Man of mystery

On Thursday, two days after Cornell University head coach Kent Austin publicly doused any thoughts he might be returning to the Canadian Football League for another go-round as the sideline boss for Saskatchewan, the Roughriders announced Corey Chamblin as their new head coach.

Talk about a real search-and-employ mission.

Did anyone in their right mind actually believe that Austin would be the Riders’ head coach, even if the team broke the bank as some people were dreaming it would take to sign him, and that it wouldn’t be Chamblin all along?

Among the worst-kept secrets – aside from Scott Milanovich leaving Montreal as offensive co-ordinator to become head coach in Toronto and Mike Benevides succeeding Wally Buono as head coach in B.C. – was Chamblin replacing Ken Miller as head coaching in Riderville.

He had been the one general manager Brendan Taman wanted last year but was outvoted by head coach Ken Miller, who superseded him as vice-president of football operations. But Miller’s pick, Greg Marshall, mustered only a 1-7 record after eight games, which was concerning enough for Miller to come back to the sidelines. He decided after the season, one in which the team finished dead last, to retire from football.

You can say now that Marshall was either the wrong pick all along, or Miller simply couldn’t sit still and let his replacement develop. Either way, Chamblin, who has never been a head coach before, gets his rookie baptism in a town where you’d better win quickly – as Marshall discovered.

But why didn’t Taman simply hire Chamblin, who worked for Hamilton as defensive co-ordinator for all of one year, immediately after the Tiger-Cats lost in the Eastern final? Instead, Taman began an exhaustive search – he did say upon his hiring as official football ops boss the club was "going to take as long as it takes to find the right guy and we will find the right guy" – only to eventually name the guy he supposedly wanted all along? Taman whispered to enough people his preference for Chamblin, who interviewed extremely well last year, that it eventually became common knowledge he was the GM’s choice.

Taman did his due diligence interviewing some other candidates, including Benevides even when everyone knew he was the heir to Buono’s thrown. Maybe if Taman had hired Chamblin right away it wouldn’t have looked as exciting or created as much of a buzz. We do know it would have prevented the Austin hysteria from taking a hold of the province like it did.

Maybe the whole Austin thing forced him to go down a path of exploration that was demanded by the team president and/or board.

He certainly looked bad after it was leaked, planted, and/or rumoured that the Ticats had secretly interviewed Austin in Hamilton, and was forced to do some explaining at a hastily-announced media conference. Whatever plan Taman had in place suddenly became scuttled in the midst of all of the Austin mania. Even if there only a smidgen of truth to the Austin redux in Regina, you knew the Riders’ hierarchy would insist Taman follow the scent like a bloodhound.

At the end of it all, it made the Riders look silly and diminished the hiring of Chamblin. Think about it, the Riders were either really close to hiring Austin and had to settle for Chamblin, or were never even in the mix for Austin because it was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Why Austin waited so long to shut it down is curious anyway.

Corey Chamblin inherits a job in a town – scratch that, a province – where every move is analyzed. Austin won the Grey Cup in his first year as head coach with the Riders – in fact, his first year as a head coach period – and thereby solidified his sainthood forevermore and made the suggestion he might be coming back to Regina the most interesting off-season story since the 2011 Grey Cup ended.

Sorry, Edmonton Eskimos fans, but not even Ricky Ray to Toronto had this much traction. By the way, the fact the Ray to Toronto deal was kept on the down low for so long made it that much more interesting.

So Chamblin replaces a guy whom he replaced as defensive co-ordinator in Hamilton. Marshall may surface in Calgary as defensive co-ordinator.

The Ticats are still searching for a head coach, although team owner Bob Young--Caretaker Bob as he likes to be called--has been tweeting madly that general manager Bob O’Billovich is scouring the earth for the right guy. Earlier this week he tweeted: "Obie swore me to secrecy. We have great candidates eg: xxx xxxxxx, and xxxxx xxxxxxxx, but not close to a decision."

Look, if Calgary offensive co-ordinator Dave Dickenson is the guy, it automatically puts into play the likelihood that Stamps quarterback Henry Burris is coming with him in a trade at some point. Dickenson knows Burris well as a teammate and someone he has coached. Buffalo Bills quarterback coach George Cortez, also rumoured to be in the Hamilton mix, worked as Calgary’s offensive co-ordinator before Dickenson. O’Billovich brought Dickenson into the league and has a long history with him. O’Billovich also has a history with Cortez in football operations. So either seem good choices to take over in Hamilton.

Winnipeg defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke might have rising stock, but wouldn’t create any kind of pizzaz in Hamilton.

Toronto special team’s coach Mike O’Shea is loathed by Tiger-Cats fans, but name any other candidate out there who would create that kind of interest if signed as the new Hamilton coach? If the Ticats want to sell some sizzle, go with O’Shea. Or is it O’Shizzle?

Now it’s the Ticats’ turn. As the holidays draw closer and the need to sell season tickets is paramount, and Hamilton needs to do something soon.

There are still some interesting candidates open, although Kent Austin isn’t one of them.

Was he ever? Did he actually interview in Hamilton?

For a couple weeks, Kent Austin was more of an international man of mystery than Austin Powers.

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.