TGIF - SOME THOUGHTS ON THE NEW COACHING STAFF

It’s finally Friday!

The first official week of 2012 has to be deemed an eventful one, especially around Rider Nation.
It started with loads of rumours about the Riders’ 2012 coaching staff and most turned out to be true.

The offensive staff was introduced on Tuesday and Thursday the defensive staff was revealed. The special teams co-ordinator has yet to be officially announced, but it’s expected that Craig Dickenson will return in 2012. His contract runs through next season and the Riders are looking at extending it.

Here’s a list of Corey Chamblin’s staff and the respective ages of each member:

Head coach: Corey Chamblin, 34.

Offensive co-ordinator/running backs coach: Bob Dyce, 46.

Receivers coach: Jason Tucker, 35.

Running-game co-ordinator/offensive line coach: Kris Sweet, 38.

Quarterbacks coach: Khari Jones, 40.

Defensive co-ordinator: Richie Hall, 51.

Linebackers coach and assistant to the head coach: Alex Smith, 68.

Defensive backs: Barron Miles, 40.

Defensive line: Mike Walker, 53.

Special teams co-ordinator: Craig Dickenson, 40.

It’s a good mix of youth and experience, which is what Chamblin was looking for in his first group of head coaches.

There isn’t much on the Riders’ front today. The special teams are to be announced next week. I talked with Jones at great length today about coming to Regina as the quarterbacks coach. He told me that he was essentially free agent after his contract ran out on in December with the Tiger-Cats, so he was looking for work. He is looking forward to working with Darian Durant and is quite aware of the pressure that comes with being the face of a franchise. More on that and Jones’s thoughts on the Riders will be online later and available in Saturdays’ paper for those of you still like the feel of newsprint in the morning.

There has been some confusion about Smith’s expanded role with the Riders. He is the linebackers coach and the assistant to the head coach, not assistant head coach. Smith will assist Chamblin in dealing with the league office, scheduling, travel and those kind of things. Chamblin feels that Smith’s experience of 15 years with the Riders was too valuable to waste. Good move by Chamblin to tap Smith’s knowledge of the league.

Another interesting point about the staff is Dyce, Smith, Hall, Miles and Chamblin all have experience in the player personnel aspect of the game. CFL staffs are so small that each coach needs that, but the aforementioned five have all been through those roles with their team. That should help with the off-season decisions.

Here’s Chamblin’s philosophy for the off-season:

“We want to win the off-season,’’ Chamblin said. “That’s coaches doing all the things that they need to do and being diligent. We want to win the off-season to help us win the season.’’

That’s it. Time to get pounding, after all it’s Friday.