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When Jeremy O’Day began his search for the next head coach of the Roughriders he had a long list of requirements – luckily he didn’t have to look far to find the man who met them all.
A week after being named the Roughriders general manager and vice president of football operations, O’Day named Craig Dickenson as the club’s 47th head coach.
Dickenson replaces Chris Jones who left the club nearly two weeks ago for an opportunity with the Cleveland Browns.
O’Day said among the traits he was looking for were leadership, energy, trustworthiness. A solid communicator, a passion for the game.
“I wanted a coach that would understand the room and care about the players. I wanted a coach that had accountability, both in his actions and also the action of the players … He had to have strong core values, which is really important to me. He had to have fun coming to work and he had had to understand the culture of Saskatchewan and what it means to work for the organization,” O’Day said.
“That’s a lot, I understand that,” he added. “But I’m happy that going through this process I can tell you that Craig Dickenson checks all the boxes.”
Dickenson is thrilled to be the next head coach of Roughriders after 17 seasons in the CFL, most as a special teams coordinator. He’s a two-time Grey Cup champion, having won CFL titles with the Eskimos in 2015 and the Calgary Stampeders in 2008.
The 2018 CFL season was Dickenson’s third with the club, all of which he’s worked as the Roughriders special teams coordinator; he held the same role with the Riders during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. He’ll retain his special teams coordinator role as he takes over head coaching duties.
Dickenson said that the transition from special teams to head coach won’t be a difficult one.
“I just think it makes sense, especially in our league where there is so much special teams and so much value in field position … I think it’s a really good fit,” he said.
As it was for him to take on this position.
“This was the perfect job at the perfect time with the perfect people,” he said, adding being in Saskatchewan means a lot to him – even though he knows the job will be a difficult one, in part because there are a lot of eyes on football in this province.
“But I think that’s good because people care out here. People are going to scrutinize what you do both good and bad, 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 this the best job in the CFL.”
And it seems that Dickenson does really understand the culture of the Saskatchewan.
“It’s a storied franchise and it’s got great tradition, great history” Dickenson said. “You hear stories of people donating trucks of grain to try to raise money and do what they needed to do to try to support the team so I will always respect and really admire the folks that pay good money to come out and watch us.”
Which means, he said, he’ll be doing his very best to put the best possible product on the field.
— with files from 980 CJME’s Arielle Zerr