Rick Zamperin: Kent Austin no longer calling the shots for Ticats

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have turned the page.

After a five-year reign in TigerTown, Kent Austin is no longer pulling the strings.

The club announced late Thursday that Austin will transition “into a new role with the team as a consultant for the football club.”

Plain and simple, the power Austin once yielded in Hamilton has all but vanished.

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The downfall of the one-time head coach and vice-president of football operations began last year when the Ticats coughed up a hairball in each of their first eight games, destroying the likelihood of reaching the CFL playoffs.

After stepping down as head coach before Labour Day and naming June Jones — who was a consultant at the time — his replacement, Austin, remained in the front office and was left to wonder how it all went wrong.

Jones, in the meantime, led the Cats to an improbable charge to the post-season and even though the team fell short, there was some optimism heading into the off-season.

Being a former quarterback and a head coach in the CFL, and a successful one at that, Austin is most comfortable being in control. He controlled the huddle during his playing days and he controlled the roster as coach and VP of football ops.

But with Jones seizing more control over which players line up on the field, the re-emergence of Orlondo Steinauer as assistant head coach, and an already stacked front office, it was only natural that Austin takes another step back.

Whether he stays with the club for the entirety of the 2018 CFL season is anyone’s guess.

My guess is that will be his plan. But when another opportunity to be a head coach comes around, the Austin era in Hamilton will officially be over.