Brampton Minor Football Association

(Interview conducted by Bear Media Coordinator Mario Menezes)

General Manager Craig Boyd and the Brampton Bears Football Club are extremely excited to announce the hiring of Tommy Denison as our new Head Coach.
“Over the last several weeks I have talked with Tommy many times about his vision, philosophies and how he will structure things from day one, I am very confident we got the right guy” Denison has assembled a very talented staff ensuring that all positions and coordinator spots are filled with the kind of coaches that will develop our players into winners.

Tommy has a very impressive football resume including two Hec Crighton (back to back) with the Queens Golden Gaels. (CIS most outstanding player) Also playing for three CFL teams (Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto) has given Tommy the structure and knowledge to greatly serve the Bears.

When asked what best prepared him to take over the Bears he cited work ethic and his mentors.

“Being blessed to be coached by Matt Dunnigan (Former Calgary Head Coach who drafted Denison into CFL), Kent Austin (Former CFL Great) , Pat Sheehan, one of the most decorated coaches in CIS history and Andy McEvoy (Ottawa Sooners great) very much taught me that dedication, structure and the importance of striving for excellence is the foundation of success”

Over the past several years Tommy has been very involved in coaching at various levels including CIS, OFC, BCFC and the NFC. Along with his playing history the particular stops on his coaching career were very important to Boyd as knowing how to reach and develop players of this age is critical.

Menezes asked Denison how he feels about being the Head Coach and having the keys to the car versus the more specialized roles he has filled in the past and what we can expect from the Bears offence and defense.

“I’m Very excited; this is my first head coaching opportunity after numerous roles as coordinators and positional jobs. I am confident that the education I received from my previously mentioned mentors has me extremely prepared”.

“As far as the looks you can expect, you will have to wait and see but you can be assured that on the defensive side of the ball we will be fast and play very aggressive”. “Everyone will just have to wait and see what the offence will look like, Craig and I have these ideas locked away in the vault until opening night”.

Asked to both Boyd and Denison how their individual background and styles fit the rebuild of the Bears and to move the team into a position to compete for a championship.

“I am incredibly excited to take over the youthful football program. We have built a very talented coaching staff and have begun a massive recruiting program to begin our quest for a championship”. “I am grateful to our GM Craig Boyd for providing me with this tremendous opportunity and I am excited about the vision we share in becoming the premier program in the OFC. We both are roll up our sleeves kind of guys and welcome the hard work to make this vision a reality” says Denison.

Boyd’s response was started with a bit of a chuckle, “over the past several years I have been a West Jet guy but I have to say that Air Canada these days growing in my esteem” (Boyd regularly refers to Denison as Air Canada for his passing dominance over the years) I have spent time as a player in the OFC with great success and Tommy and his background is a perfect fit”. “In our shared NFC history I spent countless amount of time trying to figure out how to stop him to no avail”. “I figured the best way to neutralize him from killing us was to hire him”. “Tommy is a good guy and a good football guy, I feel great about this move, now I can concentrate on recruiting, and building the organization which is in terrific shape moving into 2012”.

The duo will be announcing a series of team activities starting in the next few weeks including mini camps running consistently right into our full time training camp. Players are encouraged to be watching the website and more importantly working on their fitness. In his recruiting efforts Boyd and Denison are adamant that camp is not to get into shape. It is not in any player’s best interest to come to camp out of shape, with expected competition at each position we encourage all players to make the decisions difficult.

The Brampton Bears Football Club is very excited to announce that we
have signed Dennis Edwards and his company, The Torpedo Creative Group
as our teams Marketing Director. Dennis has over 20 years of experience
in the field and operates one of the most successful firms in the
country. He will work with Craig Boyd GM and the Board of Directors to market the
Brampton Bears. We are very excited to aggressively market our brand and our
players through this new arm of the organization.

