{"id":945190,"date":"2026-10-25T02:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T02:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/945190\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T02:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T02:16:13","slug":"dave-dickenson-weighing-coaching-changes-plans-to-be-back-with-calgary-stampeders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/945190\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Dickenson weighing coaching changes, plans to be back with Calgary Stampeders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8667-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Samantha Keen\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson has begun his preparations for the 2027 season, even as his future with the Calgary Stampeders remains unclear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe plan is to be back and be better next year,\u201d Dickenson told the media on Saturday. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be change; there always is. I think I have a heck of a staff, but to make changes, you have to have a better person in mind. Change just to do it, in my mind, isn\u2019t the right thing. We understand that 9-9 wasn\u2019t good enough, and next year we have to give ourselves the best chance to win more games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dickenson was not asked directly whether he has been told he will return next season. Stampeders president Jay McNeil was not in attendance for locker room cleanout day,<a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/2026\/10\/08\/stampeders-president-jay-mcneil-determined-to-sell-out-grey-cup-in-calgary\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> nor was he made available for comment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>3DownNation Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>\t\tToday\u2019s CFL news in your inbox every day at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>\t\tBy signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, as well as our<br \/>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/terms-of-service\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms of service<\/a> and<br \/>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">privacy policy<\/a>. Unsubscribe anytime.<br \/>\n\t\t1900 Rose St, Regina SK S4P 0A9.<\/p>\n<p>The Stampeders <a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/2026\/10\/24\/calgary-stampeders-eliminated-from-cfl-playoff-contention\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Friday night<\/a>, despite finishing in a tie with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at 9-9. They are just the second team to miss the playoffs with nine wins since the implementation of the crossover, with seven of their losses coming by one-score margins.<\/p>\n<p>Dickenson indicated that all aspects of the club\u2019s personnel and coaching staff will be evaluated <a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/2026\/10\/18\/dave-dickenson-not-ready-to-assess-weird-year-before-calgary-stampeders-playoff-fate-decided\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in light of the disappointing result<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s tough. You\u2019re graded on how it goes and results,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I want to do is I want to speak to each coach. I want to speak to the players. I want to hear what they have to say. I\u2019m not interested in necessarily too much bitching, but I also understand. I want to know if the players were not maybe getting the information they needed, or were they not on the same page. Did they feel that the coaches made them better on a daily basis? Did they get the clues and the hints to help them be the best they can be?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSame thing personnel-wise; sometimes we had some success with some guys, and maybe it doesn\u2019t translate year to year. Why? And then try to figure out and get the best roster you can. Coaching-wise, we\u2019ll look at everything. I do feel like everybody put the work in, but it\u2019s still a results-based business, myself included. We\u2019ve gotta gotta try to be our best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After scoring a league-leading 632 total points, the most by the franchise in over 30 years, it would appear one side of the ball will be under greater scrutiny than the other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOffensively, I thought we gave ourselves the chance to win almost every single game,\u201d Dickenson said. \u201cMaybe there was one game we weren\u2019t at our level, but other than that, I thought we did a lot of good things. Just hard when you\u2019re not finding the wins at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dickenson has served as the Stampeders\u2019 head coach since 2016, adding general manager duties in 2023. He has posted a 104-69-3 record, winning a Grey Cup in 2018. That marked the team\u2019s last playoff victory, and they have finished at or below .500 in three of the past four seasons.<\/p>\n<p>A CFL record 19-year streak of postseason qualification came to an end in 2024, but Calgary rebounded in 2025. Now, they are on the outside looking in yet again.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the team\u2019s recent results, Dickenson gave no indication that he intends to relinquish either of his current titles if he is brought back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI enjoy the year. I enjoy the grind. I enjoy the process,\u201d he insisted. \u201cI do feel like there have to be ways to be better, but this year, if you\u2019re playing in the East, you\u2019re hosting a playoff game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just was one of those years where, man, it just didn\u2019t quite align for you. There\u2019s got to be reasons for it, I get that, but also I do think that there\u2019s a good foundation here. I like the people we work with and our club. It\u2019s just unfortunate we\u2019re not part of the playoffs, especially with the Grey Cup here, but they can\u2019t change history of the past. You can learn from it, but you can\u2019t change it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McMahon Stadium will play host to one more game this year. The 113th Grey Cup will take place in Calgary on Sunday, November 15.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"60\" height=\"60\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792894573_282_Ballantine-150x150.jpg\" class=\"avatar avatar-60 photo\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Ballantine is a lifelong Stamps fan and host of the Go Stamps Go Show Podcast. He has been covering the team since 2008.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3DownNation-Wordmark-v3-3.svg\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Samantha Keen\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. Head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson has begun his preparations for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,49,2798,48,7028,521,522,520,16337,527,2002,82,55630,166838],"class_list":["post-945190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-dave-dickenson","tag-football","tag-league","tag-sports","tag-stampeders","tag-stamps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945190","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=945190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}