THE CANADIAN PRESS
MISSISSAUGA, Ont — Steve Buratto is a jack of all trades.
Since 1980, he has served as a CFL offensive line coach (twice), receivers coach, offensive co-ordinator (with three different clubs), defensive co-ordinator (twice), head coach (with two squads) and special-teams co-ordinator. He has appeared in five Grey Cup games as a coach, winning twice, including in 2000 as the head coach of the B.C. Lions.
After serving as the Toronto Argonauts offensive co-ordinator the past two seasons, Buratto returns as the club’s special-teams co-ordinator and running backs coach. But he’s also adding a new page, of sorts, to his CFL coaching resume by serving as new head coach Bart Andrus’ unofficial advisor.
Andrus took over as Argos head coach last month having spent more than 25 seasons coaching in the NCAA, NFL and NFL Europe. But this is Andrus’ first Canadian football coaching gig, meaning he’s got to quickly get up to speed on a new game that’s played with just three downs on a longer, wider field with an extra man and unlimited motion.
And what better coaching resource to draw from than Buratto, the lone holdover from last year’s Argos staff who’s pretty much done and seen it all in the CFL.
"Steve Buratto is an important part of this staff," Andrus said Tuesday during an informal gathering with reporters. "He has the most CFL experience of our coaches and I understand it (Canadian football) is a different game and one I have some catching up to do."
Andrus says he can also look outside of his staff for advice as both Argos GM Adam Rita and player-personnel director Greg Mohns are former CFL head coaches.
But he wasted little time picking Buratto’s brain. The two began talking all things CFL at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., shortly after Andrus was hired.
"We had some long talks about what some of the nuances of how you play, particularly on offence," said Buratto. "There are some things you might not take advantage of and others you can go overboard with and cause yourself problems if you don’t have someone to guide you.
"But football is still blocking, tackling and execution, regardless of how you structure the rules."
Buratto is one of three members of Andrus’ eight-man staff with previous CFL coaching experience — the others are linebackers coach Ed O’Neil and defensive co-ordinator Peter Kuharchek. But O’Neil and Kuharchek have spent a combined two seasons in Canada, which pales in comparison to Buratto’s experience here.
Outside of the two years O’Neil and Kuharchek spent in Canada, Andrus and his assistants — excluding Buratto — gained their coaching experience in the NCAA, NFL Europe and NFL, where teams play four-down American football.
.Buratto says there’s much more to get used to in the CFL aside from the obvious like the downs, field and motion.
"The greatest differences are the advantages you have in the kicking game and not being able to fair catch the football," Buratto said. "The play doesn’t stop and you have to handle the football regardless … and the fact that if you’re behind the kicker (line up onside) you can get the ball."
There’s also the issue of clock management. In the CFL, teams have just 20 seconds to snap the ball compared to 40 seconds in the NFL. That, combined with having just three downs, makes it difficult for a CFL team to try and preserve a victory by simply running out the clock.
And there’s also the matter of CFL teams being prohibited from kicking the ball out of bounds in flight. That forces it to remain in play more, giving teams that are trailing more opportunity to gain decent field position to mount a comeback or record the big return to take the lead.
"I think the greatest challenge for a head coach is how do you manage the last three minutes of a game," Buratto said. "In this league you have to play the game out.
"And if you have to kick, you’re holding your breath because they’re either going to go all-out to block it or they’re going to get a return because they’re not going to fair-catch it. In our game, teams can struggle and when you get to the last three minutes both sides can make two scores."
Buratto said a new coach’s education process in Canada involves studying a lot of game film and setting aside time during training camp to enact the many last-minute scenarios that can come up late with the game on the line.
"You want to go through that rather than wait for the first pre-season game and have it come down to having the ball with 45 seconds left and wondering, `Now what do we do?"’ Buratto said. "It’s trial and error.
"You’ve got to make the decision and it’s not something you can sit there and ponder about and have a big discussion."
.Buratto heads into his first season as Toronto’s special-teams co-ordinator minus the unit’s biggest threat. Dominique Dorsey, the CFL’s top special-teams performer last season, signed with the NFL’s Washington Redskins last week.
But Buratto remains unconcerned.
"It would be good to have Dominique here but we’ll find somebody," he said. "You’d like to have somebody the other team holds their breath about and who can go the whole way but in reality if you can average 15 yards per return you change field position.
"It’s the consistency of changing field position and putting the other team further away from the goal or giving the offence the ball closer to the goal that makes the greatest impact over the long haul. Greg and Adam will find somebody who will have that skill, and if we block just a little bit better a time or two, we’ll be able to get that done."
