Marchese, MacNeill on board with Gryphons staff

The much-anticipated hires of two full-time assistant football coaches have been made at the University of Guelph.

Joining rookie head coach Stu Lang's staff will be defensive coordinator Kevin MacNeill, a former linebacker with the WLU Golden Hawks and head coach of the Guelph Bears in the OVFL, and offensive coordinator Perry Marchese, who brings CIS, CFL and OVFL coaching experience to the fold. Further details on both men can be found at the Gryphons website.

The power of nine

The results are in and they’re not pretty.

Mired in a steroid scandal since early April, the University of Waterloo has elected to suspend its football program for one year and place its coaching staff on paid administrative leave. This decision comes in the wake of nine players on the team testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, following a team-wide test of all 62 members by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports.

Nine were guilty, and 53 apparently innocent. Yet, they all suffer, unable to play during the upcoming football season while the university conducts an internal review of its program and policies.

Full-time assistant football coaches still yet to be named

When Stuart Lang was introduced as the Guelph Gryphons new head football coach in March, the announcement was accompanied by a statement from the Department of Athletics that the team would also be hiring two full-time assistant coaches in the near future to aid Lang with coordinating the Gryphons offence and defence. The Gryphons would become one of the only a few teams to employ three full-time coaches, a shrewd move that will hopefully help accelerate the rebuilding process for a team that may be losing a number of key starters heading into the 2010 season.

Nearly two months later, those full-time assistants have still yet to be named.

Gryphtalk weighs in on Stu Lang hiring

On today's show, we rolled up our sleeves to discuss the Stu Lang hiring by the Gryphons football program. Interviews included athletic director Tom Kendall and former Gryphons quarterback Justin Dunk.

Click HERE to go to the host site for today's show. First select "Regular Download" on the right, and then on the next page, the actual mp3 download link is at the bottom.

Enjoy!

photo credit: Rashaad Bhamjee

Link to Guelph football press conference

As you probably know by now, the Guelph Gryphons are holding a press conference today, (Tues. March 30) at 2pm ET to introduce their new head football coach. At this time, it is expected that Stu Lang will be taking the reins from the recently-departed Kyle Walters. Athletic director Tom Kendall will be hosting the press conference from the Gryphon Lounge in the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre on campus.


Click HERE to go directly to the video link for today's presser, hosted by SSN Canada

Guelph Press Conference: Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2-3pm EST

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Mar. 30) from 2-3pm EST, there will be a press conference at the University of Guelph to introduce the new head football coach. The press conference will take place in the Gryphon Lounge in the Athletic Centre on campus and be broadcasted on www.ssncanada.ca. It is expected that Stu Lang will be introduced as the next head coach of Gryphons football, replacing Kyle Walters who has taken the job of special teams coordinator with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL.

Sources: Stu Lang will be next Gryphons head football coach

Exciting news out of the University of Guelph!

Multiple sources surrounding the team have indicated that current Guelph Gryphons receivers coach and former CFLer Stu Lang will be named the new head coach of the team. Greg Layson reported that Lang was interviewed for the position last week. His write-up can be found HERE. As Layson indicated, money is not a critical factor in Lang's desire to coach this team as he is already financially secure given his family's labeling business, CCL Industries. Lang's Gryphon bio can be found HERE. Players were impressed with his dedication and commitment as a coach this year.

Lang had a successful CIS and CFL career as a receiver with the Queen's Gaels and Edmonton Eskimos, winning one Yates Cup and five Grey Cups in the 70s and 80s. Last year was his first year coaching Gryphons receivers, a group that included Jedd Gardner, Dave Harrison, Jamie Shaw and budding rookie Dillon Dimitroff, the nephew of Atlanta Falcons GM Tom Dimitroff Jr.

Athletic Director Tom Kendall has not yet confirmed that Lang will be named head coach, but did indicate that there should be a press conference announcing a hiring sometime next week--likely Thursday.

Gryphon drafted by the Argos

Check out this week's edition of The Ontarion http://www.theontarion.ca/ to read about Guelph Gryphon Brad Crawford being drafted into the CFL by the Toronto Argonauts. Brad's versatility was a huge selling point and he'll look to make the cut with the Argos similarly to former Gryphon wide receiver Mike Palmer. Brad's brother Bryan is already a running back with the Argos and even if Brad doesn't make the team, he still has the option of returning to Guelph for a fifth year. On a team that could really use some leadership in the defensive secondary, Crawford's experience would certainly be helpful but we all wish him the best of luck in his tryouts with the Argos.

