So get out of bed, Rider Nation, the nightmare is over!! As we reported a few weeks back in a piece by site founder and editor here at the CFL News Hub, Mark Perry, Coach Craig Dickenson is out as head coach for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and as it turns out, fans couldn’t be happier at the turn of events.

Jeremy O’Day will remain as the Roughriders General Manager and Vice President of Football Operations. Last year, despite the chorus of boos lingering behind Dickenson’s poor performance as head coach, O’Day and company decided to give him another chance, allowing the blame to fall on the undeserving shoulders of former QB, Cody Fajardo.

Fajardo was definitely the patsy and/or the fall guy if you prefer that term, to the ridiculous season last year, but this time out it seemed there was no one else to blame for the bad decisions in coaching overall this year, and O’Day had no choice but to see the light, so to speak. O’Day had this to say on the matter since the decision was made:

“I just wanted to thank Coach Dickenson for all his hard work and dedication. He really worked his butt off the last number of years and he gave the last ten years of his career to the Roughriders…

I also just ask that everyone respects the type of person he is because he certainly showed it back … He’s just a great man … It was the best decision to move our team forward was to make the decision to not bring coach Dickenson back.”

via CTV News

Personally I could have done without the mushy “thank you” to Coach Dickenson, as last year, the public humiliation of Cody Fajardo was because of Dickenson, and he just let the young QB take the fall, and really that doesn’t sit well with many in Rider Nation…

It hasn’t since it all went down; especially with the lasting image of Fajardo being one of a man in tears. That rests at the feet of one Coach Craig Dickenson. If he is the type of man that O’Day claims that he is, he would take responsibility for what transpired last year, but that might never come to pass.

But at least O’Day admitted that bringing Dickenson back would have been a monumental error in essence. A backhanded compliment was this all? It can definitely be viewed as such. A praising of sorts with that last bold statement ringing like a gong at the end of some brutal Muay Thai fight in the jungles of Thailand perhaps.

My favorite portion of O’Day’s comments come from the apology he gave Rider Nation, which they all so richly deserved to hear:

“I just want to say to the fan base that we appreciate the support that they show us. We know that we let you down this season and last season. We need to be better and we will be better…

We just ask for the continued support, the same support that they’ve shown us for as long as I can remember. We’ll work our butts off and make sure they have a team on the field that they can be proud of.”

via CTV News (link above)

As for the new coach, he had this to say as well:

“That process will happen over the next number of weeks…I can’t give you a definite time of when we’ll have our head coach in place because we’ll have to go through the process of requesting permission to talk to staff members from other teams.”

via CTV News (link above)

Of course for fans this is all too little, too late, but we can hope that O’Day and company make the right decisions moving forward and the right head coach is definitely key to success. We’ll keep you posted, dear readers.

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