The Saskatchewan Roughriders are headed in a new direction, after the team announced head coach Craig Dickenson will not have his contract renewed.
Vice-president of football operations and general manager Jeremy O’Day, however, will keep his job and has agreed to a new contract.
“I want to thank Coach Dickenson for everything he has given to the Saskatchewan Roughriders over his ten years in Green and White,” O’Day said.
“From his time as special teams coordinator to his five seasons as a head coach, he gave all he had to the team and did it with kindness and respect. We appreciate his hard work and dedication and wish him all the best moving forward.”
For Rider fans, the news Dickenson won’t be returning comes as a mixed bag.
“I’m not surprised,” Rider fan Ernie Pinno said. “I kind of liked the guy, so I am a little sad.”
“Craig is a great guy I’m sure, nice person and all but he didn’t seem to be able to get the guys going,” Stan Leverington said. “He’s gotta go.”
O’Day will enter his 26th season with the Riders, and his sixth as general manager.
“Jeremy has an excellent track record of identifying and bringing in quality talent to the Saskatchewan Roughriders with many players having gone on to have successful seasons including two 1,000-yard receivers in 2023,” said Roughriders President and CEO Craig Reynolds.
“I am confident in his ability to find the next great head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and to put together a team Rider Nation can be proud of.”
O’Day began his career as a Roughrider player in 1999 and joined the football operations staff in 2011. He’s won two Grey Cups in Saskatchewan, one as a player in 2007 and one as assistant general manager in 2013.
The Riders say O’Day’s contract extension will be for three seasons.
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