Riders Name Guest Coaches

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are pleased to once again welcome a group of experienced guest coaches to training camp this year.



Bryce Bevill is a former Rider who played defensive back for the Green and White from 1996-98. He played a total of 41 games in Saskatchewan. Since finishing his playing days, Bevill has gone on to coach at a variety of levels in the United States. He will be working with Richie Hall and the Rider secondary.


Paul Charbonneau will be working with Steve Buratto and the offensive line. Charbonneau comes from the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux where he is the running backs coach. He originally joined the Fighting Sioux in 2005. This marks the third straight year Charbonneau is a guest coach with the Green and White.

Jerry Friesen is the head coach for the University of Alberta Golden Bears. The Rosthern native played linebacker for the Saskatoon Hilltops before moving on to play for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. Friesen entered the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes in 1978 where he spent three seasons before moving back to Saskatchewan and signing with the Roughriders were he played six seasons. He was honoured with the CFL's Tom Pate Award for contributions to the team and the community in 1986 and later became the defensive coordinator with the Huskies in 1988, sharing in a Vanier Cup national title in 1990. Friesen will be working with Craig Dickenson and the special teams.



Rich Glover has decades of experience in football as a former Outland Trophy winner and former New York Giant. Glover’s esteemed career as a defensive lineman took him from his hometown of Jersey City, New Jersey to a national champion with Nebraska then on to be selected in the third round (69th overall) in the 1973 NFL Draft by the Giants. After his playing days concluded, Glover went into coaching and spent time at New Mexico State and Washington State where he coached current Rider d-line coach Mike Walker. He is currently coaching and teaching back in Jersey City. He will be working with his former player and the Rider defensive line.



Benjamin McDaniels spent the last two seasons with the Denver Broncos which included coaching the quarterbacks in 2010. McDaniels played quarterback at Kent State and during his three years as a starter led the team to a 37-3 record and two state championships. Benjamin’s brother Josh was the head coach of the Broncos for the last two seasons and is now the offensive coordinator with St. Louis. Benjamin will be working with the Rider quarterbacks.



Edward W O’Neil has been coaching since 1982 when he was named the linebackers coach at Eastern Michigan. Since then he has gone on to coach college teams in the United States including a decade spent at Rutgers University. After three years as the defensive coordinator with the University of Buffalo, O’Neil made the switch to pro and spent eight years coaching in NFL Europe. In 2007, he headed north of the border to the CFL where he was the defensive coordinator in Hamilton for one season. In 2009, he held the same title with the Toronto Argonauts. Currently he is coaching the linebackers and special teams with the Niagara Wheatfield Falcons. He will be working with Alex Smith and the Rider linebackers.


Blair Thompson will be attending his fourth Rider training camp as a guest coach since 2004. Thompson currently is the running backs coach with the University of Regina Rams. He will assist Bill MacDermott and the Rider running backs