Riders fire Maas and two other assistants; Dickenson and O’Day to return in 2023

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are making changes to their coaching staff, but not at the top.

The CFL team announced Tuesday that offensive co-ordinator Jason Maas has been fired, while run game co-ordinator/offensive line coach Stephen Sorrells and receivers coach Travis Moore won’t have their contracts renewed.

That’s the extent of the changes. The Roughriders also announced head coach Craig Dickenson and vice-president of football operations/general manager Jeremy O’Day will be returning in those roles in 2023.

“Craig is an excellent coach, a strong leader and truly represents the values of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club,” O’Day said in a media release.

“Throughout his last four seasons I have watched as he worked hard to bring out the best in our players on the field and off the field. I know he is committed as I am to bring a championship caliber team to the field in 2023.”

Dickenson was named the Roughriders’ head coach in January of 2019 after Chris Jones departed for the NFL. The Roughriders have gone 28-22-0 in the regular season with Dickenson at the helm and lost in the West Division final in both 2019 and 2021.

Saskatchewan didn’t make the playoffs in 2022.

O’Day is entering his 25th season with the Roughriders and his fifth as vice-president of football operations and GM.

He began his Roughriders career as a player in 1999 and joined the football operations staff in 2011. He was promoted to his current role in January of 2019 after Jones’ departure.

“Jeremy is a lifelong Roughrider, who cares deeply about the success of the organization and knows firsthand what success means to our fan base,” Craig Reynolds, the Roughriders’ president and CEO, said in the release. “He is a proven winner throughout his career, and I wholeheartedly believe he has the talent, knowledge and vision to move forward and build a winning team in 2023.”

Both Dickenson and O’Day are under contract with the club through the 2023 season.

Speculation has swirled around the futures of the two, as well as other members of the CFL team’s staff, since the Roughriders finished the 2022 season with a 6-12-0 record.

With the Grey Cup game to be played Nov. 20 at Mosaic Stadium, expectations were high for the Roughriders in 2022. But Saskatchewan lost 10 of its final 12 regular-season games and missed the playoffs.

Maas oversaw an offence that was a problem in the season, finishing the regular season with 387 points scored — more than only the Edmonton Elks (354) and Ottawa Redblacks (380).

Saskatchewan had a 4-1-0 record after its first five regular-season games, during which it averaged 27.6 points per game. Over the last 13 games, though, the Roughriders averaged just 19.2 points per contest — and that average fell to 17.1 points during a seven-game losing streak that ended the season.

The Roughriders’ offence finished the season in the bottom third of most statistical categories in the league, including touchdowns scored (32, eighth in the league), net offence (302.6 yards per game, ninth), average yards per play (5.6, ninth), first downs (321, ninth), first downs passing (174, ninth), passing yards per game (233.6, eighth) and average gain per pass (7.8, tied for seventh).

Saskatchewan quarterbacks also were sacked a league-high 77 times, 24 more than the next-worst team. By contrast, the Calgary Stampeders surrendered just 17 sacks.

More to come.