Buono was named a finalist for the CFL's coach of the year award Thursday in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Also nominated were Kavis Reed of the Edmonton Eskimos and Paul LaPolice of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The winner will be announced March 2 in Toronto.

"When I think about it, I'm happy that I'm being looked at with the next wave of good head coaches," Buono said. "When you look at Paul LaPolice and my arch enemy Kavis Reed in Edmonton, these are the good, young coaches that are coming up and it's a credit to be nominated with them.

"For me, it's a nice way to be phased out because you're up against two very good, young coaches and I take that as a compliment.''

The 62-year-old Buono, a native of Potenza, Italy, who grew up in Montreal, is the overwhelming favourite after leading B.C. to an improbable 34-23 Grey Cup win over Winnipeg. The championship was Buono's record-tying fifth as a head coach and came despite the Lions' 0-5 start to the season and losses in six of their first seven games.

But with quarterback Travis Lulay, the CFL's outstanding player, coming of age, B.C. won 10 of its last 11 regular-season games to halt the calls in Vancouver for Buono's head and finish tied with Edmonton and Calgary atop the West Division. The Lions earned first based on a better head-to-head record against their two rivals.

B.C. beat Edmonton 40-23 in the West Division final and less than a week after its Grey Cup victory, Buono resigned after 22 seasons as a CFL head coach to concentrate fulltime on his duties as the Lions' GM.

"Coach of the year is about your organization doing a great job," he said. "It starts with the equipment manager and goes to the trainer, the players, assistant coaches and for us I'll also said our owner and president because when we were 1-6 they could've blown the entire ship up and this would've never even been a thought.

"Everyone says that, but in this case I will say it's more relevant because when you're 1-6 it's easy for people to throw in the towel and bail but none of that occurred.''

Buono left the sidelines with the most coaching wins (254) and first-place finishes (13) in CFL history. He is also a three-time winner of the Annis Stukus Trophy, joining Jack Gotta (three) and Don Matthews (five) as the only ones to have claimed it three or more times.

"Wow, what an amazing run for him," Reed said of Buono. "A magnificent coaching job.

"A Wally Buono team is always well prepared, you know that, but to get on that kind of streak really showed his leadership and experience. He deserved this honour, he deserved to be a Grey Cup-winning coach."

LaPolice said Buono deserves to be considered the front-runner.

"When you win the thing we're all shooting for you would think that guy is the favourite," he said. "Certainly I'm happy for all three of us.

"It really doesn't matter. Just being nominated feels pretty good."

Buono wasn't immediately available for comment Thursday.

B.C. was also the first CFL team since the '94 Lions to win the Grey Cup on home soil. Buono's 11 regular-season wins boosted his career total to a club-record 101 over nine seasons with the Lions.

Edmonton general manager Eric Tillman raised eyebrows when he hired Reed on Dec. 10, 2010, to take over a team that had finished last in the West Division with a 7-11 record. The 38-year-old native of Georgetown, S.C., a former Eskimos defensive back before suffering a career-ending neck injury in '99, arrived in Alberta having never been a head coach before and spent the '09 season as the defensive co-ordinator with a Winnipeg team that posted a league-worst 4-14 record.