Photo courtesy: Martyne Vallerand/B.C. Lions
Class was in session for the B.C. Lions’ special teams unit this week, and veteran teacher Dennis McKnight has all the pupils standing at attention.
The 66-year-old was lured out of retirement to fill the Lions’ mid-season vacancy at special teams coordinator on Monday, but he certainly doesn’t act like someone plucked out of the rocking chair. McKnight’s gait might be slower, and he may need some added IT assistance in team meetings, but whenever “old” is used as an adjective to describe him, it is always followed by a far more important noun.
“He’s an old-school coach, which I love,” fullback Riley Pickett said. “He’s a huge vibes guy. He’s really loud, really exciting.”
That much was clear from McKnight’s memorable introductory press conference on Monday. The long-time NFL offensive lineman laid out a philosophy based on physicality and technical proficiency in terms that could inspire any random passerby to blow up the wedge on kickoff team.
The instruction on the field since then has been equally passionate, and it already seems to have had the desired effect on the players.
“The guys are fired up. Guys are excited. There’s a lot of energy. There’s a lot of passion, and I think Coach McKnight does a really good job bringing that to the room,” noted long-snapper Cam Foran. “You can just tell that guys have a lot of fire in their hearts and are ready to roll.”
“You listen to him talk, and he brings nothing but energy,” echoed kicker Sean Whyte. “He’s been around the block a few times, and he knows how to do it. He’s a great coach, he’s a funny guy — he gets your attention.”
McKnight’s voice routinely cut through the humid summer air in Surrey this week, increasing the team’s output of colourful language tenfold. His expectations are high. His requirements are precise. Players are clearly and directly informed whenever they haven’t met the specific criteria that he’s laid out.
According to Pickett, that’s what the “old-school” label is all about.
“It means you’re not scared to call out guys on their B.S.,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s exactly what we need. From the front office down, we’re really trying to build a gritty, mentally and physically tough football team, and he’s the perfect representation of that for us.”
There was a time when those who approached the game of football like McKnight didn’t come with any additional label; old school was simply school back then. In 2026, the effectiveness of that demanding methodology has come into question. Today’s athletes have lived through an era where measurement was the only purpose of the ruler in the classroom, and many need a personal touch before accepting hard coaching.
Though he is just a couple of days into the job, the elder statesman of B.C.’s special teams unit believes McKnight strikes a tone that appeals to all generations.
“He’s not old school like grabbing your face mask, making fun of everything you are, and all that stuff. He’s gonna tell you what to do and give you crap about it, but then tell you he loves you right after,” Whyte explained.
“If you need to be called out, he’ll call you out. Some coaches don’t like to do that anymore, but I think football guys need it, and we respond to it. You need that grit, you need that fire from a special teams unit because we’re gonna come out with more energy.”
It helps that the Lions are in the right mindset to accept an old-school revamp. Sitting at or near the bottom of several key special teams categories, players like Pickett admit that they feel a sense of responsibility for B.C.’s slow start and the firing of their former coordinator, Cory McDiarmid.
“Guys like me, Adam Konar, Maxime Rouyer, we’re all veterans in this league, and we do feel like we let Coach Cory down. We all took that personally,” he acknowledged. “At the end of the day, all we can do is go out there and play really well for this football club, play really well for Coach Cory, and also play really well for Coach McKnight. They just draw it up on paper for us, they motivate us, but we as players need to go out there on the field and actually make the plays happen.”
For all the change that McKnight’s arrival seems to have brought in terms of demeanour, don’t expect an overnight revamp to the special teams schemes. The difficult nature of an in-season transition will require a return to basics in the coming weeks, and there will be few added wrinkles; just simple concepts that can be executed at high speed.
“I think it’s been a smooth transition,” Foran said. “We’ve had a lot of the core veteran members of the unit take the reins as well and give Coach a hand, just getting everyone acclimated.”
Pickett has been one of those voices and is enjoying his stint in summer school, soaking up McKnight’s decades of technical knowledge. The Dallas, Tex., native’s brash and demanding style matches perfectly with the raw, physical group of players that he praised upon arrival, and those who have scratched and clawed to beat the odds are eager to see where this education will take them.
“At the end of the day, that’s my personal brand of football. That’s how I made the league. That’s how I’ve stayed in the league,” Pickett said. “I don’t talk very much with my mouth, but I talk with the crown of my helmet and my pads all the time. He’s the perfect coach to fit my style of play, and we’re all really excited to have him here with us.”
The B.C. Lions (1-3) will visit the Edmonton Elks (4-1) at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday, July 17, with kickoff scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EDT.
