When he accepted the Ontario Liberal nomination in London West this week, Ken Coran relayed to supporters a simple campaign mantra: It’s not how you start — it’s how you finish.

His party had better hope so.

Already dogged by credibility questions from New Democrats who feel betrayed by their former NDP ally, Coran’s biography came under renewed scrutiny Wednesday just as the provincial byelection was formally set for Aug. 1.

Issues raised by aFree Press probe include:

Coran is distancing himself from a previous claim that he played football with the Western Mustangs in 1972

Some question how accurately he portrays his minor role with the team in the early 1990s, having told Liberal faithful in his Tuesday night nomination speech that he “helped coach the Western Mustangs” back then

His claim that he’s lived in Westmount since 1990 (“I’ve always lived here,” he says) contradicts what he told The Free Press last year about having moved to Toronto for several years a decade ago.

Coran admits he never played football at Western — “I apologize if I’d misled anyone,” he said Wednesday night — and addressed the other two apparent conflicts in an interview.

“London is my home, and I love the Western Mustangs. And I did help coach the darn guys,” he said.

While it isn’t all doom-and-gloom for the Liberals — reports out of Toronto suggest Progressive Conservative officials doubt the party will win London West, or any of the other four Aug. 1 byelections — this early confusion may hurt, an expert says.

“There’s always somebody checking out your claims,” said Peter Woolstencroft, a retired University of Waterloo politics professor. “It raises questions to me: if he’s casual about (these details) what else is he casual about?”

In an October 2012 interview, Coran, then head of the 61,000-member Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, toldFree Press reporter Norman De Bono he lived in Toronto for nearly half of the past decade: “We decided to move to Toronto and stayed there four years, from 2003 to 2007,” he said then.

But this week, Coran was adamant he’s lived in London’s Westmount subdivision since about 1991, saying “I’ve always been grounded in London.”

In that same October interview, he told De Bono he played football for Western in 1972. He now says he only tried out, though that gridiron past has been repeated in other recent media reports.

Other football questions cropped up after his nomination-acceptance speech before a few hundred Liberal backers Tuesday night.

His final point — “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finished” — was couched as a comment he’d make to players “when I was fortunate enough to help coach the Western football team.”

Asked minutes later, Coran said he “helped coach the Mustangs in the ’90s: ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94.” When a Free Pressreporter asked about Western’s 1994 national championship, Coran clarified he’d helped with “the rookie camp (when) they bring in a lot of high school coaches because they’re dealing with so many players.”

Darwin Semotiuk, Western’s athletic director in the 1990s, doesn’t recall Coran being around and spoke cautiously when asked whether he felt the description of his involvement was misleading.

“I’ll leave that to anyone (else). People can judge for themselves,” he said.

London West, held by departed Liberal Chris Bentley since 2003, was prior to that a Progressive Conservative seat. But The Globe and Mail reports PC officials harbour few hopes of winning there, or in four other ridings set for Aug. 1 byelections.

Ali Chahbar, the local PC candidate, shrugged off the negativity.

“We worry about the things we can control,” Chahbar said. “So we’re talking to as many people (as possible), we’re knocking on doors.”

Also running are Peggy Sattler for the New Democrats, Gary Brown for the Green Party and Al Gretzky for the Freedom Party.

patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/patatLFPress

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Ken Coran told The Free Press last year he played football for the Western Mustangs in 1972, which is untrue:

“I guess it revolves around the definition of ‘played.’ Was I fully equipped with a uniform while playing with the team? The answer would be no. The definition you’re using for ‘played’ is ‘had a helmet on, got on the field.’ That is not the definition I use, so I apologize.” (Coran said earlier this week he tried out unsuccessfully for the team.)

Coran told Liberal supporters he “helped coach” the Mustangs in the early 1990s, raising some eyebrows:

“I was invited to help coach — and I would say ‘coach’ — the (pre-season camp). You know, when they bring all the rookies and veterans in and then you start getting cuts to get ready for the season? (Overstating the role) certainly wasn’t the intent (in his speech).”

Coran told The Free Press last year he lived in Toronto from 2004-07, but more recently said he’s “always” lived in London West

“The primary (family) residence was (gives exact Westmount address). I messed up on the years (in Toronto) — it was 2001-02. What we did was we would come back every Friday night to London. (After 2003) I said, I don’t want to raise my daughter in Toronto. That’s why we always kept the London house, that’s why we always considered it home, that’s why we always came back, that’s why in my mind it has always been home.”

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London West Riding Profile:

Population: 118,335 (Source: 2006 census)