Austin Not a Coach of the Year Finalist

When the CFL announced the finalists for the 2014 Coach of the Year award, one name was conspicuous by its absence: Kent Austin.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach failed to make the final cut, as Calgary John Hufnagel (who won the award the night the Stamps won the Grey Cup), Edmonton’s Chris Jones and Montreal’s Tom Higgins are the three men who will vie for the award.

Hufnagel’s and Jones’ nominations are understandable and deserved. Hufnagel led the Stamps to a 15-3 regular season record and a Grey Cup championship, while Jones took Eskimos team that was 4-14 in 2013 and got them to the West Final in 2014. There are zero reasons to question their respective cases.

But that leaves Higgins.

Higgins’ résumé isn’t all that much different than Austin’s. Both teams started slow – the Als started 1-7, the Ti-Cats started 1-6 – before turning their seasons around and making the playoffs. Both teams dealt with quarterback issues, with Montreal not really finding their footing until Jonathan Crompton was inserted into the starting lineup and Hamilton just barely treading water while Zach Collaros recovered from an early season concussion; and both teams finished 9-9, before meeting in the East Division Final. Both their seasons were remarkably similar, with one, somewhat-large caveat: Austin’s Ti-Cats went to the Grey Cup. Putting it all together, it seems like it should have been Austin, not Higgins, who was the third nominee for Coach of the Year.

Now, some could argue that Higgins did more with less. The Ti-Cats were coming off a Grey Cup appearance and more was expected on them. The Ti-Cats were good last season, but the expectation was that they be great, while the same success was not expected in Montreal. Despite the Als coming off a playoff appearance in 2013 and many commentators believing they had found Anthony Calvillo’s successor in former Heisman winner Troy Smith, the Als turnaround was deemed more impressive than what Austin did with the Ti-Cats. Obviously things didn’t work out as planned for Montreal – Tory Smith flamed out rather spectacularly – but it’s not like the cupboard was bare for Higgins when he arrived in Montreal.

And none of this takes into account the stadium issues that Austin’s team dealt with again in the first half of 2014.

All things considered, Kent Austin probably should have been a nominee again this year.

The Replacements

Smiles no more: both George Cortez (left) and Bob O'Billovich (left) were relieved of their duties yesterday.

Now that George Cortez and Bob O'Billovich have been relieved of their duties, it's time to look at some people that might be the next head coach and/or general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

For coaches, we have the usual suspects/leftovers from last year's coaching search in Kent Austin and Greg Marshall, and new candidates such as Toronto defensive coordinator Chris Jones and deposed Blue Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice.

As for general manager, Austin could become the GM/head coach and, of course, Eric Tillman. Duane Forde's name has been thrown out there as well.

I'm going eschew making a prediction as to who I think it will be. I am never right about these things (Last year, I called Cortez a "dark-horse candidate"), so I only set myself up to look foolish. That said, I think the team would bring in Kent Austin if he is willing to leave Big Red (Cornell University) to come back to the CFL.

If Austin passes, I'd stay in-house and name Joe Womack the new general manager. Womack is being courted by Ottawa to run their football operations and I think he would be a tremendous choice for the Ti-Cats. I would also give serious consideration to bringing Duane Forde in. That guy is going to run a team someday and the team that gets him will be getting a guy as knowledgeable about the CFL, especially when it comes to Canadian players, as anyone. Even if he is not offered the GM role, I would recommend highly that the team find a way to bring Forde in for some job.

So if Austin decides he doesn't want the dual role or says he doesn't want to solely be the head coach, I'd make Marshall my head coach and bring in LaPolice as the offensive coordinator. I'd then hire Orlondo Steinauer away from the Argos to be the defensive coordinator, while retaining Jim Daley as special teams coordinator (no need to make a change there). Marshall was given a raw deal in Saskatchewan and LaPolice could do some pretty good things with the offensive talent this team has. I have mentioned Steinauer as a possible defensive coordinator before and I still think he's as good a candidate as anyone else out there.

Remember, these aren't predictions, this is just what I would do. I think the team will go hard after Austin, so if there is any prediction anywhere, that is the one. But if Austin were to pass, my decision would be to go with the Womack-Marshall tandem.

Toronto's Moves and their Tiger-Cat Implications

The CFL off-season is not even a week old and the Toronto Argonauts have made three key moves to position themselves for 2012. Those moves also have some rather large implications for the Tiger-Cats as well.

The Argos hired former Montreal Alouettes Offensive Coordinator Scott Milanovich to be the team's new Head Coach. Milanovich takes over from Jim Barker, who was the Head Coach the last two seasons, so Barker can concentrate solely on being the team's General Manager.

Along with Milanovich comes Calgary Defensive Coordinator Chris Jones. Jones had been with the Stamps since 2008. His hiring in Toronto isn't official, and there seems to be a lot of back and forth between the Argos and Stamps. The Argos are saying they haven't hired Jones, while the Stamps filed a tampering complaint with the league over the issue and the league fined the Argos $5,000 for it.

The last bit of Argos news is that they have signed Quarterback Steven Jyles a two-year contract extension worth a reported $250,000 per season. The Argos traded for Jyles back in March and he took over as starter after the team cut Cleo Lemon in September.

These three moves have some implications for the Ti-Cats.

For starters, it means that both Milanovich and Jones are not going to be coaching the Tiger-Cats. This is not surprising since these moves were known before Ti-Cats fired Marcel Bellefeuille, so it is unlikely that either coach was on any list the Tiger-Cats came up with.

But the Jones hiring could have a ripple effect. With Jones now (or soon to be) the Argos Defensive Coordinator, that means that Orlondo Steinauer, who was Toronto's Defensive Coordinator for the last half of the 2011 season after the Argos fired Chip Garber, will not be. Steinauer could go back to being the team's Defensive Backs Coach (the position he held prior to his promotion) or he could look to move to another team and be their Defensive Coordinator. That team could be Hamilton if Corey Chamblin gets the Head Coaching job in Saskatchewan or Hamilton. That is a lot of moving parts, but it can't be dismissed that Steinauer could be the next Defensive Coordinator in Hamilton. And if Mike O'Shea becomes Head Coach, all bets are off.

The Jyles extension is juicier because it all but guarantees that Henry Burris will not be going to Toronto. The Argos are not going to pay two Quarterbacks a combined $500,000-600,000 – it is doubtful that Burris would go to the Argos for less than what Jyles is being paid – so Burris landing in Hogtown is highly unlikely. The speculation now is that Hamilton is the front runner to land Burris's services. Whether that's a good idea or not is for another time, but expect to see the Burris-to-Hamilton rumours get more intense.

Just a few days in and this CFL off-season looks like it might be one of the most interesting ones in recent memory.