Return to B.C. a 'full-circle' moment for new Lions' head coach Buck Pierce

Buck Pierce is back where his CFL career began. 

It's been about 20 years since the quarterback from Crescent City, Calif., hopped into the car with his dad and took the long, winding drive up the West Coast to a B.C. Lions' free agent camp in Portland, Ore., hoping to land a role with the team. 

This week, Pierce was named the Lions' head coach. 

"From that free agent camp, I signed with the B.C. Lions about a week later," he told reporters Wednesday. "To think about 20 years later, for that to come full circle and for me to be sitting here today is truly a surreal experience. It feels like a dream come true for me."

Pierce's hiring comes after the Lions dismissed head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell last month. B.C. finished the 2024 regular season with a 9-9 record, ending their campaign with a loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division semifinal.

Choosing a new coach — the 28th in franchise history — was an "exhaustive process" where the Lions' front office went through eight candidates, said newly minted GM Ryan Rigmaiden. 

"We wanted somebody that had leadership skills, accountability for coaches and players and then somebody that could bring in the mental and physical toughness that we felt like we had to make a jump with," he said.

"Buck started his career as a quarterback here. He led from the huddle. And now he's going to lead us into a new era of B.C. Lions football." 

The Lions inked Pierce as a free agent in 2005, and he spent five seasons playing for B.C., winning a Grey Cup in 2006. 

The 43-year-old former QB grew emotional Wednesday reflecting on those memories. 

"To be back in this building, to see so many familiar faces around this room, reconnect with the community that I was