Huskies add Crandell to coach staff
Flory brings in 2001 Grey Cup MVP as overhaul of coaching staff continues
I wanted to make sure I had the people I wanted, and who I feel are the right people for this program.
Marcus Crandell had been out of football for a few years. He was selling insurance in Edmonton and kind of missing that whole gridiron lifestyle.
That’s why the longtime CFL quarterback is headed to Saskatoon. He’ll work as the University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ offensive co-ordinator under new head coach Scott Flory, who is in the midst of overhauling his coaching staff.
“I was contemplating it,” Crandell — an 11-year CFL quarterback and ex-Roughrider — said Monday. “If something came regarding a (football) position, I would take a serious look at it. Then sure enough, Scott and I linked up. Funny how that happens.”
Flory said Monday that his offensive coaching staff for 2017 will also include ex-Huskie and CFL player Duane Dmytryshyn (receivers), Dan Houle (running backs), Lane Bryksa (offensive line) and Jeremy Long (receivers and quarterbacks). Houle and Bryksa are the only returning members of that group.
Crandell was the Grey Cup MVP in 2001 while with the Calgary Stampeders, and won a second Grey Cup as the Roughriders’ backup quarterback in 2007. When he was done slinging footballs, he worked as an offensive assistant with the Roughriders, as an offensive co-ordinator and then quarterbacks coach with the Edmonton Eskimos, and as a quarterbacks coach with the Ottawa Redblacks.
That last job ended after the 2014 season. Crandell got his insurance license in 2013, and said he hopes to continue building that business, in addition to football, when he gets to Saskatoon.
Flory, who worked as the Huskies’ offensive co-ordinator before taking the head coaching job in mid-March, said Crandell will excel at player development.
“I’m really excited for the program and for what he brings — especially from a development side of things, with our quarterbacks and our offensive system,” Flory said Monday.
“My deficiencies are in the passing game, which is his expertise. His deficiencies are in the protection and run game, which is my expertise. I think we’ll work really well together.
“I’ll have my two cents, but Marcus is our offensive co-ordinator. It’s his baby. I have the utmost confidence in him running our offence.”
Crandell will be in Saskatoon for the team’s spring camp, which starts Thursday. He’s taking a crash course in all things Huskie, as he adjusts to both the program and the university game.
He’s been around the province enough to know that people here love their football — “they embrace it, so much, and I’m speaking from a Riders perspective,” he says. He figures some of that passion extends to the university game.
Crandell was concise when asked what, if anything, he knows about the program.
“They’ve had a long winning tradition with Coach Towriss. They’ve won three Vanier Cups, and we’re looking to make it four,” Crandell said.
Flory’s first practice since he replaced Brian Towriss as head coach goes Thursday at 5 p.m., when the Huskies kick off their annual spring camp.
He’ll announce the other members of his new-look coaching staff Tuesday and Wednesday.
“It has been an overhaul,” he said. “Me coming in, I wanted to make sure I had the people I wanted, and who I feel are the right people for this program and for the development of these young men moving forward.”
The Huskies went 5-3 last season and made the playoffs for the 16th consecutive season, before losing 47-17 to Calgary. It was their eighth straight playoff loss, dating back to 2009.
The football program’s Dogs’ Breakfast fundraiser takes place Thursday morning at Prairieland Park, with Henry Burris as the guest speaker.
The Thursday night workout will be followed by practices Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (8:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m.), with the Green and White scrimmage slated for Sunday at 10:30 a.m.