OUT OF THE TUNNEL: EXAMINING FOOTBALL OPERATIONS
BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF
With the Saskatchewan Roughriders hiring Ben Olson as their defensive line coach, the long coaching carousel season has finally come to a stop. Now that the dust has settled there are four new head coaches which means four new staffs and that greatly impacts the other teams.
Every staff has their differences but one thing that is usually consistent: There are three or four long-time CFL guys, one or two NFL or college veterans that are in the CFL for the first time, and the staffs are filled out with pretty much fresh-faced former players or young coaches with none to three years’ experience.
Some are younger – and some have more experience – but all are led by their head coach and coordinators. To give you a feel of each staff, here is a look at all nine teams’ coaching battery (head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator) and their general manager.
Saskatchewan Roughriders
General manager: Jeremy O’Day
Head coach/Special teams coordinator: Craig Dickenson
Offensive coordinator: Jason Maas
Defensive coordinator: Jason Shivers
There is a lot of pressure on the Grey Cup hosts in 2020 and that means a big shift offensively is in store for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Former Edmonton Eskimos head coach Jason Maas was the biggest addition (player, coach or otherwise) to the football club this off-season. He will improve the offence and Craig Dickenson will enjoy having consistency with Shivers and much of his staff back in 2020.
Calgary Stampeders
General manager: John Hufnagel
Head coach: Dave Dickenson
Offensive coordinator: Pat DelMonaco
Defensive coordinator: Brent Monson
Special teams coordinator: Mark Kilam
The biggest change to the Stampeders staff is Dave Dickenson letting go of the offensive coordinator duties and giving them to offensive line coach Pat DelMonaco. He has been solely an offensive line coach his whole career so this is a big step up. Monson is entering his second season as a defensive coordinator while mainstay Mark Kilam will be back as special teams coordinator and his second as assistant head coach.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
General Manager: Kyle Walters
Head coach: Mike O’Shea
Offensive coordinator: Buck Pierce
Defensive coordinator: Richie Hall
Special teams coordinator: Paul Boudreau
The duo of Kyle Walters and Mike O’Shea are entering their seventh season together which is the longest paired duo in the CFL (Dickenson and Hufnagel are in their fifth). This pair will go down in Blue Bomber history as the ones who broke the long Grey Cup drought. Now the pressure will be to repeat. Buck Pierce will be in his first season as offensive coordinator replacing Paul LaPolice. Veteran coaches Richie Hall and Paul Boudreau will provide some stability as defensive and special teams coordinators.
Edmonton Eskimos
General manager: Brock Sunderland
Head coach/offensive coordinator: Scott Milanovich
Defensive coordinator: Noel Thorpe
Special teams coordinator: A.J. Gass
Scott Milanovich returns to the CFL after three seasons in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars as their quarterbacks coach. He did strong work in his final year helping Gardner Minshew to an unexpectedly solid rookie season. Milanovich is a Grey Cup winning head coach with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012 and looked to veteran coordinator Noel Thorpe to helm the defence. A.J. Gass returns for his second season as the special teams coordinator. Sunderland is a long-time scout who finally got his opportunity to build a team with the Eskimos in 2017.
B.C. Lions
General manager: Ed Hervey
Head coach/defensive coordinator: Rick Campbell
Offensive coordinator: Jordan Maksymic
Special teams: Don Yanowsky
After just one season under DeVone Claybrooks, general manager Ed Hervey decided to clean house…again. He went with former Ottawa Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell to guide the team as well as the defence in this new decade. Jordan Maksymic will have the full offensive coordinator title for the first time in his career. He was the quarterbacks and pass game coordinator with the Eskimos last season but Jason Maas called the plays on offence. Don Yankowsky is back as special teams coordinator.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
General Managers (kind of): Drew Allemang/Shawn Burke
Head coach: Orlondo Steinhauer
Offensive coordinator: Tommy Condell
Defensvie coordinator: Mark Washington
Special teams coordinator: Jeff Reinebold
Hamilton is one of the few that brings back their full complement of head coach, general manager(s) and coordinators. This staff will have a lot of pressure put on them because on paper they have the best collection of talent in the CFL. Orlondo Steinhauer has all the confidence in the world in his three veteran coordinators and also has the help of long-time head coach and general manager Jim Barker who is the assistant to both the special teams and offence. As for the front office situation, it’s a strange one. Once Eric Tillman was asked not to come back to Hamilton, Drew Allemang and Shawn Burke took over the day-to-day football ops side of things but not with the general manager title.
Montreal Alouettes
General manager: Danny Maciocia
Head coach/offensive coordinator (and quarterbacks too): Khari Jones
Defensive coordinator: Bob Slowik
Special teams coordinator: Mickey Donovan
Khari Jones should have been named the East Division’s nominee for coach of the year for the work he did taking over the Alouettes just before the regular season began. He brings back a lot of the staff that helped the Alouettes to the playoffs in 2019 including both long time veteran Bob Slowik and up-and-coming coach Mickey Donovan. The only change is hiring Danny Maciocia as general manager. He spent the past nine years with the University of Montreal.
Ottawa Redblacks
General manager: Marcel Desjardins
Head coach/offensive coordinator: Paul LaPolice
Defensive coordinator: Mike Benevides
Special teams coordinator: Bob Dyce
After not asking Rick Campbell back to continue as the head coach of the Redblacks, Marcel Desjardins decided to go the offensive route and hire Paul LaPolice as the head coach and offensive coordinator. This is LaPo’s second kick at the can after a three-year stint as head coach of the Blue Bombers from 2010 to 2012. He helped the Bombers to the Grey Cup last season and went with a pair of veteran coordinators in Mike Benevides and Bob Dyce.
Toronto Argonauts
General manager: Michael “Pinball” Clemons
Assistant GM: John Murphy
Head coach: Ryan Dinwiddie
Offensive coordinator: Jarius Jackson
Defensive coordinator: Glen Young
Special teams coordinator: Mark Nelson
Michael Clemons decided to clean house and bring on the CFL’s only rookie head coach for 2020, Ryan Dinwiddie. For the last four seasons Dinwiddie has learned under the tutelage of Dave Dickenson while working as the Stampeders quarterbacks coach. He will need a lot of help, so he looked to another former CFL quarterback to lead the offence in Jarius Jackson. Glen Young is a first time defensive coordinator, he was the defensive line coach with the Blue Bombers last season. Dinwiddie will look to veteran coach Mark Nelson and his 28 years of coaching experience for guidance.
(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF/PHOTO: JAVA POST)
Roughriders-agree that Maas was the biggest add. He consistently has top 3 offences since his stint as OC in Ottawa & HC in Edmonton. BUT…the Eskimos best season under Maas was 2017 when they went 12-6 with Carson Walch as OC. Maas also got a career high season out of Burris, 3 consecutive 5,500 yd seasons out of Reilly (career highs) & Harris almost certainly would have been the 5th straight season he coached a QB to that level had Harris not been injured. That is unparalleled. BUT…Burris, Reilly & Harris were all established stars when Maas had them. He… Read more »
How is pinball the GM and John Murphy the assistant?? It doesn’t make any sense to me. I think the argos will have a rough season ahead.