Queen’s Athletics & Recreation together with Queen’s Football Club (QFC) are pleased to announce that Ryan Bechmanis and Ryan Sheahan will join the Gaels football coaching staff as assistant coaches with full time duties for the 2011-12 season.
This announcement follows the recent news that the University is moving forward with plans to build two new artificial turf fields supporting outdoor sports and recreation at Queen’s. The first of the two new fields will be at West Campus with a targeted completion date of September 2011.
Bechmanis and Sheahan are both alumni and have assisted the football team on a part-time basis in previous seasons. Both were members of the coaching staff in 2009 when Queen’s captured the Vanier Cup, their fourth in school history.
“The Queen’s Football Club has shown tremendous leadership to enhance our current coaching structure; this is a perfect example of our alumni working in conjunction with the department to elevate our programs to a new and exciting level” said Leslie Dal Cin, Director of Athletics & Recreation. “The QFC continues to be a driving force in providing a winning edge to our program and to the football team’s long standing tradition of success on the national stage.”
“This is an exciting announcement and the Queen’s Football Club is pleased to be able to help provide the support needed to see our team elevate its programing,” said Dan Pawliw, President of the QFC. “We are committed to providing the additional resources to help our student-athletes be successful on and off the field. This will help aid in that vision and the QFC would like to express appreciation to the dedicated alumni who bring such strong financial support to the team.”
Bechmanis, who has been a part-time coach with the team for the last four years, will hold the position of Special Teams Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach. He will also take on a major role with player identification and recruitment, summer camps and football operations as well as being the primary assistant to Defensive Coordinator Pat Tracey.
As a member of the football team from 2001 to 2005, Bechmanis was an Academic All-Canadian and was the recipient of the Hal McCarney Award, presented annually to the football team’s most dedicated player. He graduated from Queen’s with a Bachelor’s degree in Physical and Health Education and also holds a Sports Administration degree from Algonquin College in Ottawa.
Sheahan will assume Assistant Offensive Coordinator duties specializing with the quarterbacks. In addition, he will act as the team’s video coordinator while working actively with the Queen’s Football Club in organizing various fundraising and alumni activities on campus.
The former Queen’s pivot brings substantial experience to his role with the Gaels. In 2004, he led the Gaels in scoring before moving on to play and coach with Bechmanis as a member of the Esjberg Hurricanes in Denmark’s semi-professional league.
He also helped develop Gaels legend Danny Brannagan, working with him for two years before Brannagan signed with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. Brannagan was the first Canadian quarterback to play for the Argos since 1969.
Sheahan is also the eldest son of Head Coach Pat Sheahan.
“These two individuals are very talented young coaches who bring a lot of intangibles to our program on a daily basis,” said Head Coach Pat Sheahan. “This commitment made by both the alumni as well as the department will allow us to strengthen the leadership team of our program both on a short and long-term basis.”
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