WHY NOT HIRE BOTH DYCE AND JONES

Bobby Dyce has been the Roughriders’ receivers coach and passing-game co-ordinator for the past two seasons.

Khari Jones

REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders are in the market for an offensive co-ordinator and a quarterbacks coach. How novel.

Saskatchewan finished the 2011 season with vacancies in both positions — a glaring structural defect that helps to explain the team’s offensive futility and its dramatic descent to the CFL’s cellar.
With the intent of making amends, the Roughriders are looking to bolster their coaching staff, especially on offence. The names of Bobby Dyce and Khari Jones have been advanced as prospective offensive co-ordinators.

Here’s a thought: Why not employ them both?

Dyce, who has been the Roughriders’ receivers coach and passing-game co-ordinator for the past two seasons, is a candidate to become the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ offensive co-ordinator. Winnipeg is looking to replace Jamie Barresi, who was dismissed shortly after the B.C. Lions defeated the Blue Bombers 34-23 in the Grey Cup.

The Roughriders’ passing game was merely a rumour in 2011, as evidenced by a seemingly interminable stretch of 410 minutes 10 seconds without an aerial touchdown. Those woes have not deterred the Bombers from talking to Dyce. The fact that a Grey Cup finalist is interested in Dyce is a testament to his qualifications.

The elevation of Dyce within the Roughriders’ ranks would not preclude the team from hiring Jones.
Jones was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ offensive co-ordinator in 2011 after spending the previous two seasons as the Tabbies’ quarterbacks coach. On the surface, it may appear that a move to Saskatchewan to again become a quarterbacks coach would constitute a backwards step for someone with credentials as an offensive co-ordinator. That becomes less of an issue when the Roughriders’ circumstances and resources are factored into the equation.

Given the team’s travails in 2011, there is an urgent need for a quarterbacks coach. Jones possesses a marquee name, being that he was named the CFL’s most outstanding player after enjoying a superlative 2001 season as the Bombers’ quarterback. His football acumen and easygoing personality would ensure a rapport with Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant and his understudies.

Durant, who piloted Saskatchewan to Grey Cup berths in 2009 and 2010, is among the Roughriders’ principal assets. But he is also the Green and White’s No. 1 project after a regressive 2011 season.
The likelihood of a bounce-back season by Durant can be enhanced by putting the proper people around him (see: Jones and Dyce).

Durant was not always philosophically compatible with Doug Berry, who was fired along with head
coach Greg Marshall on Aug. 19. Complicating matters, the Roughriders did not have someone to mentor the quarterbacks after former CFL pivot Marcus Crandell — an offensive assistant with Saskatchewan in 2009 and 2010 — left to become the Edmonton Eskimos’ offensive co-ordinator.
Jones would be a natural. And if it takes some extra money to entice him to join the Roughriders, cough it up! Coaches’ salaries are exempted from the cap, so the Richriders (to steal a term from Bob Hughes) should take full advantage of their financial might while assembling a staff.

The hiring of first-year head coach Corey Chamblin could prove to be beneficial as the Roughriders woo Dyce and Jones. Chamblin, who was Hamilton’s defensive co-ordinator in 2011, worked alongside Jones with the Tiger-Cats. Dyce and Chamblin were colleagues with the 2007 Bombers, for whom Dyce coached the receivers and Chamblin coached the defensive backs.

Chamblin’s appointment in Saskatchewan was met with some objections from fans who felt that an offensively oriented head coach should have been hired, considering the team’s tendency toward two-and-outs in 2011.

That is a fair point, but here is one in rebuttal: As someone who has game-planned against Saskatchewan’s offence since 2007, Chamblin should be well-positioned to assess its assets and liabilities.

Moreover, the Roughriders can bolster themselves on offence by ensuring that the ranks of the assistants are expanded and improved. This can be accomplished by hiring Dyce and Jones, as opposed to unnecessarily choosing between them.

rvanstone@leaderpost.com