MT

Come one, come all

Had a meeting with Barry Rooke and Aaron Levy (aka Ken Cheesy) yesterday about the future of Guelph Gryphons sports action on the radio for next year. Barry, as interim station manager at 93.3FM CFRU, the campus radio station, was the brains behind this year's sports broadcasting project that Aaron and I did play-by-play and colour commentary for, along with a host of fantastic guests. Aaron, who also hosts a weekly radio show from 1-3pm on Mondays (Anarcha-Feminist Kool Aid Acid Test), did some work as a football broadcaster in the fall and I came alongside to do basketball and the women's hockey playoffs shortly after.

Both Barry and Aaron are great guys and have been, along with myself, tirelessly committed to trying to bring listeners some Gryphons sports coverage on the radio.

The success of this year's sports radio broadcasting has gotten some people talking about ways to take it further and our meeting yesterday discussed ideas about how we can take sports broadcasting to the next level. We've built partnerships with Gryphons athletics and several varsity staffs and are now looking to move into the business aspects of production to further develop the project.

Without getting into a lot of specific details, I want to start with the main thing we determined: THE NEED FOR MORE VOLUNTEER HELP!!!!

The sports broadcasting is a project put on by volunteers working in conjunction with CFRU's staff and has the potential to not only create great programming but also serve as a great educational opportunity for anyone looking to get involved in any aspect of broadcast journalism.

For the fall, we're looking to exclusively cover Gryphons football, followed by men's and women's basketball and some hockey in the spring. If you're at all interested in participating in this project, as a commentator, producer, interviewer, tech support or anything related to radio production of athletics events, take the time to become a CFRU volunteer and we'll get you hooked up! The success of the project explicitly depends on our ability to attract volunteers.

Give it a shot, you might end up like me and find it to be something worth pursuing!

MT

More recruits sign on

The Gryphons football team made a big splash a little over a month ago with their version of "National Signing Day", introducing the incoming rookies who had signed a letter of intent to play for Coach Kyle Walters and his staff.

Last week, I talked to Dillon Dimitroff, a wide receiver from Burlington, whose father, uncle and grandfather are all former Gryphons (Dillon's uncle, Tom Dimitroff, is the current General Manager of the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL and the reigning Executive of the Year). Dillon said that the signing event was very impressive and he really liked how the school was making the incoming rookies feel comfortable and important - this kid has a great head on his shoulders and should contribute sooner rather than later. He'll be looking to intern with the Falcons this summer to get some professional football advice - can't hurt!

Anyways, back to the point of this post - I've just learned from the great people in athletics that Coach Walters now has a second group of recruits who are poised to become Gryphons and once again, there is a significant Niagara Region flavour in the group. Walters has now recruited 4 players from Niagara Falls to come to Guelph and 3 others from nearby Port Colborne, Fort Erie and Welland. We'll look to run a story on these guys in the fall as I'm sure they've all played with/against each other at some point.

With the two groups of recruits that have committed to Guelph, the rookie class is tentatively set at 27 new players so there's going to be lots of new talents this year. Granted, we won't likely see them all on the field during the games - some will red-shirt during their first year - but one player I'm really looking at to make a big contribution is running back Corey Davidson out of Port Colborne. He'll likely be the Gryphons' #2 back this year behind Nick Fitzgibbon and also see time returning kicks.

Also, anyone who follows Gryphons athletics knows that Port Colborne has been a great supplier of athletes to the program as it is the hometown of the basketballing Yallin sisters. Steph Yallin was a former all-star and team captain and Kris Yallin is now graduating after four years of outstanding play - she was a co-captain and OUA West Second-Team All-Star this year and one of the best three-point shooters in Gryphons history. Alex Yallin is going into her third year and has shown potential to be a big contributor in the backcourt. ALSO, when I talked to Kris earlier this year, she told me that there are TWO MORE Yallin sisters in high school with basketball talent and Gryphon aspirations. Despite being a very small town, Port Colborne continues to produce top-shelf athletes - hopefully Corey Davidson will be no different.

Stay tuned for more updates...