Huskies’ staff overhaul with flurry of new hires
Scott Flory brought in an old, familiar face on Tuesday, outlined an ambitious recruiting initiative, and talked about pushing boundaries as far as he can.
There’s nothing weak-willed about the University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ new football head coach, who is remaking the program as they head toward this week’s spring camp.
On Monday, he announced that former CFL quarterback Marcus Crandell is coming in as offensive co-ordinator. Tuesday, he went to the airport and collected Jerry Friesen, a former Huskies player and assistant coach whose resume also includes a lengthy CFL playing career and 10 years at the helm of the Alberta Golden Bears.
Friesen, 61, will serve as Flory’s special-teams co-ordinator, and as his senior adviser.
“He’s been around the block,” Flory said. “Even just talking with him on the way back from the airport, it was spitballing ideas, going over situations and scenarios. The head coach and special teams guy are pretty linked at the hip, and when you make all those decisions, the special teams guy has to be right beside you. I’ll lean on Jerry pretty heavily for a lot of the situation stuff; for his guidance and input.
“He’s done this before. And as a new guy in the position, I felt I needed that depth of perspective, and that experience. ”
Braden Suchan will again coach the kickers, while ex-Regina Ram Joel Lipinski — who co-owns Ignite Athletic Conditioning — is the team’s new strength and conditioning coach and a defensivebacks coach.
Attila Nadori, who joined the Huskies as a graduate assistant in 2015 and previously worked as a recruiting and operations intern at Fordham University, is the team’s new recruiting co-ordinator.
Flory said he wants an off-field staffer to take care of the many things that go into identifying and contacting recruits. In the past, select position coaches have also handled recruiting — but now, Flory notes as an example, Nadori can scout a high-school game while the Huskies practise.
And he’d like to branch Huskies recruiting out past their traditional territory of Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.
“The bigger picture,” Flory says, “is I’m going to rely on our alumni to go out and see programs across the country. (Ex-Huskie) Todd Lynden went to a camp in Oshawa; he lives out there, and he represented us. It was good for him to give back, and good for us to make that relationship with teams out there.
“I want to protect Saskatoon. I want the best athletes here to be Huskies, and to grow up wanting to be Huskies. But there’s a lot of skilled athletes across this country. It doesn’t matter where you’re from; if you can play, and you want to be a Huskie, and there’s a spot there for you, we want you to be part of it. It’s just finding those toplevel athletes. If we want to be an elite program, we have to bring in elite athletes.”
Today, Flory will unveil his defensive coaching staff, which is expected to include numerous departures and new faces. Of the five offensive coaches named Monday, just two — running-backs coach Dan Houle and offensive-line coach Lane Bryksa — return from 2016.
The entire staff will get together for the first time as a group on Thursday, at the fundraising Dogs’ Breakfast.
“I’m taking what I like to think of as best practices,” says Flory, a longtime CFL offensive lineman.
“I’ve experienced, seen, and talked to a lot of people, and I’m trying to apply that here. I want to push the boundaries and move it forward. I cringe when I hear ‘ Well, that’s just the way we do it.’ I’m always looking for a better way to do things, and to move it forward.”