Kent Austin returns to coaching ranks at Liberty University: report

According to a report from Fox Sports and the Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, former Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach Kent Austin is returning to the coaching ranks as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Liberty University.

SOURCES: Kent Austin of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats will become the new Co-OC/QB coach at #Liberty for Hugh Freeze.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 28, 2018

3:00

↑ what lands at 3 p.m. daily

3DownNation Daily

Get game analysis, stats, and more daily at 3pm

Here’s exactly what you’ll get.

One email. Every weekday at 3 p.m. Your daily CFL briefing.

• ✓ Canadian football's biggest stories
• ✓ Smart game analysis
• ✓ Every CFL transaction covered with exclusive insight

Email Address

Subscribe →

Free. Unsubscribe anytime. By signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, as well as our terms of service and privacy policy. 1900 Rose St, Regina SK S4P 0A9.

Austin stepped down as the Tiger-Cats vice-president of football operations last April after five years at the helm. He had resigned as head coach in August 2017 after the team’s 0-8 start but stayed in charge of football operations.

He remained as a consultant with the club this season but had moved back to his native Tennessee.

Freeze and Austin both have connections at the University of Mississippi, aka Ole Miss. Austin played his college football there and left the Saskatchewan Roughriders head coaching job after winning the 2007 Grey Cup to become the Rebels’ offensive coordinator from 2008 to 2010. Freeze was a positional coach at Ole Miss in 2006 and 2007 and head coach from 2012 to 2016, a successful run that included a 39-25 record and four bowl games. He resigned in the summer of 2017 amid a scandal in which school officials discovered he used a university-issued cellphone to call escort services.

An NCAA investigation that found 21 charges of academic, booster, and recruiting misconduct with most of the 21 charges happening during Freeze’s tenure. The Rebels were eventually hit with a two-year post-season ban, probation and recruiting restrictions.

Despite that track record, Freeze was hired in early December to replace former CFL quarterback Turner Gill at Liberty where he and Austin will both get a chance to resurrect their coaching careers.