The Calgary Stampeders have added former Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach, Craig Dickenson to the staff as a ‘senior consultant.’

And of course most of us following along with the goings on in the CFL knew this, as the news broke only a few short days ago as of this writing, but perhaps you can think of this as a cautionary tale, and one that will look at the good side and the bad side of this news at hand, if you will.

Bear with me, dear readers.

Yes, Craig Dickenson did serve on the Stampeders’ coaching staff for quite a number of years, and as we already pointed out in a previous piece here at the site, he also helped secure a Grey Cup victory back in 2008 as the team’s Special Team’s Coordinator.

However, one and all should not forget the abysmal period of time he had with the Saskatchewan Roughriders over the last few seasons.

His time there with the team did not go down without quite a wee bit of controversy and a bunch of terrible decisions in that coaching position—specifically the treatment of one Cody Fajardo. There are those that still remember the last two seasons specifically and all of the goings on, this writer included.

You can read up on all of it HERE.

But all controversies aside, I for one am the kind of person that not only believes in a second chance, but a third, a fourth and so on, so yeah we’ll take a look at the glass as being half full for the time being.

“At the end of the day, it’s all on me. It was a different team, but we didn’t win any more games — just didn’t do enough this year, didn’t coach well enough, didn’t play well enough at times and it just didn’t turn out like we’d hoped,” Dickenson said when he was let go by the Roughriders, essentially taking on the weight of what transpired during his tenure there.

As stated, many would have liked, or rather preferred to see this taking of responsibility a year earlier when Dickenson and O’Day allowed the blame to fall on a blameless Cody Fajardo…Fajardo essentially led to slaughter, made to be the scapegoat for poor coaching decisions made during and at the tail end of the 2022 season.

And not to sound too biblical about it, or perhaps political being the better word here, as Fajardo is essentially or rather can be likened to the infamous patsy angle in the old JFK assassination conspiracy theories, and O’Day, Dickenson and whomever was involved, can be likened to the mysterious entities deep within the CIA.

If you’re not familiar with the aforementioned conspiracies I urge you to look them up. They apply here only as analogy however, but one can’t help but make correlations…

So in the end here, the point being made is yes, another chance is merited because of his experience before his time with the Riders, but perhaps his experience wearing the head coaching hat, adorned with the green and white colors, should be more of a cautionary tale, as stated above.

“This is an outstanding organization and football staff and I look forward to helping them succeed,” Craig Dickenson said when making a statement about his new gig.

*image via Calgary Herald

Dave Dickenson, Craig’s younger brother is the team’s head coach and GM and Dickenson’s return to the team means the brothers Dickenson will be back at it together, working together to do as Dickenson stated in his above statement, which is essentially to do what he can to “help them succeed.”

So in the end, a pro is definitely his level of experience, another being his relationship with his brother, but a con here, and a big one at that, is his performance as head coach during his time with the Riders.

This puts our cautionary tale to rest for today, and in the end it’s pretty much just food for thought, dear readers, but that food for thought is important, especially when oftentimes the proof is in the pudding so to speak…

And hey, some have been known to skip the main course and go straight to dessert. Some of us still have the taste of that pudding in our mouths and something wasn’t quite right with it, was it dear readers?

I guess not. But onwards and upwards, dear readers? We shall see.

NEXT: Saskatchewan Roughriders Add Former Giant Defensive Tackle R.J. McIntosh