Warren Craney joined the Lions football team as head coach in 2010 and is the ninth coach in program history.
Craney made a name for himself on the international scene as part of the Team Canada coaching staff from 2009-16. As head coach, he led the junior national team to the gold medal at the 2016 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) U19 world championships in Harbin, China, with a dominant 24-6 victory over the United States in the final. The event marked the second straight time he was the head coach of the junior national team as he also guided the squad to a silver-medal finish in 2014 in Kuwait.
His other stints with the U19 team included serving as the defensive coordinator in 2012 and 2009, winning gold and silver medals, respectively, at the world championships, and coaching at seven straight International Bowls in Texas (2010-16).
He was also part of the coaching staffs for seven consecutive East West Bowls (2009-15).
Craney came to York from Concordia University, where he spent seven seasons as the defensive coordinator and three before that as the defensive line coach. While there, the Stingers were a perennial top 10 team and the defence was at or near the top of all statistical categories in Quebec and Canada.
Under his guidance on defence, Craney’s student-athletes won four Presidents’ Trophies, awarded to the nation’s top defensive player, and one J.P. Metras Trophy as the top down lineman in the CIS. One of those Presidents’ Trophies winners was Cory Greenwood, who went on to play in the National Football League (NFL) with the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions and is now a linebacker with the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League (CFL). In addition, 13 first-team all-Canadian awards were given to defensive players under his direction.
A native of Montreal, Craney joined Concordia’s coaching staff after a three-year stint as the defensive coordinator at Vanier College. Throughout his coaching career, which has spanned more than 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).
Craney and his wife, Cara, are the proud parents of five children, including son Noah who is a quarterback with the Lions football team. Their eldest daughter, Madison, is a graduate from the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, where she was a varsity synchronized swimmer, Kennedy is a student at York, Ethan is in 11th grade and Quinn is in grade four.