Please join us in welcoming Dennis to the Team

Brampton Bears are thrilled to announce that Mario Menezes has joined the Brampton
Bears in the capacity of Assistant GM and Media Director. Mario has
years of experience in business and working with sports organizations
such as the Bears. Mario will work with Craig Boyd GM on many of the business
aspects within the club as well as serve as our OFC representative in
the Media Director role. We are very excited about the acquisition for
the Bears and Mario will play a pivotal role in the Bears organization.

Please join us in welcoming Mario to the Team.

Craig Boyd is no stranger to the Ontario Football Conference and how it feels to be part of Championship Teams. As part of the powerhouse Ottawa Sooners of the early 90’s Craig has been trained and educated in football by the best of the best.

Having credited so many experiences and former mentors as the reason Football remains his first love, perhaps none more than the years he played centre for the heavily decorated Ottawa Sooners. “I was blessed to be there at a great time, we had a very structured organization, many great coaches and great players” Having played under Greg Marshall, Donnie Smith, Al Moffat and Football Canada Executive Rick Sowieta Boyd is trained and excited to get started.

“Being part of several OFC Championships and winning one of two trips the National Title Game was such an honor that’s created memories I will never forget.” What people need to understand is what goes into building that success. Boyd says “it is the guy who cuts the grass all the way up to the guy who cuts the cheques”. Put that together with a strong coaching staff, and good recruiting players will come.

The first priorities for Boyd will be beginning the recruiting process as well as the hunt for a new coaching staff. “There are many irons in the fire on both of these needs.” “It will be exciting to see the competition at every spot this year” “I plan to give the incoming coaching staff tough but great decisions to make. Having a strong bench of dedicated players and coaches is the first and most important piece of this puzzle.

Other parts of Boyd’s responsibilities will be running the business of the team, game day operations and community involvement. “We have a beautiful facility in a beautiful city and we plan to make coming out to Bears Games an event you will be looking for more of. Many promotions and game day events are already being prepared.

While having also spent time, playing, coaching and looking after General Manager Duties in the NFC below are the OFC highlights Boyd brings to the Bears Organization.

Ottawa Sooners –OFC (CJFL)

* 1989-93 Ottawa Sooners
* 91, 92 Ontario Champions
* 91 Eastern Canadian Champions
* 92 National Champions (Recognized in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame)
* 92-93 All Ontario Team all star
* 93 Chris Kerr Memorial Winner (most team spirit and dedication)

Brampton Football in reviewing their program determined that what was needed was a breath of fresh air who had extensive OFC (CJFL) background and had a business background to back the football experience up. President Ian Smith states “we are thrilled to be able to bring someone with Craig’s football background in the OFC but more importantly his business background to the Brampton Bears”. Craig and the Bears are looking forward to bringing a winning team to Brampton in 2012.

The Brampton Bears start their second season in the Ontario Football Conference this Saturday evening at TD Waterhouse Stadium in London vs the London Beefeaters.  The Bears are looking forward to going to London and bringing back the franchises first victory in the CJFL.  Led by Head Coach Mark Houlder whom has been joined by Mike Leonard as the offensive coordinator and Bernie Defour on defence the Bears have added onto a solid core of returning players.  Coach Houlder expects nothing less than a 500 season for his team and is excited by the athleticism of his young team.  The Bears have had many of their local high school stars returning this year from university to play for their hometown team.

The offence will be led by St Thomas Aquinas qb Jordan Boswell a young athletic qb with a cannon for a arm, he will be throwing to Leon Budhram (Campion) and Mitch Bilcharski (ND) and 6’5″ addition Tony Warrington at the wide receiver the offence looks to break out with a great game against the beefeaters.

The defence is anchored by Andrew Ochran (Campion), Gary Merrit (BCS) & Mike Dadzie (STA) on a very athletic front seven.  The secondary is led by Neil Riley-Grant (Campion) & Keion Therrien (ND) has been joined by Appollo Charlton (STA & Bishops) & Chris States (Campion) to make a solid defensive backfield even deeper.

Please join us on Sunday Sept 4,2011 at Ching Park at 7pm for our season opener vs the Twin Cities Preds.