Has anyone ever thought this to be the case?
I think Kent was only abrasive with one very smarmy reporter who really only looked to be trying to embarrass the coach.
Seriously trying to suggest people didn’t place importance on how Austin treated media ?
And the time he got physical with an opposing player…
And the time he got physical with a referee…
Chris Jones epitomizes the maximum degree of douchebaggery we should tolerate in a CFL coach. Guys like Kent Austin and Jason Maas can drop off the face of the earth.
How the coach treats the media is important. It’s embarrassing to have the face of your team acting like a jerk. But I don’t know anyone who thinks it impacted the play on the field. I guess there could be some posters around here that believe that, but I don’t think it’s a common opinion.
But he didn’t act like a jerk.
The people and media he made feel bad by not indulging and coddling them just figured he was.
They , in turn, presented this as evidence he was a bad coach.
Agree to disagree I guess. Safetyblitz mentioned a few incidents, and I remember many times where I considered Austins behaviour rude for no particular reason.
Is he a bad coach? I don’t think so. But he was doing a bad job coaching during the 2017 season. All the evidence I needed of that was on display during the first 8 games of that season.
Austin became a bad coach and Collaros lost his confidence the day Condell walked off the team and you could also say to a certain extent when Orlondo went south to the NCAA and I feel it was because of Austin’s demeanor, don’t get me wrong, I liked Austin and at one time the players and his staff did too,
but,
I think the pressures of holding the VP, GM, HC and ultimately the OC positions when Condell left became way too stressful for him to cope.
Agree with this Grover, and took it out on those around him, reporters and players being closest targets. For me, most obvious symptom was the weight loss, despite his rationalizations.
More milton.
34 free agents plus Tillman and the front office.
If, as expected, Glanville has to go, then Jones who brought his buddy here, will go with him. Cannot see Jones staying otherwise. Orlando will be the HC, though he will have his learning pains. His key will be hiring great assistant coaches.
But if itz a choice between good media guy and abrasive coach ( I said COACH since IMO, Kent was a coach) I will take the Brillo every time!
I just hope we don’t miss the boat ie. we take so long to get our coaching straightened out and then see our decent players departing before we get it all together!
Can you imagine this team without just Speedy and Tasker? Brutal
Free agency isn’t until mid Feb. And that’s assuming there’s a collective bargaining contract in place. Coaching situation will be settled long before that.
Great answer. If you watch Austin’s first presser when he got hired, he was all smiles and unicorns. In later years he was abrasive and rude. His haughty, eye rolling act was starting to grate on people. He treated Ted Michaels like garbage on the 5th Quarter. Austin never reached John Tortorella infamy but was bad enough.
It’s funny but I’m not big on spending a lot of time on pressers with coaches. Its awkward platitudes most of the time. But I do remember Kent being real prickly with Drew Edward’s! I liked Austin as a coach, he knows how to win in this league and has a good eye for talent. Not sure how that last season went so wrong.
Don’t forget that he had an incompetent DC as well in Reinebold. Austin fired him and promoted the LB coach to DC. Funnily enough, our STs were tanking at the same time; so I think the loss of JR where his best talent lays (STC) snowballed into the fiasco during the first half of the season. Think about it - there was an accumulated loss of THREE Coordinator positions during the year.
Just to refresh everyone’s memory here may I remind you that Austin started the 2013 season at 1-4 .
The 2014 season at 1-6 . Had that glorious 8-3 run to start 2015 before the bottom fell out with the Collaros injury winning only 2 more games down the stretch . Had the team at 5-5 after Labour Day in 2017 before going 2-6 down the stretch . He then of course had that infamous 0-8 start of last season that led us to where we are today . I’m thinking that some on here that are recalling Austin as a great Coach might be having selective memory loss blurred by those two Grey Cup appearances . In reality Austin was a fair to mediocre Coach at best who ended his time here with a W/L record well below the .500 mark…BUT then again with the bar being set so low by some fans I’m guessing that that would be considered as being successful by Ti-Cat standards .
Kent Austin Coaching record 2013-2017 Hamilton Ti-Cats
2013 - 10 - 8 2nd lost Grey Cup
2014 - 9 - 9 1rst lost Grey Cup
2015 - 10 - 8 2nd lost East Final
2016 - 7 - 11 2nd lost East Semi final
2017 - 0 - 8 replaced by June Jones
Over-All W/L record…games 80…36 Wins…44 Losses
Play-offs record…games 8…4 Wins…4 Losses
Last 27 games W/L record…7 Wins…20 Losses
What I find funny about that (and I’m not disputing that his record was exactly mediocre) our buddy Rick Campbell from the model franchise Ottawa Redblacks’ coaching record is as follows
41-47-2
Playoffs - 4-2
Yes, one Grey Cup. But as I mentioned in another thread if Banks’ return stands, nothing much in Austin’s resume changes.
Its obvious that Kent coached his team knowing the East was a cake walk and just wanted to be “ready” for the playoffs. It worked twice - and I could say the same about Campbell.
Good post Bobo . Austin also lost to the Redblacks in the division final .
I think they had taken a step up this year and utilized the tools at hand well .
The Stamps are the measuring mark for top dog and the Redblacks are the beast of the east this year but are far from a dynasty organization .
I thought the Cats rebounded well this year despite injuries and had one of the best passing teams in the CFL . If they can balance it with a ground game it will create a offence that is dominant .
As far as Glanville’s defence one moment they are world beaters the next bums .
Over all they do look better .
Even though they lost to the Redblacks all four times the Cats are more respected than they were before Jones came along and I am no fan of his field management his decisions . It is lacking good judgement . I would say it cost them at least two wins in the regular season .
Saying that though they are better off with him this year and I don’t see him staying around much longer anyways ( he donates his salary ) .