The winds of change are swirling around the Okanagan Sun organization. Head coach Pete McCall seems unfazed, however, in preparation for his sophomore season.
With news breaking late last week that team president Les Weiss and general manager Derrick Malinchuk won‘t be back next season, many are wondering what that means for the junior football franchise. McCall, a former ball boy and player, isn‘t overly concerned with the sudden uncertainty.
“From my position, I just want to keep doing what we‘re doing,” McCall said. “As far as football operations go, we did a great job in-house this year. Now, with (recruiting director Howie Zaron) on board, he‘s going to help us bring in blue-chip athletes. So, really, I believe we‘re in good shape.”
Weiss agrees.
“The on-field stuff has never been in better shape,” said Weiss, who, along with Malinchuk, made the decision to replace longtime coach Jay Christensen with McCall last off-season. “That was a positive step. I think Pete was the right guy, and he proved that through the year. Not that Jay wasn‘t good, but I think Jay was getting tired.
“Pete brought a lot of new things, new ideas, a few new coaches, and I think the kids believe in what he‘s doing. Talking to the coaches over the last couple weeks, I think they‘re pretty excited for the future.”
While Weiss won‘t be a part of that future, opting not to run for re-election in February, it‘s Malinchuk‘s departure that has left some scrambling. Malinchuk stepped aside to focus on his budding business, Cenoka Janitorial Services, and to start a family, with his first child due in March.
To that end, McCall can relate with his wife, Tara, expecting their second baby later this month.
“Derrick‘s a busy guy,” McCall said. “I think he looked at the time commitments and he didn‘t want to do it half-hearted, and I understand that.”
At least the timing of Malinchuk‘s decision – coming less than a month after Okanagan‘s semifinal loss on Oct. 24 – gives the Sun ample time to find a replacement or distribute his duties.
“We‘re going to sit down and talk as an organization, how exactly we‘re going to do that,” McCall said. “There‘s a couple different things we could do. I could stay in charge of football operations and just make sure we have help in the other areas that Derrick worked in – like billeting and jobs (for players).
“Between (team manager) Ray Wheatley and myself, we‘ll probably take over a lot of what Derrick did in the interim, and then go from there.” Top of Page
