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

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

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 (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(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 Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

, 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

, O'Billovich went to

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

to attend Montana State University (later renamed the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana, United States. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811, marki ...

). He played in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, 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 The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...

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 Cove ...

as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and backup

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He also served as a backup

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

, 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 university, 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 se ...

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

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 (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

Gee-Gees men's basketball team.

Football administrative career

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, 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 based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, a position he held until

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. During his tenure at

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, the Argonauts appeared in the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

three times (1982,

1983 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 of the ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

), winning the Cup in 1983. He was honoured as CFL Coach of the Year 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, 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 The General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its calendar advanced 24 hours to th ...

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; 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 The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

. 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 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 The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about the CFL, ...

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 and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. Generally seen as a commuter suburb of Toronto, it is located on Lake ...

, 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 Players of Canadian football from Montana American people of Serbian descent Canadian people of Serbian descent Ottawa Gee-Gees football coaches Butte High School (Butte, Montana) alumni