(Editor’s note: Story by Montana Sports Information)
SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA – Saskatchewan Roughriders vice president of football operations and general manager Jeremy O’Day announced Friday the club has named former Montana football player and Great Falls native Craig Dickenson as its new head coach.
“I am excited and honored to announce Craig Dickenson as the Riders head coach,” said Jeremy O’Day in a Roughriders press release. “Craig is extremely respected by our players and staff. His dedication, intelligence and leadership will be an integral part of our future success.”
Craig Dickenson officially becomes the 47th head coach in club history. He will also remain as the teams’ special-teams coordinator.
“I want to thank Jeremy O’Day and the Saskatchewan Roughriders for giving me this great opportunity,” said Dickenson in the Roughriders release. “It is a great honor to be the head coach of this storied franchise. I look forward to working with this talented group of players and coaches moving forward.”
Dickenson will enter his fourth season of his second go-round with the Roughriders, spending the last three seasons as the special-teams coordinator. He also previously worked with the Riders special teams during the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
2019 will be Dickenson’s 17th season as a CFL coach and his 14th as a special-teams coordinator. Before returning to Saskatchewan in 2016, he spent two seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos and one with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Dickenson also previously spent seven CFL seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, serving as their special-teams coordinator in five of those seasons, and one campaign with the Montreal Alouettes.
Dickenson was a kicker for the Grizzlies in 1992 and was the special teams coordinator at UM from 1995-1998 during the program’s first national championship run. He also coached at Utah State, and in the NFL with San Diego and Oakland.
He is a two-time Grey Cup champion, having won CFL titles with the Eskimos in 2015 and the Stampeders in 2008.
Dickenson’s brother Dave is a Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer, a 2018 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, and the head coach of the Calgary Stampeders.
