Football Canada announced that York University Lions football head coach Warren Craney has been appointed the head coach of Canada’s junior national team. The team will compete at the 2014 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) U19 world championship.
Craney, who has been at the helm of the Lions since 2010, is the third head coach of the junior national program.
Warren Craney
“Representing Canada as the head coach of the Junior National Team is a dream job for me,” said Craney. “I have been working with the program for more than five years and I am a big believer in what Football Canada is doing to develop the sport in Canada. It is an honour to wear the red and white and this position gives me a tremendous opportunity to lead some of the best young players in the country.”
Craney brings a tremendous amount of international experience to the national team, including most recently serving as the defensive coordinator under head coach Noel Thorpe on Canada’s gold-medal winning entry at the 2012 IFAF U19 world championships. He also served the same role under Glen Constantin at the inaugural event in 2009, as well as the 2007 NFL Global Juniors.
In addition, Craney is a three-time defensive coordinator for Team World at the International Bowl, an annual game that pits a team of players from around the world against the United States under-19 squad. He was crucial to Team World’s historic victory over the Americans in 2012, leading a defensive unit that allowed just 254 yards en route to a 35-29 win. He also served as the team’s defensive backs coach this past February.
In his three seasons with the Lions, Craney has been the mastermind behind the team’s improvement both on and off the field. The squad finished seventh in the OUA this past season while finishing with the conference’s third-ranked offence and seventh-ranked defence.
Prior to joining the Lions he spent seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at Concordia University and another three before that as the defensive line coach. A native of Montreal, he joined Concordia’s coaching staff after a three-year stint as the defensive coordinator at Vanier College. Throughout his coaching career, which has spanned nearly two decades, he has also served as a guest coach at the University of Michigan Football School and University of Nebraska in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and with several teams in the Canadian Football League (CFL).