Marco Iannuzzi has announced that he will be retiring after the BC Lions seasons ends Saturday with a game against the Argos. In the interview with Cam Tucker below he discusses why he is retiring with a year left on his contract and what his plans are.

Q What went into your decision to retire? ...
I’m looking forward to not feeling like I got hit by a car every weekend. Looking forward to spending more time with my family. My eldest daughter had made a few comments to me regarding some kids get to go on holidays at certain times of the year in the summer and it kind of made me realize that we really haven’t had a true family summer together at all. Everything just sort of played together ...
Another important part is I wanted to do it on my own time instead of having the organization call me up to tell me they were going to release me. I wanted to leave when I wanted to and not when I was forced out the door. As far as it goes, I think about 95 per cent of guys are forced out and only five per cent get to go out on their own time and I wanted to make sure it was my decision. ...
I wanted to leave when I wanted to and not when I was forced out the door. As far as it goes, I think about 95 per cent of guys are forced out and only five per cent get to go out on their own time and I wanted to make sure it was my decision.

Q Was it a difficult decision? ...
It’s really not bittersweet. It’s just sweet. I’ve enjoyed my career. I’ve put everything I could into football, my whole life into football. Football gave me a lot. But why, at the end, should I give so much back to football … why do I have to go out when I’m too slow to run anymore, you know what I mean? ...
To be honest, it wasn’t a difficult decision because I gave it so long. I didn’t put it on one single day. I just started thinking what if I retired and woke up that way, went to practice and made a checklist. OK, I’m going to miss laughing around with the guys in the locker-room. I’m definitely not going to miss when this happens. I’m definitely not going to miss when this happens. I’m going to miss here. And you just tally up all those things. ...

Will you remain in the business of football in any way?
Definitely not on the football operations side. I’m ready to move on from football operations. But I’m quite interested in the business side and I’ve made that aware to the various parties that are looking to buy the team. Would I love to come in and be the next president of the Lions? Absolutely, I’d love to. Would definitely want to go that direction. ...
Not only do we, as an organization, owe it to the fans to put together a better product on the field, but we owe it to create a better atmosphere, whether it’s family areas, whether it’s for young people to come and have fun. I just think we can be more of a hub to get people together to have a good time and I just see so much potential in this city.

Q What is your favourite memory from playing football?
I don’t think it’s a memory. I think it’s a confidence I’ve got from football and it’s just being put in so many situations … whether it be you come off an injury, you get put on the starting lineup, you get put down off the starting lineup, you’re winning lots of games, you’re losing lots of games. So, just been in so many situations that I feel like I have a confidence in everything else I’ve done in life.
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20171101/281535111251908