Family Adds Icing To Cake For Richie Hall
02/07/2009 05:15
There's only one first time for anything and for the Eskimos Richie Hall his head coaching debut came on June 17 at Commonwealth Stadium in a pre-season victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, his former team.
On Thursday night, Hall kicks it up a notch, and not just because he will trot out with his team for his regular-season debut.
"The thing that's going to add icing to the cake is that my family is going to be here," Hall said Tuesday. "My mom (Jean) and dad (Richie Sr.) are going to be here, so, all of a sudden, they get to see their son coach a football game.
"I'm really excited about that because as kids we're an extension of our parents and for me to be able to accomplish a goal, you always want to share it with people that you care about."
Hall's parents will be joined by his sister, Janice, brother, Michael, a group from Winnipeg he describes as his adopted family and some friends from Regina, where he was an assistant coach for 15 years, including eight as defensive co-ordinator.
So, he'll have a personal cheering section of 15-20 people seeing him realize a long-held dream.
"I think they're ecstatic," Hall said. "I think to (see me) play pro ball, they were very excited.
"Now, to be a head coach, I know they're very proud, they're very excited. I know my sister, two weeks ago, she said she was already nervous.
"To some degree, I think they may get more of a charge out of it than I do."
Which is saying something, actually.
Now those really are fighting words.
SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
It’s nice that Richie Hall is going to have his family in the stands for his first CFL head coaching gig.