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)