - or one with a hoodie in inclement weather. Mind you, he didn't displace the same unhappy scowl as Belichick, but one guy had more on his mind than just the defence.

We'll now get to see and know Benevides, presumably still with the hoodie, happy, sad or mad depending on the game and the situation.

He is reminiscent in clothing to Bill Belichick. Now we'll see if he can coach like him.

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.