Dickenson stays in Calgary: will Hamilton pick Burke now?

The Calgary Stampeders received an early Christmas present Friday, while the Hamilton Tiger-Cats may have to remove an item from their wish list. Stampeders' offensive coordinator Dave Dickenson, thought to be one of the top two candidates for the Tiger-Cats' head-coaching position, has reportedly withdrawn his name from consideration for the Hamilton job (according to TSN's Farhan Lalji) and signed an extension to stay in Calgary in his current role. Following Friday's earlier announcement that the Stampeders had promoted linebackers coach Dave Walkowsky to defensive coordinator, their staff now appears reasonably set. Meanwhile, it now looks like Hamilton's likely to go with the other reported finalist for the job, Winnipeg defensive coordinator Tim Burke. They also now have even less reason to delay than they did before.

This certainly looks like a boon for Calgary. Dickenson (seen at right above with Stampeders' head coach/general manager John Hufnagel) has done an excellent job as a coach with the Stampeders over the last three years, working with the running backs in 2009 (when Joffrey Reynolds led the league in rushing), handling the quarterbacks and calling the offensive plays in 2010 (when Henry Burris was named the league's most outstanding player) and coordinating the whole offence in 2011. The Stampeders' offence put up an impressive 511 points in 2011 (28.3 per game), tied with B.C. for second-best in the league, and did so despite a somewhat-difficult midseason transition from Burris and Reynolds to Drew Tate and Jon Cornish as the key offensive figures. There's a good reason Dickenson was highly touted as a potential head coach this offseason, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him eventually take on that role somewhere. For now, though, he'll still be running an excellent offence in Calgary.

It's a little curious that Dickenson would publicly withdraw from consideration, though. One theory is that means he wasn't going to get the Hamilton job, which is certainly possible; if that's the case, though, you'd expect the Tiger-Cats to announce their decision quickly to give their chosen coach as much time as possible to settle in, and that doesn't seem to be happening. Another theory is that Dickenson wanted to solidify what he already had and start preparing to run Calgary's offence again this coming year, rather than taking the chance that the Stampeders might move on without him. A third is that Dickenson wants to stay closer to his roots in Montana. Whichever is the rationale, the decision is a benefit for the Stampeders and a kick in the pants to get the Tiger-Cats moving.

Burke now appears to be Hamilton's primary choice (unless you buy the George Cortez rumours, which would explain the delay but are being heavily denied), and he'd seem to be a good one. His performance as Winnipeg's defensive coordinator last year was one of the stories of the year, as he came in from Montreal, took a unit that was reasonably unimpressive in 2010 (where the Bombers allowed 485 points, 26.9 per game, third-worst in the league, and finished with a league-worst 4-14 record) and turned it into a dominant force that allowed just 432 points (24 per game). That defence carried Winnipeg to the Grey Cup game, and its improvement was largely thanks to scheme changes, not personnel moves; in fact, the Bombers lost one of their top players (Phillip Hunt) to the NFL in the offseason, and didn't really bring in a lot of high-profile replacements. They succeeded because Burke was able to mould the pieces they had into a great unit.

Burke's skills were also notable in his absence, as the Alouettes' defence slumped without him. He's done a tremendous job as a coordinator in both Montreal and Winnipeg, and although that doesn't always translate (see Marshall, Greg), it does bode well for his skills. The head coaching job is quite different from coordinating, but the Hamilton defence could certainly use some improvement; the Tiger-Cats conceded 478 points last year, ahead of only lowly Toronto and Saskatchewan. If Burke can do that and find a good man to run the offence as well, he could be a solid choice for Hamilton. Now we have to just wait and see if and when the Tiger-Cats will hire him.