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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Put the Dave Dickenson To Sask Story To Bed

Calgary Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel is pleased to announce that both Dave Dickenson and Chris Jones will remain on the club’s coaching staff in 2011. Dickenson will be promoted to offensive coordinator next season while Jones returns as defensive coordinator and assistant director player personnel/football operations.

Hufnagel, Dickenson and Jones will be available to media in the Clubhouse pressroom (south end of McMahon Stadium) today at 2 p.m.

“We have a number of coaches who are respected around the Canadian Football League and I’m glad to have Chris and Dave back with our coaching staff next season,” said Hufnagel. “They both did an excellent job in 2010 and we’re all looking forward to 2011.”

Dickenson, who enters his third season as a coach with Calgary, spent 2010 as the Stamps’ quarterbacks coach. He called offensive plays on game days and was heavily involved in game planning. The Stamps’ offence led the CFL in points scored (626), yards of offence (7,769), most first downs (445) and most rushing yards (2,618) while Stamps quarterback Henry Burris was voted the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. Dickenson was Calgary’s running backs coach in 2009 after the conclusion of his prolific CFL playing career in 2008 as a member of the Stamps.

“I’m excited for this opportunity,” said Dickenson. “This is the ideal situation for me and my family and I’m pleased that I’m able to progress in my coaching career while learning from a head coach and general manager like John Hufnagel. We have a great group of players and coaches here in Calgary and I’m looking forward to improving on last season and being even better in 2011.”

Jones joined the Stampeders in 2008 after six years with the Montreal Alouettes. The Stamps defence was the stingiest among West Division teams in 2010 and ranked third overall. The unit gave up the fewest yards of offence in the league (6,049), as well as the fewest touchdowns (36) while tying for the league in takeaways (54) and leading all CFL clubs with seven defensive touchdowns scored. Jones’ defence was the stingiest in the West in 2009 and gave up the fewest points in the league in 2008. In nine seasons in the CFL, Jones has been to the playoffs every year and has coached in the Grey Cup on five occasions while winning a pair of titles including the 2008 championship in his first season with Calgary.

“It was an honour to be considered for a head-coaching position in this league, but I’m excited to be back with the Stamps,” said Jones. “We have a good group of players and coaches here and we have some unfinished business we hope to take care of next season.”

2 comments:

Mike Stackhouse said...

Dickenson would have been interesting and probably a good choice judging by how quick Calgary was at locking him in.

Jones is a guy that would also be interesting, but I don't like how he lets his players get out of hand with their showboating. That would not go over well in Sask.

Kavis Reed is off to Edmonton and maybe Marcus Crandell goes with him.

Hopefully Riders get their coach named and he is able to pick his staff accordingly without having to lose people like we saw the mass exodus of coaches last year.

Anonymous said...

Did Dickenson get an interview here? Did he get one in Edmonton? I think this is a smart move by Calgary to keep him under wraps. I also wonder if he played the Stamps a little to get this deal done. I don't think he really wanted to leave Calgary.

Aaron