Darrell Davis: Dickenson brings congenial tone

I didn’t attend Craig Dickenson’s first at-home, pre-game media conference, but I listened to the recording.

It sounded friendly. There was no southern drawl or “I tell ya what,” but there were names used. Unlike his predecessor as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ head coach, Dickenson answered questions with prefaces like, “Glenn” or “Rob” or “As I just told Murray.” Those are the first names of local media who regularly cover the CFL team.

Granted, it’s not important in a lot of ways. The head coach doesn’t need to know the names of the local media, nor does he need to know who they work for. Indeed, through three seasons as Saskatchewan’s head coach Chris Jones didn’t exactly cozy up to the media by regularly dropping their names. It was basically a professional, question-and-answer relationship. Jones seemed to learn only what was absolutely necessary about being here.

Although Dickenson had been a Roughriders assistant and became familiar with the reporters, through three weeks of training camp he has evidently made an effort to make the daily scrums more congenial. It might change as time progresses.

It’s not better. It’s not worse. It’s just different.