By Canadian Press

Roughriders head coach, GM both have a lot riding on 2023 CFL season

Jun 5, 2023 | 11:25 AM

Craig Dickenson has a lot riding on the 2023 CFL season.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach is entering the final year of his contract. And Dickenson isn’t alone as general manager Jeremy O’Day’s deal also only covers the upcoming campaign.

Dickenson guided Saskatchewan to the West Division final in 2019 and ’21 (CFL didn’t play in 2020 due to global pandemic), losing to the eventual Grey Cup-champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers both times. But the Riders (6-12) were fourth in the West Division last year, missing the CFL playoffs with the Grey Cup game being played at Mosaic Stadium.

Dickenson, 51, enters the season with a 28-22 record as Saskatchewan’s head coach.

Among Saskatchewan’s off-season changes was moving on from starting quarterback Cody Fajardo and dipping into free agency to land veteran Trevor Harris. Fajardo landed in Montreal with the Alouettes, Harris’s former team.

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The Riders struggled offensively in 2022, finishing at or near the bottom of most of the CFL’s team stats. But they also allowed a CFL-high 77 sacks as Fajardo played most of the season with a knee injury.

A look at the other CFL head coaches (teams in alphabetical order):

West Division

Rick Campbell, B.C. Lions — B.C. comes off a 12-6 record and second-place finish in the West Division after posting a 5-9 record in 2021, Campbell’s first with the club. Campbell (61-77-2 overall) enters his ninth CFL season as a head coach, his first six being with Ottawa. Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke led the Lions to an 8-1 record last season before being hurt. B.C. acquired veteran Vernon Adams Jr., who won four-of-six starts before Rourke returned to lead the team into the playoffs. Rourke is now with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, so Adams becomes the starter with former Ticat Dane Evans as the backup.

Dave Dickenson, Calgary Stampeders — Dickenson has been Calgary’s head coach since 2016 and added GM duties this off-season. The Stampeders (12-6) were third in the West Division last year before losing to the Lions in the conference semifinal. Dickenson has a solid 73-29-2 record as Calgary’s head coach and led the franchise to three straight Grey Cup appearances (2016-18), winning the last one. Jake Maier enters his first full season as Calgary’s starter but has a pretty good sounding board as both Dickenson and team president John Hufnagel are former CFL quarterbacks.

Chris Jones, Edmonton Elks — The start of Jones’s second stint as Edmonton’s head coach didn’t go exactly as planned. The Elks (4-14) finished last in the West Division and have dropped a CFL-record 17 straight home games. They’ll have a shot at ending that dubious streak Sunday when they host Saskatchewan. Over six seasons as a CFL head coach, Jones has a 57-51 regular-season record. He has been part of four Grey Cup-winning teams over his coaching tenure, including 2015 when he guided Edmonton to its last Grey Cup with a 26-20 victory over Ottawa at Winnipeg’s IG Field.

Mike O’Shea, Winnipeg Blue Bombers — O’Shea is regarded as the dean of CFL head coaches, having led the Bombers to three straight Grey Cup appearances (wins in their first two) and captured the league’s coach of the year honour the last two years. Winnipeg is a stellar 37-13 the last three seasons under O’Shea, 52, of North Bay, Ont., and has registered six straight campaigns of double-digit wins. O’Shea, a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and a six-time Grey Cup winner as a CFL player and coach, signed a three-year extension with the Bombers this off-season.

 East Division

Orlondo Steinauer, Hamilton Tiger-Cats — Hamilton reached the Grey Cup in each of Steinauer’s first two seasons on the sidelines but finished third in the East Division last year with an 8-10 record before losing to Montreal in the conference semifinal. Steinauer has amassed a solid 31-19 regular-season record and will have veteran quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell under centre in 2023. Hamilton hasn’t won the Grey Cup since ’99 — when Steinauer was a player with the franchise — but will host this year’s contest Nov. 19 at Tim Hortons Field, the second time in three years the CFL championship game will be played there.

Jason Maas, Montreal Alouettes — Maas served as Saskatchewan’s offensive co-ordinator the last two seasons and was let go after the Riders (6-12) missed the playoffs in 2022. Maas replaces GM Danny Maciocia, who assumed the coaching duties last season on an interim basis after Khari Jones was fired. This marks Maas’s second stint as a CFL head coach. He amassed a 39-33 record over four seasons in Edmonton, which reached a division final three times (twice in East, other in West) under Maas. He’ll be reunited with Fajardo, who signed with Montreal as a free agent.

Bob Dyce, Ottawa Redblacks — A veteran special-teams co-ordinator, the well-respected 57-year-old Winnipeg native begins his first full season as a CFL head coach. He took over on an interim basis last season after Paul LaPolice was fired and went 1-4 as the Redblacks finished last in the East Division with a 4-14 record. Dyce has been with the Redblacks since 2016 as their special-teams co-ordinator, a job he’ll keep. Ottawa last made the CFL playoffs in 2018 when it lost to Calgary in the Grey Cup. Dyce is the third coach in Redblacks history after Campbell (2014-19) and LaPolice (2021-22).

Ryan Dinwiddie, Toronto Argonauts — Dinwiddie has registered an overall 20-12 regular-season record and led Toronto to first in the East Division in each of his first two seasons, capping the ’22 campaign with a Grey Cup win over Winnipeg. Dinwiddie, a former CFL quarterback who also serves as Toronto’s offensive co-ordinator, will have a new starter with veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson having moved on (USFL’s New Orleans Breakers). Chad Kelly, the nephew of former Buffalo Bills star Jim Kelly, becomes the No. 1 quarterback, and keeping him healthy will be crucial given there’s little CFL experience at QB behind Kelly on Toronto’s roster.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2023.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press