Doug Berry (Canadian football)

Doug Berry (born July 17, 1948) is an American Canadian football coach who was most recently the senior advisor to Jim Popp, the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. Previously, he has served as the offensive coordinator of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

For other people named Douglas Berry, see Douglas Berry (disambiguation).

Doug Berry
Born: (1948-07-17) July 17, 1948
Claremont, New Hampshire, US
Career history
As coach
1976New Hampshire (Asst.)
1978Penn State (Asst.)
1979–1980Boston College (Asst.)
1981–1997UMass (Asst.)
1998Richmond (Asst.)
1999–2005Montreal Alouettes (Asst.)
2006–2008Winnipeg Blue Bombers (HC)
2010–2011Saskatchewan Roughriders (Asst. HC/OC)
2013Montreal Alouettes (Senior advisor)
2013Montreal Alouettes (OC)

Early years

Berry was born in Claremont, New Hampshire and graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1973 with a degree in Recreation and Parks Administration. He did two years of active duty in the United States Army after being drafted in 1968. Berry spent a year and a half working in Germany as an army sergeant. After his military discharge, he became a sales manager in a small business selling stereo equipment until deciding in 1976 that he wanted to become an American football coach.

College coaching career

Berry began his coaching career in 1976 at the University of New Hampshire, his alma mater, before working with Penn State's offensive line in 1978.[1] During his first year at PSU, the team played in the National Collegiate Athletic Association national championship game.

He then spent two years coaching Boston College's offensive line before moving on to his 17-year stay at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.[2] He was an assistant with the UMass Minutemen football team from 1981 to 1997, coaching running backs, quarterbacks, and the offensive line over his tenure.

Berry coached the running backs at the University of Richmond in Virginia in 1998. Berry spent only one year at Richmond before moving to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to join the Alouettes in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

CFL coaching career

In 1999, Berry began with the Montreal Alouettes as their offensive line coach. [3] During this time Montreal had three players named as the CFL's Most Outstanding Lineman, Uzooma Okeke in 1999, Pierre Vercheval in 2000, and Bryan Chiu in 2002. His O-line helped star running back Mike Pringle win the CFL's rushing title in 1999 and 2000. The Alouettes won the Grey Cup in 2002.[4]

Berry was promoted to co-offensive co-ordinator (with Kevin Strasser) and quarterbacks coach in 2003. In 2003, quarterback Anthony Calvillo posted a career-high 5,891 passing yards and 37 touchdowns. Calvillo set more personal bests the following year with 6,041 passing yards and added 5,556 yards to his career total. Calvillo led the league in passing yards for both the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

On December 15, 2005, Berry signed a multi-year contract to become the 26th head coach in Winnipeg Blue Bombers history. After guiding the team to a 9–9 record in the 2006 CFL season, he took the Bombers to their first playoff game since 2003, but ended up losing to the Toronto Argonauts in the East Division semi-final.[5]

After the 2006 season he was nominated for Coach of the Year, but lost to Wally Buono of the BC Lions.

During the 2007 campaign, Berry's Bombers got off to a hot start, but struggled against division opponents in the closing weeks. As a result, the team finished one point behind the Toronto Argonauts in the East Division, despite leading in the division for much of the year, and did not earn a first round bye. However, the Blue Bombers won each of their first two playoff matchups, and earned a spot in the 95th Grey Cup. The team failed to capture the 2007 title, losing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The 2008 CFL season saw the Blue Bombers finish with an 8 wins, 10 losses season and a loss to the Edmonton Eskimos in the East semi-final playoff game. Berry was fired shortly after, on November 12, 2008.[6]

Berry spent the 2010 season as the offensive coordinator for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but was fired after the eighth game of the 2011 season on August 19, 2011.[7]

On February 19, 2013, Berry was introduced as the senior advisor to the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes at a news conference in Montreal.[8] Following the firing of Dan Hawkins after a 2-3 start to the season, Berry was promoted to run the offense in July 2013.[9][10] Berry was dismissed by Jim Popp in November 2013 after Popp became the general manager and interim head coach of the Montreal Alouettes.[11]

Personal life

Berry and his wife live in Florida. They have two daughters, Jessica and Kasey.[12]

Head coaching record
TeamYearRegular SeasonPost Season
WonLostTiesWin %FinishWonLostResult
WPG2006 990.5003rd in East Division01Lost in Division Semi-finals
WPG2007 1071.5832nd in East Division21Lost in Grey Cup
WPG2008 8100.4442nd in East Division01Lost In Division Semi-Finals
Total 27261.5090 East Division
Championships		230 Grey Cups

References
  1. "Doug Berry". The Official Site if the Montreal Alouettes. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  2. "Meet the New Football Coaches". Boston College. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  3. "'What's the big deal?' Doug Berry says about not returning to Alouettes". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  4. "Catching up with Rider coach Doug Berry". cfl.ca. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  5. "DAN HAWKINS NAMED HEAD COACH". The Official Site of the Montreal Alouettes. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  6. "Blue Bombers fire head coach Doug Berry". the star.com. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  7. https://www.cfl.ca/article/riders-fire-marshall-and-berry-miller-to-take-over
  8. http://en.montrealalouettes.com/article/dan-hawkins-named-head-coach Archived January 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Dan Hawkins Named Head Coach
  9. "Montreal Alouettes fire head coach Dan Hawkins". the star.com football. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  10. "STAEMENT ON COACHING STAFF". The Official Site of the Montreal Alouettes. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  11. "REPORT: ALOUETTES DISMISS OFFENSIVE COACHES MILLER, BERRY". TSN. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  12. "PROFILE - COACH DOUG BERRY". ROUGHRIDERS. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
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