The fallout from the Garrett Marino incident during last week’s Riders victory over the Ottawa Redblacks continued on Wednesday.
Marino issued a statement on the matter early Wednesday afternoon, where he apologized to Redblacks Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli for his actions on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium. The defensive lineman says that he will not appeal any portion of the four game suspension that the league issued to him on Monday night.
The Riders also offered an apology of their own to Masoli in a statement, the team will be making a donation in Masoli’s name to the Redblacks Mentorship Program.
Riders Head Coach Craig Dickenson answered questions about the situation before the team departed for Halifax as a part of Touchdown Atlantic.
“I’m pleased that he came out and took responsibility for his actions and more importantly that he felt remorse, I knew it right away, I think he knew it right away, better late than never I’ll say and hopefully we can move on and hopefully Jeremiah heals up quickly and is able to play. ”
Marino said in his statement that he will not be speaking on the matter further, Dickenson said he would like to see Marino speak about the situation but added he can’t force his player into something he doesn’t want to do.
“He feels really bad about it, it’s going to cost him a lot of money, it’s cost him his reputation in a lot of ways.” Dickenson added at this point Marino felt more comfortable issuing his comments via a statement and says it’s possible down the road that the defensive lineman will speak publicly about the situation.
The Riders Head Coach wished the apology from Marino would have arrived earlier than today but he also noted there were some procedures to deal with.
“In a perfect world we would’ve been able to get to Jeremiah and apologize right then and there but we’re trying to break up a bench clearing brawl at that point with three quarters of their team on our sideline. ”
In a tweet on Tuesday, Masoli criticized Dickenson for not issuing an apology along with his comments made on Monday. The Riders Head Coach was disappointed with the comments Masoli made about the lack of apology from Riders. Dickenson said he spoke to Redblacks Head Coach Paul LaPolice following the game and offered his remorse for the hit and the antics that followed from Marino. He added that he spoken to other members of Ottawa’s coaching staff.
“I texted Bobby Dyce, I talked Mike Benevides, I talked to Chad Hudson, I’ve called Paul twice, it’s not an excuse, but we expressed remorse right away.” Dickenson added he understood why Masoli’s point of view.
Dickenson added he believed he wasn’t able to contact Masoli directly since that would likely be considered tampering, but looking back on it, he says that he may he should have contacted the QB.
“I don’t have his number, I was hoping we could relay how we felt about it through the coaches, through their GM which we tried to do.”
The green and white departed for Halifax for Touchdown Atlantic which happens on Saturday, Dickenson noted the aftermath of the Marino incident has affected their preparation for their Week 6 matchup against Toronto. He noted with the off field chatter over the past couple of days, that it’s a good opportunity for the team to get away from the distractions.
Touchdown Atlantic will take place in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. You can catch the game on 620 CKRM with opening kickoff at 12:00.
