The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

EUGENE McMinns will return to the Dalhousie Tigers sidelines to begin his second season as a wide receivers’ coach for the vaunted conference powerhouse football programme.

“Honoured and grateful to be back for year two,” McMinns posted to Facebook as the Tigers made the official announcement prior to training camp.

Dalhousie, the defending Atlantic Football League champions, will officially begin their title defence against the UNB Fredericton Reds in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on September 17.

The Tigers look to repeat the success they had in 2021 as AFL champions with a promising 2022 Tigers side. It was the AFL championship of McMinns’ career, twice as a player with the Holland College Hurricanes.

The Tigers concluded the season with a 40-14 victory over the Reds. It was also the third title for the Tigers’ programme in the last five seasons.

“It has been an honour to be these young men’s wide receivers’ coach. This year’s wide receivers squad was the best in the league. I’m so proud of these guys,” McMinns said.

“Honestly, it was even a bigger blessing to win the AFL Championship in my first year as a university coach, [and to have] a chance to mentor the future ballers of the next generation for the University of Dalhousie.”

McMinns joined the Tigers as a wide receivers’ coach under general manager and head coach Mark Haggett. They concluded the season 7-1, with their only blemish an October 2 loss to the Red Bombers.

“Thank you to the Dalhousie football organisation for recruiting and believing in me,” McMinns said.

“The man from Coconut Grove Nassau, Bahamas... this island man did it again. Grateful for the journey. Trusting the process.”

A former wide receiver in his collegiate career with the Holland College Hurricanes and Acadia Axemen, McMinns said he looks forward to developing young players at the position.

The Tigers are one of four teams that play in the Atlantic Football League and returned to competition in 2010 after a 34-year hiatus.

In 2016, the team won the AFL championship with an 8-0 undefeated record, and again went undefeated in 2018, capturing two AFL championships in three years.

McMinns began his collegiate career with the Holland College Hurricanes. In two years with the Hurricanes, McMinns developed into one of the team’s top playmakers as they claimed back-to-back Atlantic Football League titles in 2013 and 2014.

He was named the Holland College male Rookie of the Year in his first season with the programme.

After two seasons, he transferred to Acadia.

In his final collegiate season, McMinns was a part of the Bahamian connection that helped the Axemen win the 2017 Atlantic University Sports (AUS) championship title. At the conclusion of his career he finished second on the Axemen in receptions and yardage with 29 catches for 346 yards and three touchdowns. McMinns ended the regular season ranked third in all-purpose yards in the AUS with a total of 1,232 yards and 154 per game.