Robert O'Billovich, nicknamed "Bobby O" or "Obie", (born June 30, 1940) is an east regional scout for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). O'Billovich has been involved with the CFL since 1963 in the roles of player, coach, general manager, scout, and several front-office positions. As a long-time coach in the CFL, he won 107 regular season games in the CFL, the eighth highest win total by a head coach in the league's history.

Early life

O'Billovich was born and raised in Butte, Montana, where he was an outstanding football and basketball player at Butte High School. At Butte HS he lettered three years in basketball and two years in football; making All State in both sports. He also lettered in track and played shortstop on the Butte American Legion baseball team.

NCAA college basketball

After graduating from high school in Butte, Montana, O'Billovich went to

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork ...

to attend Montana State University (later renamed the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...

). He played in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, where he started in all three sports for three years. O'Billovich started three years in football for Montana as a quarterback and defensive back (1959–1961). In addition, O'Billovich was a starting guard in basketball (1960–1962) and the starting shortstop in baseball for Montana (1960–1962). He was an all-Skyline Conference selection in all three sports. He also lettered at least one year in track for Montana. He was named University of Montana ''Athlete of the Decade'' for 1960–1970, and inducted to the University of Montana's ''Grizzly Athletic Hall of Fame'' in 1993.

Professional career

O'Billovich began his CFL career with the Ottawa Rough Riders in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

as a defensive back and backup

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He also served as a backup placekicker, completed his only one-point convert attempt. He recorded 24 interceptions over 69 games with the Rough Riders between 1963 and 1967 before ending his playing career.

Basketball coaching career

Bob O'Billovich was coach of the

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

Ravens Ravens may refer to: * Raven, a species of the genus ''Corvus'' Sports * Anderson Ravens, the intercollegiate athletic program of Anderson University in Indiana * Baltimore Ravens, a professional American football franchise * Benedictine Ravens, ...

CIAU men's basketball team from 1971 to 1973. From 1973 to 1974, O'Billovich served as head coach for the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

Gee-Gees men's basketball team.

Football administrative career

In 1974, O'Billovich launched his CFL coaching career with the Rough Riders, first as a guest coach, and then assistant coach. O'Billovich was named head coach of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

in 1982, a position he held until

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. During his tenure at

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, the Argonauts appeared in the Grey Cup three times (1982,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

), winning the Cup in 1983. He was honoured as

CFL Coach of the Year The Annis Stukus Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy, which is presented annually by the Edmonton Eskimos Alumni Association to the Coach of the Year, as determined by the members of the Football Reporters of Canada. The Trophy is named aft ...

in 1982 and 1987. Bob O'Billovich joined the

in midseason on September 14, 1990, as general manager and interim coach. The Lions had been off to a dismal 2–8-1 start that season; they finished the season with an improved 6–11-1 record. O'Billovich remained as head coach of the Lions through the end of the

1992 season Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

, a year in which the Lions finished at 3–15. In 1993, O'Billovich returned to the Argonauts as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. The Argos began that season poorly, and O'Billovich took over as head coach on September 10, 1993. He coached for the remainder of the 1993 season and for the entirety of the 1994 season. At the end of the 1994 season, O'Billovich relinquished the head coach position to concentrate on his general manager duties. The Argos again had a poor start for the 1995 season and O'Billovich took over as head coach for the final nine games after firing

Mike Faragalli Michael Faragalli (born 1958) is a football coach at Ave Maria University, coaching tight ends, as well as being the offensive coordinator. He is the former running backs coach at the University of Virginia, and was the offensive coordinator and q ...

; the team finished the season with a lackluster 4–14 record. He finished with 89 career regular season wins as a head coach of the Argonauts, which is the most in franchise history. O'Billovich was director of player personnel with the Lions from 2003 to 2007. In December 2007, O'Billovich was hired as general manager by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. On January 12, 2012, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced his promotion to Vice President of football operations.https://www.cfl.ca/article/ticats-promote-o-billovich-to-vp-of-football-ops Ticats promote O'Billovich to VP of Football Ops On December 17, 2012,

Kent Austin Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

replaced O'Billovich as the Tiger-Cats' GM when he was also hired as the team's new head coach. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

CFL coaching record

CFL GM record

Achievements

* University of Montana Athlete of the Decade (1960–1970) * Inducted to the University of Montana ''Grizzly Athletic Hall of Fame'' in 1993 * CFL Coach of the Year (1982, 1987) * Grey Cup champion coach (1983) * All-time winningest coach for the Argonauts (89–79–3 in 11 seasons)

Personal

O'Billovich lives in

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of the ...

, married to wife Judy from Ottawa where their children, Tracy, Jodi, and Coy, were born. His younger brother, Jack "Mad Dog" O'Billovich, who died in 1995 of a heart condition, was an All-American at Oregon State who helped OSU get to the Rose Bowl in 1965.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obillovich, Bob 1940 births Living people Canadian football defensive backs Canadian football quarterbacks Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees BC Lions coaches BC Lions general managers Hamilton Tiger-Cats general managers Montana Grizzlies football players Ottawa Rough Riders players Toronto Argonauts coaches Toronto Argonauts general managers Canadian Football League announcers Sportspeople from Butte, Montana American players of Canadian football American people of Serbian descent Canadian people of Serbian descent Ottawa Gee-Gees football coaches