You can't be happy with any of the news this off-season without giving the VP of Football Operations his due credit....
Re-signed June Jones
moved Collaros and the contract and actually received good value for it.
didn't keep him in the East.
resign Masoli when many figured he'd take big money from Montreal
re-sign a guy that was quoted as saying he wouldn't if Kent was even here. No ego... Just went out and got the deal done for the better of the team.
keep and develop Jeremiah Masoli through the rough start to his career to making him a starter now.
You can attribute the rest of this offseason to him too... Cause it's his job.
All the guy has done since coming here is try his absolute best to bring this city and these fans a Grey Cup and many of you accused him of everything up to and including the Kennedy assassination.
Every decision he has made has been with the intent of Hamilton winning the Grey Cup. Right or wrong.
It's time to put last season behind us as well as the empty threats of boycott, conspiracy theory and finger pointing and get down to cheering this team on. And that includes Kent Austin.
You can't be happy with where this team sits today and not credit Kent.
Indeed that is a very well said . Austin and Tillman are football guys. They know what they're doing . Whether you are a people person or not, eventually you retire or get fired . Coach Bill Belichick is not a warm and fuzzy guy with the press but he knows what he's doing . Austin was praised when the Cats were winning but has been dumped upon recently for the losses . That is part of the sports business but the personal attacks should not be . "To live in the past is to die in the present" so we're on to Cincinnati or Regina .
Gotta say I didn’t like Austin in the media scrums but I have always been a supporter of him being in this organization. I hope he doesn’t leave and continues to drive towards a championship. He and Tillman must have a ton of contacts throughout the NCAA & NFL to find talent.
He has provided many sound bytes, sports centre clips and less than profession behaviour but he has also given us a chance to win. His coaching has little to be desired but he has made some smart football moves. I hope he delivers us a Cup.
Austin himself said that the June Jones deal was handled by Scott Mitchell. Whether you like Austin or not, the single most important move of this off-season, the re-signing of Jones, was specifically out of his hands.
I've always maintained Austin is an asset to the organization. The Team was lost in the wilderness for a good 10+ years until Kent arrived. People forget so easily and the first sign of trouble they want the guy gone. I echo the sentiments, THANK YOU Kent!
But I have to call a spade a spade, I have one criticism:
- moved Collaros and the contract and
actually received good value for it.
The Collaros contract was given by Kent, which given Zac's track record at the time (almost non existent) didn't have to be so rich. A more reasonable deal would have allowed us to retain some of the other talent we lost in the intervening years, and, may have allowed the team to keep Zac going forward. At $540, 000, we tied our own hands and had to trade him. Basically, Austin undid his own error here.
I'll also add that the Collaros contract forced us to trade away Burris, which I felt was an error at the time. We didn't know if Zac was going to be that good and I thought Burris, who had us in the GC the year prior, was really good insurance.
- resign Masoli when many figured he'd take big money from Montreal
Have terms of this deal been made public? I have no idea what Masoli signed for.....if he got him at the right price, then its a good move. If it was another overpay, we may have just locked ourselves out of signing Manziel.
Manziel should be had for the CFL min. year one with incentives if he actually starts at some point. He’s unproven in the CFL. Should not effect our cap space much. Year two based on earning a starting position should be more in line with starters pay.
The Collaros contract was given by Kent, which given Zac's track record at the time (almost non existent) didn't have to be so rich. A more reasonable deal would have allowed us to retain some of the other talent we lost in the intervening years, and, may have allowed the team to keep Zac going forward. At $540, 000, we tied our own hands and had to trade him. Basically, Austin undid his own error here.
At the time 540 was a lot - it was also back loaded.
Regardless, if it was 440 we would have been in the same situation.
I get your point - hard to credit someone with fixing his own error, but I believe its less of an error and more bad luck with the injury itself. If Zach doesn't get hurt and wins MOP and the Grey Cup, the contract isn't being discussed as bad even if the team still imploded and was still traded in 2018.
Hey, the best was when I saw Austin blast the old guy who waves the hanky to signal the commercial is over - he layed into him one game. he looked stunned. My buddy asked him about it and he just laughed. He yelled at everyone! I think he got tired and irritable and the players vice versa. Actually may have lost his mind for about 12 weeks and finally JJ brought some common sense to the team.
A-type personalities, alphas etc like Austin have always made certain personalities of people uncomfortable, even resentful. But that isnt Austin's fault.