Dexter Janke was named the 12th head coach in York Lions football program history on Jan. 22, 2024. In his first season at the helm, Janke led his team to their first Red and Blue Bowl victory since 2019, and their first ever win at York Lions Stadium on in Week 7 vs. Waterloo. The Lions playoff hopes came down to the final game of the season, a heartbreaking 24-21 loss to McMaster, setting the tone for an upward trajectory for the program.
Janke comes to York after spending the previous four seasons in various roles with the Westshore Rebels of the British Columbia Football Conference (BCFC), an arm of the Canadian Junior Football League. As head coach in 2023, he guided Westshore to a perfect 10-0 season and a BCFC title, leading and an appearence in the Canadian Bowl, Canada's junior football championship. Janke helped orchestrate a remarkable turnaround of the Rebels program, joining the staff in 2019 ahead of the cancelled 2020 campaign. In 2021, the Rebels went just 1-7 2021 season then went 7-3 in 2022 before their run to the Canadian championship in 2023.
The 31-year-old native of Edmonton played U SPORTS football with the Saskatchewan Huskies of Canada West, before being drafted in the fifth round, 44th overall in the 2015 CFL Draft by the Calgary Stampeders. Janke spent four seasons with Calgary (2015-18) before playing his final season with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019, where he won his lone Grey Cup.
Janke is the older brother of Lions football alumnus Jacob Janke (2015-19), the 2019 recipient of the Russ Jackson Award, given to the U SPORTS football player best exemplifying the attributes of academic achievement, football skill and citizenship.Â
