Dennis McKnight wasn\u2019t planning to be on the CFL sidelines this season.<\/p>\n
The veteran coach retired last year after overseeing special teams for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats through the 2024 and 2025 campaigns.<\/p>\n
He walked away happy with a body of work that stretched across North America, and was looking forward to spending more time with his three grandsons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen football season starts,\u201d McKnight said. \u201cYou\u2019re watching the games and I\u2019m sitting there going \u2018Don\u2019t lose leverage! Save the block! Don\u2019t push them in the back!\u2019 And my wife\u2019s like \u2018You\u2019re done!\u2019 \u2026 It never leaves you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now McKnight is back on the field.<\/p>\n
The B.C. Lions named him their new special teams co-ordinator on Monday.<\/p>\n
While he hasn\u2019t spent much time with his new squad, McKnight knows what they\u2019re capable from his time with the Ticats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played these guys four times in the past two years. And I\u2019m not blowing smoke up their skirts, but this is a big, strong, fast, physical team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can take this physicality that they have and tighten up the technique, we\u2019re going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions fired former special teams co-ordinator Cory McDiarmid on June 28 after opening the season with three straight losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously me and the guys, we wish we could have done more for Coach McDiramid,\u201d said fullback Riley Pickett. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty disappointed with how that all shaped up, because we\u2019re the guys that have to go out there on the field and actually make plays for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with that being said, there\u2019s still a lot of season left and we\u2019re excited to go out there for Coach McKnight and do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Football is full of sudden changes, Pickett added, and getting a new coach four games into a season is just the latest for the Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to go out there and get used to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always a learning curve that comes with a new coach, said veteran kicker Sean Whyte, and it\u2019s up to athletes to adjust.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to learn the way he does things, the way he coaches things, and just \u2013 as a professional football player \u2013 you\u2019ve got to adapt,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s all I\u2019m going to try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hailing from Dallas, Texas, McKnight played 141 NFL games as an offensive guard. He logged eight seasons with the San Diego Chargers, and also spent time with the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n
His coaching career began at the University of Hawaii in 1999. Since then, he\u2019s held a variety of roles across multiple NCAA programs and the XFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you get to know him, he’s a pretty open guy, an old-school type of coach, which I think our players need,\u201d said Neil McEvoy, the Lions\u2019 vice president of football operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a tough position to come into \u2026 (McDirmad) was well liked by the players and well liked by everyone. He was a good guy, he wasn’t a bad person at all. So it’s tough for (McKnight) to come into this environment. But from what I’ve seen \u2026 he’s really developed a good relationship with his guys the best he can, and so we’re going to see where it takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a difficult start to the season for the Lions, who were 1-3 heading into a bye last week. B.C. returns to play on Friday, taking on the Elks (4-1) in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
Turning the season around will require the team\u2019s offence, defence and special teams to get back on track, McEvoy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven’t played up to the level that we’ve wanted,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing 1-3 isn’t where any of us thought we would be. But at the end of the day, we’re here, and so it’s time for our players to take accountability and to go out there and start winning games.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause at the end of the day, we can make a million changes, but once you enter the field of play, it’s going to be the players that have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dennis McKnight wasn\u2019t planning to be on the CFL sidelines this season. The veteran coach retired last year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-801104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}