Losing puts Austin on hot seat
Ticats coach searching for answers following seventh straight defeat
Another week, another period of serious evaluation on the part of Kent Austin.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach and vice-president of football operations vowed again late Saturday night that “if we need to make changes, we will.”
Contemplating the quality of his staff and players is becoming a habit for Austin, the man in charge of the 0-7 Ticats, the lone club in the CFL without a victory this season.
The latest debacle came at Tim Hortons Field on Saturday when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers spanked the Ticats to the tune of 39-12, marking the fifth time Hamilton has lost by at least 15 points.
After defensive coordinator Jeff Reinebold was fired and replaced with linebackers coach Phillip Lolley, and after assistant head coach June Jones had an opportunity to establish some of his ideas on offence, the Ticats suffered their second-worst loss of the season. Only the 60-1 loss in Calgary on July 29 was more lopsided.
Austin put forth the idea that the difference for the Ticats is coming in three or four series a game, using the two losses to the Edmonton Eskimos in recent weeks (by three points and five points, respectively) as examples, and insinuating the same could be said of the fall to Winnipeg.
The challenge from the coach’s office, if that’s true, and the locker-room is to build the mental strength to overcome on-field lapses.
“It’s going to take some strong leadership, for sure, in that room,” Austin said. “The mature (players) understanding what it means to continue to get up and get to work and to really be self-aware in the evaluation of where each individual is at, (where) each coach is at in what you are doing and are you improving.
“I told the team that everybody needs to take a real honest look about their play and we need to be honest with them about what we are asking them to do as coaches and not put our head in the sand.
“Tell you what, we are not going to quit. That’s not going to happen.”
We wouldn’t suggest the Ticats will quit. Professional athletes, no matter how dire the situation might be, for the most part aren’t wired that way.
One has to wonder whether further significant changes would come if the Ticats lose their next game, against the visiting Ottawa Redblacks, on Friday. A record of 0-8 to begin the season would equal the Ticats’ second-worst start, as it occurred also in 1991 and 2005. No one in the room wants to be reminded of 2003, when the Ticats went 0-12 before winning.
What team owner Bob Young and CEO Scott Mitchell could take into consideration is this losing malaise isn’t something that has cropped up just in 2017.
In their past 14 games, including the 2016 East semifinal when they lost to Edmonton (which crossed over), the Ticats have one win. That was against Ottawa last Oct. 21.
If the losing continues, a long, hard look at Austin will have to occur. The Ticats have a bye after the Redblacks visit, and while we’re not suggesting it would require a victory to ensure Austin remains on the job for the Labour Day Classic against the Toronto Argonauts, beating Ottawa would give the coach an opportunity to exhale.
Austin is in his fifth season as Ticats head coach.
His record in that span is 36-43. Losses in the Grey Cup in 2013 and 2014 were followed by a setback in the East final two years ago before the loss to the Eskimos in the semi last fall.
Barring a complete reversal, the playoffs aren’t happening this season, though more than a few players are optimistic because seven of their remaining 11 games are against weaker East Division teams.
Keeping fingers crossed because your opponents are perceived to be inferior won’t lead to a bushel of wins. Talent and ability to execute will.
So far, the Ticats have failed miserably.