Sammy Okpro was hired as the defensive coordinator for the Lions in 2017 and was reunited with head coach Warren Craney, under whom he played for four years at Concordia University.
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Okpro came to York from the Edmonton Huskies in the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL), where he was the defensive coordinator from 2015-17 and, before that, spent two seasons as the defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator. Under his guidance, the Huskies had the No. 1-ranked defence in the CJFL in 2016 as the team went from 1-7 to 5-3 in one year.
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He had a tremendous playing career with the Stingers. In his four seasons he was a three-time U SPORTS first-team all-Canadian and earned RSEQ all-star honours three times (2005-07). He was also the team MVP in his final season, and following that he was selected in the fourth round (25th overall) by the Edmonton Elks in the 2008 Canadian Football League (CFL) entry draft.
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He also represented Canada three times, including winning the silver medal at the 2011 IFAF senior world championships in Austria, where he was named to the first tournament all-star team and earned MVP honours in the gold medal game.Â
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