Austin back home at Ole Miss

Posted by ESPN.com’s Chris Low

	John Sokolowski/US Presswire
	Kent Austin, former coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, is returning to his stateside football home at Ole Miss.

OXFORD, Miss. — When Kent Austin journeyed to Saskatchewan, Canada 21 years ago to begin his CFL playing career, they kidded him about his Southern accent.

When he returned to his alma mater earlier this year to take on the offensive coordinator duties at Ole Miss, they kidded him about his Canadian accent.

“I’ve heard it both ways,” Austin joked.

Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt hasn’t really noticed. He’s just thrilled to have the former Ole Miss great on his staff.

“Kent’s brought a lot of good ideas to us in the passing game,” Nutt said. “The connection was (former Arkansas offensive coordinator) David Lee, who I’ve worked with for a long time. David had recruited Kent and knew him very, very well. That’s when I started looking at him from afar.

“To me, the very unique quarterback coach is one who truly tries to help somebody fundamentally. A lot of coordinators … what they all try to do is get up on the board and put up as many plays as they can. Kent is a teacher first and fundamentally very sound and also has the expertise when it comes to strategy and X’s and O’s.”

Austin, who ranks among Ole Miss’ all-time passing leaders, had spent his entire professional playing career and all of his coaching career in Canada until he got the call from Nutt.

At that point, Austin had pretty well decided that Canada was where he’d finish his career. He’d won Grey Cups as a player, assistant coach and head coach. And as a rookie head coach for Saskatchewan last season, Austin was named CFL Coach of the Year after leading the Roughriders to the Grey Cup championship.

But the combination of coming home and coaching under Nutt was too hard to turn down.

“It wasn’t just that it was my alma mater,” said Austin, who was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. “If it wasn’t for the fact that Houston was here, I don’t know if I would have come back. I was a head coach at the time. And for me to leave and take a coordinator’s job, it was going to have to be somebody that embodies all the qualities that Houston embodies for me to come work for him.

“He’s a winner, an outstanding coach, and more importantly, an outstanding human being.”

One of the more intriguing storylines this season for the Rebels will be how well Nutt’s run-oriented offense marries with Austin’s pass-heavy style.

“It will be a hybrid of his run and play-action stuff and my drop-back stuff,” Austin said. “You’re going to see multiple formations, multiple personnel groupings and a lot of movement. We’re not just going to be in shotgun all the time, and we’ll spread the ball around. We’ll go from two tight ends, to no tight ends all the way up to five receivers.

“How much we can absorb as an offense will determine how deep we go into the different formations and personnel groupings. I believe in variety.”

It’s no secret that the CFL game is markedly different from American football and features different nuances, from the longer fields, to 12 players rather than 11 and three downs rather than four.

If anything, Austin thinks the adjustment from the CFL game will only help him.

“I come from a league that’s very creative and rewards creativity,” Austin said. “It’s not easy getting first downs in the CFL in three-down football. You don’t have a throw-away down, and that forces you to re-think the game and forces you to focus on being efficient on every down and distance.

“If you’re consistently in second-and-long, you’re probably in for a long day in the CFL. You have no choice but to create a passing game that’s very efficient.”

Austin has been pleased with the Rebels’ play-making ability at receiver. Mike Wallace is a proven deep threat, and Austin said Dexter McCluster will line up all over the field.

“But in the SEC, you’ve still got to be able to run the football,” Austin said. “Whether we’re pass-blocking or run-blocking, we’ve got to be able to control the line of scrimmage. We’ve got to do some things from a play-calling standpoint to help our line, but I think we’ve got some athletes that can go create some things in space. And I think Jevan (Snead) will flourish in that environment because of his ability to get rid of the ball so quickly and the fact that he’s very accurate.”

It’s still a bit surreal for Austin that he’s back at Ole Miss after last quarterbacking the Rebels during the 1985 season. He admits that never in his wildest dreams did he expect Nutt to call. In fact, he and his family were on vacation in California when Nutt did call.

And it wasn’t like Austin’s phone had been ringing off the hook to come back and coach in the United States — despite all of his success in the CFL.

“You’re sort of out of sight, out of mind up there, which is really unfortunate because there are a lot of good coaches in Canada,” Austin said. “It’s really a profession of who you know and who you trust. When you get away from that network, it’s hard to stay plugged in.”

Then again, there’s probably only one call Austin could have received from a college football program and been genuinely interested.

He got that call.

“I believe that doors open and close for a reason,” Austin said. “When a door closes, you’re supposed to find out why. And when a door opens, you’re supposed to find out why.

“I’m glad this door opened.”

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