Riders aim to provide winning football as team forges ahead

While the Saskatchewan Roughriders begin to set their 2024 plans in motion, it might take some convincing to get some fans to buy into those plans.

After back-to-back 6-12-0 seasons that both ended with identical seven-game losing streaks, changes are coming — but a number of fans were clamouring for more.

The CFL organization elected to not bring back head coach Craig Dickenson, allowing his contract to expire after five seasons as the team’s bench boss. But the team signed general manager Jeremy O’Day to a three-year extension.

“I’ve been a season-ticket holder for many years,” one fan said after the news about Dickenson and O’Day broke. “I go to lots of games, but it’s hard to spend a dollar on a team that’s not really putting a good product on the field.

“I think everyone is struggling with inflation and the cost of things these days, which is unfortunate. (I) love the program and the football team, but they’re just not putting a good team on the field right now.”

Another fan shared some of those sentiments.

“They still need a little more work to do to convince me,” he said.

In Saskatchewan’s regular-season finale, a 29-26 loss Saturday to the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium, the Riders announced 24,158 tickets had been distributed, but far fewer people actually showed up for the game.

Riders president and CEO Craig Reynolds said the drop in ticket sales is a trend throughout sports.

“There are some things outside of our control as well. There are economic factors that weigh into these things,” Reynolds said.

But the one thing Reynolds believes is a direct correlation between the club and getting fans through the gates is winning football games.

“We were trending quite positively in the earlier parts of the season. Certainly after we had three straight home wins, the trends (in attendance) were really, really positive,” Reynolds said. “As the team performance suffered, we saw the results and saw some low attendance in the last couple of games.

“A commitment to winning is really, really important so that’s what we will continue to do.”

Reynolds said the organization’s focus is on getting the fans excited again.

“Our fans deserve winning and entertaining football. I think at times this year, we played winning and entertaining football – certainly at home, there was a few games where we did and at times we didn’t,” Reynolds said. “It starts with Jeremy hiring a very good head coach, continuing to tweak the roster and (continuing to) get better.

“On the business side, we focus in on the feedback we receive. We receive lots of feedback on how we continue to improve the game-day experience and that work has already started and that work will continue throughout the entire off-season.”

So now the ball is in O’Day’s court once again as he tries to find a new head coach for the first time since 2019 with even more importance on making it to the playoffs.

One of the names being thrown around is Hamilton Tiger-Cats assistant coach Scott Milanovich, who has a 43-47 record as a CFL head coach but who won the 2012 Grey Cup with Toronto.

O’Day could also elect to give another person a chance at their first head-coaching gig, including B.C. Lions offensive co-ordinator Jordan Maksymic, Argos pass-game co-ordinator Pete Costanza or Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce.

“It’s early in the process, but when I look at it, there’s going to be questions on whether you want a head coach who has a strength on one side of the ball. We’ve had Craig that’s a special-teams co-ordinator by trade,” O’Day said of Dickenson. “I do evaluations on teams that have had the most success and do they have a head coach (that specializes) on one side of the ball?

“I wish that we were strong on one side of the ball because then it would become a little bit more clear, but to be honest, we weren’t very successful on either side of the ball. If you look at the spread between points scored on offence and defence (minus-164), it’s not something I’m proud of.

“(We’re looking for) someone that’s a leader of men and can understand the room. Part of being a good head coach is being able to understand the players and what they are going through and feel what they are going through. That means a lot to the players.

“The players have to want to win for the head coach. Where you have that where the coaches care — I’m not saying (the players) didn’t care about Coach Dickenson, because they did — they play harder. (I’m looking for ) a coach that’s able to see the big picture and coach the coaches as well. He’s not only going to coach the players but coach the coaches and put a good coaching staff together.”