It didn’t come as in a singular ‘A-ha!’ or ‘Eureka!’ moment for Erin Craig. Instead, there were a series of them, all unfolding over a relatively short timeframe and convincing her of one thing:
Coaching football wasn’t just a growing passion for her, it was something she simply had to do.
Craig – currently the defensive backs/strength and conditioning coach at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax – will get her next opportunity to grow her own skillset during Winnipeg Blue Bombers training camp in May, as part of the Canadian Football League’s ‘Women in Football Program.’
Each CFL team will welcome aboard a guest to help in their areas of interest/expertise, from coaching to football operations to joining the equipment staff. Craig, a product of Barrie, Ontario with a Bachelor of Science and Kinesiology Degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax before joining SMU, will work extensively with Blue Bombers Defensive Coordinator Richie Hall and Defensive Backs coach Jordan Younger.
“I can’t wait,” began Craig in an interview with bluebombers.com. “Being able to work with them is going to be such a valuable experience. Any opportunity I can get – whether it’s for a week, two weeks, a month – I want to take it because seeing the way different coaches do things is extremely valuable. Seeing different defensive systems and the way different defences run their schemes against offensive schemes is extremely beneficial. That allows me to piece together things I eventually want to run someday.
“It’s just taking bits and pieces from everybody so that I can take things back to my defensive backs and put more tools in their toolbox, whether that’s in their techniques or in something that might click for different players. Everyone has a different perspective.”
This is the second year of the CFL’s Women in Football program. There were over 300 applicants a year ago and it was during the CFL Combine in Edmonton late last month that Craig found out she had been selected to join the Blue Bombers. She already has experience working with professional teams, serving as a strength and conditioning coach for the Toronto Argonauts during camp last year and with internships with the Montreal Alouettes, Indianapolis Colts and Dartmouth University. She’s also a member of the Halifax Xplosion women’s football team in the Maritime Women’s Football League.
Craig began working with the Huskies in 2016 as the strength and conditioning coach and then the on-field coaching bug bit hard during when she joined SMU special teams and running backs coach Dave Gould when he was working with a team in Grenoble, France in the summer of 2018.
“They were short on the defensive staff and needed another defensive coach, for the defensive line,” Craig said. “And as soon as I got into the meeting room and got with those coaches, and we were going through film and then stepped on the field as the defensive line coach it hit me then.
“It’s hard to pinpoint a specific moment that it really grabbed me, it’s just a feeling I get from it all. It was almost what I feel in the weight room, times 10. It’s the same feeling, the same intensity, just bigger. It was, ‘This is it. This is what I’ve been waiting for, and this is what I want to do.’
“My love for the game really grew over that time. It wasn’t just about strength or speed, but for the game itself and how it’s played. Then I got into playing and everything snowballed. My passion kept growing.
“It’s the football atmosphere and culture,” Craig added. “There’s just a different feel compared to other sports… it’s the intensity and energy that everyone brings. It gets me going as well and I feel that same energy and intensity and everyone feeds off each other. That then translates onto the field.”
Craig was still working out the specific details of her arrival in Winnipeg, but the expectation is she’ll be here for the start of rookie camp on May 10th and work with the club through the first preseason game on May 27th in Edmonton.
And through it all she’ll be soaking up as much of the experience as possible.
“It’s about consistently growing for me. If I’m not trending upwards, then I’m not growing,” she said. “I started out as a defensive assistant and then started helping out with the defensive backs at Saint Mary’s.
“The next step would be to have a unit on my own at the U-Sports level and then, potentially, a defensive assistant at the next level with the CFL. The goal is to be a unit coach in the CFL and perhaps maybe one day a defensive coordinator, whether that’s in U-Spots or the CFL. That’s definitely my goal, that’s my dream.”
