Jones replaces Austin as head coach of winless Hamilton Tiger Cats

TThe Canadian Press

he Hamilton Tiger-cats are making more changes after a dismal start to the CFL season.

Vice-president of football operations Kent Austin will no longer serve as head coach of the 0-8 team. He has appointed assistant coach June Jones to take over.

“June and I have established a great relationship, and I feel comfortable and very confident with him handling the on-field product moving forward,” Austin said Thursday in a news release. “This organization, its fans and partners deserve a championship calibre team and we fully expect to work together to return us to that level.”

Jones was first hired by the club three weeks ago. He has 34 years of coaching experience at the NCAA, CFL and NFL levels.

Austin was in his fifth season as Hamilton’s head coach. Since guiding the Tiger-cats to a second straight Grey Cup appearance in 2014, he has gone 17-27.

The Tiger-cats are last in the league with 148 points scored and 310 points against. A low point came last month in a 60-1 blowout loss to Calgary.

The team shook up its coaching staff earlier this month by replacing defensive coordinator Jeff Reinebold with defensive run game coordinator and linebackers coach Phillip Lolley.

Jones was head coach of the University of Hawaii from 1999 to 2007. He posted a 76-41 record over that time and was 4-2 in bowl games. The former quarterback also served as head coach of the NFL’S Atlanta Falcons from 1994 to 1996.

The Tiger-cats return to action Sept. 4 against the visiting Toronto Argonauts.