Courtesy Huskie Athletics

By Wray Morrison

Sean Payton coming to Dog's Breakfast

Super Bowl champion coach to visit Saskatoon

Feb 14, 2024 | 3:52 PM

The off-season is always busy for the Huskie football team. On Wednesday, Huskie Athletics along with the Huskie Football Foundation and Spark Creations and Bookings announced that NFL coach Sean Payton will be the guest speaker for the 2024 Staybridge Suites & Holiday Inn Express University Dogs’ Breakfast. This year’s event is scheduled for May 2^nd at 6:30 am and Prairieland Park.

Payton, who is currently the head coach of the Denver Broncos, held the same role with the New Orleans Saints from 2006 to 2021. He led the franchise to its one and only Super Bowl title in 2009-10. “To have a current NFL head coach take time out of his day…he’s got a real job!”, said Huskie head coach Scott Flory. “I can only imagine how busy he is because I know how busy I am. I’m sure he gets a million of these requests, so for him to come here is remarkable.”

2024 marks the 22^nd anniversary of the breakfast which raises funds and scholarship money for the Huskie football program. Ronnie Lott, Marshall Faulk, DD Lewis and Ron Lancaster are just a few of the keynote speakers that have come to Saskatoon for the event in past years. “I remember coming to the first one”, said Flory. “I think Brian Towriss was the guest speaker. To how it’s grown, it’s remarkable.”

New recruits are also introduced at the breakfast in front of 1,400 to 2,000 supporters. It is a real spectacle for the young athletes about to embark on a university football career. “I can feel the nerves when the young men come up, shake hands and get a jersey”, said Flory. “We’re at 20 recruits right now. We’ll probably we’ll end up at 25 to 30. We are seeing a little bit more turnover.”

Linebacker Ramsey Derbas is going to the regional CFL combine while offensive lineman John Kourtis, defensive lineman George Idoko and linebacker Nick Wiebe will try out in front of scouts at the main combine in Winnipeg next month. While Flory would like to have these talented players on his team, he’s also making alternate plans. “I’m not anticipating getting some of them back”, he said. “I just assume they are all moving on.”

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The Huskies will hold their spring camp in May before main camp starts in August. After back-to-back Vanier Cup appearances in 2021 and 2022, Saskatchewan finished with a 5 and 3 record last season, then suffered a 40-17 loss to the Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West semi-finals.

“I think we got a little bit of success flu”, said Flory. “We got a little bit caught up in ourselves and weren’t in the moment as much as we should have been. We were looking to tomorrow and not living in today. I think that ended up biting us at the end of the season and we are not going to make that same mistake again.”

Tickets for the 2024 Staybridge Suites & Holiday Inn Express University Dogs’ Breakfast are available at https://donate.usask.ca/online/dogsbreakfast.php