Photo courtesy: Auburn Athletics

The Toronto Argonauts have Kent Austin among the team’s targets for its next head coach, per sources, with the former CFL quarterback becoming a top candidate after Mike O’Shea turned down the Double Blue.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) president and CEO Keith Pelley, who is leading the process, knows Austin from their time together in Toronto two decades ago.

Pelley was the team’s CEO in 2004 when the Argonauts won the 92nd Grey Cup 27-19 over the B.C. Lions in Ottawa. Austin was the offensive coordinator for Toronto and helped Damon Allen be named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Pelley and Austin spent two-plus seasons together in Toronto, though the latter was fired by Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons in 2006, around which time the former left for an executive vice-president role with CTV.

In December 2006, Austin was hired as the 26th head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He tutored Kerry Joseph as the dual-threat QB won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award and the Green and White won a Grey Cup in his lone season as bench boss.

The Natick, Mass. native has been employed in the NCAA since 2018. He helped turn quarterback Malik Willis into a third-round NFL Draft pick as the co-offensive coordinator and QB coach at Liberty University, then moved to Auburn University in 2023, where he currently serves as quarterbacks coach.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze was fired on November 2 after a 4-5 start to the 2025 NCAA season. Austin has a contract through the 2026 season, but his future employment status will be determined by the school’s next head coach hire, which could make returning to the CFL a possibility.

Austin shares an alma mater with current Argos’ quarterback Chad Kelly, as both played at the University of Mississippi. He had a decade-long career in the CFL with the Roughriders, B.C. Lions, Argonauts, and Blue Bombers, completing 57.6 percent of his passes for 36,030 yards, 198 touchdowns, 191 interceptions while winning two Grey Cups.

He got his first coaching job with the Ottawa Renegades as quarterbacks coach in 2003. After his stop in Toronto and a Grey Cup win in Saskatchewan, he jumped to the collegiate ranks to become the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. He served two years with the team, then became the head coach at Cornell University, a role he held for three seasons.

Austin was hired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as head coach in 2013 and spent five years in Steeltown before resigning to focus on his duties as vice-president of football operations. He helped the Ticats make two Grey Cup appearances (2013 and 2014) but finished his tenure with a losing record.

The 62-year-old has a 48-50 all-time win-loss record as a CFL head coach, including a 7-4 mark in the playoffs. As an NCAA head coach, he’s gone 11-19.

The Argos are searching for a new head coach after two-time Grey Cup champion Ryan Dinwiddie departed to become head coach and general manager with the Ottawa Redblacks earlier in November. The Double Blue flew O’Shea to Toronto for an interview, but he elected to sign a three-year extension to stay in Winnipeg.

The Argonauts finished third in the East Division standings in 2025 with a 5-13 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Kelly was unable to play all season due to a fractured leg he suffered in the East Final in 2024. Nick Arbuckle threw for 4,370 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions to be named the team’s Most Outstanding Player.

Toronto ranked seventh in net offence, sixth in net defence, and seventh with a turnover differential of minus-eight. The team’s leading rusher was Spencer Brown with 314 yards, the leading receiver was Dejon Brissett with 907 yards, and the leading tackler was Cameron Judge with 79 tackles. The Argos ranked ninth in attendance with 15,109 average fans at BMO Field, which was a 0.1 percent decrease from the previous year.