Denison finds coaching home at York
Tommy Denison’s long coaching journey has come full circle.
The 43-year-old former Beamsville resident started coaching at York University from 2005 to 2007 and in 2020 he returned to York as the Toronto university’s offensive coordinator.
In between, there were stints as: the offensive coordinator with the Welland Notre Dame senior team; the offensive coordinator with the Canadian Junior Football League’s Victoria Rebels; the offensive coordinator for the CJFL’s Ottawa Sooners; head coach of the CJFL’s Brampton Bears; a coach in the Ontario Varsity Football League; offensive coordinator and eventually head coach of the GTA All-Stars of the Northern Football Conference (a senior amateur league); associate head coach of offence and quarterbacks coach with Saint Mary’s in USPORTS and, the offensive coordinator with the University of Toronto.
His role at York is his first-ever, full-time coaching job. The former Queen’s University quarterback and two-time All-Canadian and two-time winner of the Hec Crighton Trophy admits it has been a grind to finally get to this point in his coaching career.
“Any time you want to achieve anything, it’s like that,” the former CFLer said. “You realize that there are only 27 jobs. It is relationship driven but it is also merit based. Obviously, Saint Mary’s and Toronto gave me the opportunity to prove it but you can’t give up. It’s like anything in life, including right now where we are facing many challenges and overcoming adversity.”
The first Canadian university quarterback to pass for more than 3,000 yards in a season brings his experiences from his playing days to his role as coach but the two roles are vastly different.
“There was a moxie and a swagger I had as a player that as a coach that’s something you don’t want to do or project, he said. “The level of attention to detail you bring to coaching but you also learn to innovate in terms of offence. It is recognizing sometimes your program is little but behind where you need to be athletically in terms of the offensive line and you need to be creative.”
That is crucial for any coach.
“It’s that creativity to see what you have and find the best way for your athletes to produce.”
Denison, like all coaches in all sports, is constantly evolving over time.
“We want to run the football and we are always looking at different ways to do that,” he said. “It’s spending time with as many different coaches as you can and giving yourself exposure to many different philosophies as possible.”
But in the end, it always comes down to the players.
“It’s finding out what they do well. The best way to evolve is bring in the best players you can, give them freedom and empower them.”
Denison feels that is what York’s offence is all about.
“When you watch us, we run a no-huddle offence. We are at the line of scrimmage and the quarterback is audibling and creating opportunities,” he said. “Very few teams give their players that autonomy.”
The former Beamsville Buc remembers his local playing days fondly. Among the influential coaches he played for were Dave Mawson and Gord Bedford at Beamsville and Gino Arcaro with the Niagara Colts in the Great Lakes Football League.
“The big thing is when I come back to Niagara people still know and recognize me and it’s cool being able to build new relationships with guys like (Myer head coach) Dave Buchanan. What I did at Beamsville builds that credibility,” he said. “It’s having access to Myer and Notre Dame, having the ability to bring real quality players to York and hopefully building a pipeline to York out of a place where we traditionally haven’t got a lot of players.”
Last week, Denison was at Myer two announce the signing of quarterback Drake Somerville and slotback Quinton Douglas.
