By Rod Pedersen,
CFL.ca
Head coach Kent Austin has yet to taste defeat in his rookie campaign on the sidelines of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Through a 2-0 preseason, and a regular season-opening 16-7 victory at Montreal in which Austin received a Gatorade shower for winning his first ever game as coach, the Tennessee native still hasn’t had to explain to fans and media in the Rider Nation what went wrong.
“Pre-season was pre-season so let’s take those games for what they were, right?” reasoned Austin. “But in the Montreal game I was so proud of our guys and their effort. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means but we didn’t turn the ball over and that’s how you win games.”
In fact, Saskatchewan has yet to commit a turnover through the first three games of the season, which is remarkable considering quarterbacks Kerry Joseph and Marcus Crandell are engineering an offence built from scratch by Austin which only began being installed a month ago.
Austin is beginning to win back his critics here in this football-mad province who were still upset at the way he left the team as quarterback in 1993. After a bitter contract dispute, Austin asked for a trade and was shipped to B.C. He’s been vilified by Roughrider fans ever since, and many were less-than-thrilled when he was named the 26th coach in Rider history in December.
While Austin notes he’s changed and matured in the 14 years since he left, he still displays many of the traits and characteristics from when he played; the steely glare, the all-business approach and the refusal to accept anything but the best from those around him.
For young fans who may not remember Austin as a quarterback, you can think of him as a ‘Peyton Manning-type’. Both are long, lanky pivots with a strong arm, and when things don’t go their way on the field they aren’t afraid to call out their teammates or slam their helmet to the ground.
And both are winners.
“He’s all business and expects your best on every play,” said Austin’s former Rider teammate Bob Poley from the ’89 Grey Cup team. “On that drive where we won the Grey Cup game, Kent told us in the huddle we’re going to march it down field, Ridgway’s gonna kick a field goal and we’re gonna win this game and get outta here. That’s exactly what happened. He’s a leader, and that’s what the Riders need right now.”
Austin bristled at all the questions about how he’d feel coaching his first game, and what it would be like patrolling the sidelines of Mosaic Stadium 14 years after he left. Those are fluff questions to Kent, and in his mind have nothing to do with the task in which he faces; coaching a football team with massive expectations. He did, however, comment that the record preseason crowd of 28,800 June 22 in Regina against the Calgary Stampeders was “simply awesome”.
“He’s been everything I’ve expected and more,” said Rider GM Eric Tillman who went out on a limb hiring a rookie coach just like his predecessor Roy Shivers did with Danny Barrett in 2000. “He was ready to be a coach and it shows. He won’t make an error tactically in games and his commitment to winning is being communicated to the players. I’m thrilled at the job he’s doing.”
Indeed, Austin has made it a priority to instil a winning attitude amongst the Rider players and as he puts it, “Install a fundamental belief that each game we play, that we’re a better team than our opponents and each individual player is better than the one they’re lining up against.”
And so it goes for Austin’s Roughriders as they approach their home-opener July 8th against Calgary. Oh, he still has his cynics who say, “Wait until they lose a game and then see what happens and how he reacts.”
So far, the cynics are still waiting.
Rod Pedersen is the Voice of the Saskatchewaan Roughriders and Regina correspondent on The Score. Check out his daily blog at www.rodpedersen.com.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
