The Canadian Press
Stopgap? A year to assess? Not so much.
If Chris Jones’ departure from the Saskatchewan Roughriders left fans of the team feeling like the organization was in a tailspin, the two moves that have followed are assurances that the last thing they’re interested in is more January press conferences.
Jeremy O’Day, the team’s new VP of football ops, marked his one-week anniversary on the job by promoting longtime special teams coordinator Craig Dickenson to his first-ever head coaching job. To lay a foundation on what he’s trying to build, he told reporters in Regina on Friday that he’d signed Dickenson to a three-year deal to mirror his own.
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One of the background narratives of the Jones departure was the additional year that his coaching staff had on their contracts. If you’ve ever spent any time around Craig Dickenson, you’d never think of him as a tightly-wound or easily stressed person, but a lengthy contract at the start of a new venture for him is a significant vote of confidence.
As Dickenson said on Friday afternoon, coaching in Saskatchewan is the most pressure-filled job there is for a coach in the CFL.
“But I think that’s good. People here are going to scrutinize what you do, both good and bad,” he said.
“They’re going to have an opinion and we respect that and we acknowledge that. I think that sort of scrutiny, that sort of expectation level is what makes it the best job in the CFL as well.
“You’re always going to have people interested. They’re not going to be tuned out. I think it’s worth it. You want to go somewhere where you know they care and you know you’re going to get a shot to win.”
With three years in front of him and assuming the team can navigate free agency successfully, Dickenson should get that shot.
There are still fine details to be worked out. Dickenson didn’t go too deeply into what kind of direction he’d take with the coaching staff. He’ll hold onto special teams coordinator duties, but he still needs to sort out the defensive coordinator role, with a tweak or two in the staff potentially rippling out from that decision.
Friday did feel like the team had emerged from that tailspin. O’Day was as cool and steady as he was when he was being introduced a week ago. Dickenson seemed completely comfortable in his new role, in his own skin and in control of a situation that is new to him, even if he’s been a part of the CFL for 17 years now.
As Adam Gase taught us earlier this month, that’s not always as easy at it sounds.
Internet remains undefeated. #Tacos. pic.twitter.com/CrJfjm9Ohf
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) January 14, 2019
And while the continuity of the hire — promoting a familiar, qualified face — is the smart route to take in this situation, Dickenson will bring a different demeanour to the head coaching job than Jones did.
“He’s a character. He’s a fun guy and I guy I have great respect for and our personalities are different,” Dickenson said of Jones.
“I don’t think there’ll be a major shift because the reality is the assistant coaches drive the ship and the head coach I believe sets the course in a lot of ways and tries to help the assistants.
“The real voices in the room each and every day are the assistant coaches. We’re going to miss Chris. I enjoyed working for him and I really appreciated having him as a mentor all of these years. There’ll be different (team) personality and there’ll be some different players that step up and become leaders as well and that will add to that.”
The Riders head into a crucially important free agency with a very dramatic but very quickly addressed change at the top. They have a new GM and new head coach, but they’ve managed to come through this change looking like an experienced and prepared organization. Most important to O’Day, Dickenson and Riders fans, this duo is settling in for their first of what they hope will be many free agencies to come.
