Craig Dickenson won't return as Riders HC in 2024
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are moving on from head coach Craig Dickenson.
Saskatchewan announced on Monday that the team won't renew Dickenson's expiring contract.
"I want to thank Coach Dickenson for everything he has given to the Saskatchewan Roughriders over his 10 years in green and white," vice president of football operations and general manager Jeremy O'Day said in a statement. "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."
Dickenson joined the Roughriders for a second stint as their special teams coordinator in 2016. He was then named head coach in 2019. Saskatchewan posted two winning seasons in the 52-year-old's first two years on the job but wasn't able to replicate that success in recent years. The Riders missed the playoffs for the second straight campaign after going 6-12 in 2023.
Dickenson called the team's 2023 season "a failure" on Sunday and shouldered the blame for the disappointing results, according to Justin Dunk of 3DownNation. He went 34-34 in four seasons with the Roughriders. They didn't play the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saskatchewan also announced on Monday that the team agreed to a new contract with O'Day, who's been the club's GM for five seasons and will now be looking for a new head coach.
"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," Roughriders president Craig Reynolds said. "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."
Reynolds later added that O'Day has been extended for three years, according to TSN's Dave Naylor.