Kent Austin takes over as head football coach
Kent Austin takes over as head football coach
Four weeks and four days after Jim Knowles '87 announced his resignation as Cornell's head football coach, athletic director Andy Noel stood at a podium in Schoellkopf House to introduce his successor. "We wanted a winner and we got a winner," said Noel, going on to say that Kent Austin had been appointed as the University's twenty-sixth head coach after an "intense, thorough search" that had reviewed more than 100 candidates.
The forty-six-year-old Austin comes to the Big Red from the University of Mississippi, where he was the offensive coordinator for the past two years. Under his direction, the Ole Miss offense averaged 30.8 points and 405 yards per game, using an effective mix of running and passing to keep opponents off balance. As a quarterback at Mississippi from 1982 to 1985, Austin had been a prolific passer (6,184 yards) and four-time member of the Academic All-SEC team. After college, he spent one season with the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals before migrating north to the Canadian Football League. He played for ten years in the CFL, known for its wide-open offenses, winning the Grey Cup (league championship) twice. After his playing career ended, he coached in the league, winning the Grey Cup as an assistant coach with Toronto and again as head coach of Saskatchewan.
After being introduced, Austin proclaimed, "We're not in this to be competitive. We're in this to be champions." He expressed confidence that the Cornell football program could be elevated to a higher level, one that would produce not only Ivy League titles but would "help young men to be great leaders."
Although he played football in the Deep South and the True North, Austin was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Connecticut. "I'm familiar with the Ivy League," he says, "and this is an area where both my wife and I have roots, so it's not unfamiliar territory." He found Cornell appealing, he says, because it is a university that has high standards, with people who "understand the value of excelling in everything you do." And he frankly admits that he enjoys the challenge of "accomplishing something that hasn't been done in the past, and that a whole lot of naysayers say can't be done."
Austin acknowledges the difficulties of recruiting in a conference where there are no athletic scholarships—and Cornell often has a hard time competing for prospects against the richer schools. He says he will recruit realistically, pursuing players who are well-suited to what Cornell has to offer. "We have to accurately identify what our strengths are as a university and find the student-athletes that fit—academically, athletically, socially—as best we can. And then we'll quantify the results of that. If it's not paying off properly, we'll tweak it, so we can home in on the players who give us the best chance to win."
At the press conference, Noel said that he felt strongly about Austin's suitability after spending only a few minutes with him, and that his initial impression was reinforced as the process moved forward. Susan Murphy '73, PhD '94, vice president for student and academic services, echoed that praise; she said she believed that Austin "knows the challenges we're facing" and is well-equipped to address them. The players who attended the press conference also seemed pleased with the choice. Safety Anthony Ambrosi '11 told the Daily Sun that Austin "runs an exciting offense, and I think he's exactly what the team needs right now."
— Jim Roberts '71
Sports Shorts
HONORING ADAM On January 31, the wrestling team took on Iowa State, ranked No. 2, in a match that showcased two of the best squads in the country, but—more important—honored the memory of Adam Frey '09, a former teammate who died of cancer in December. While Cornell lost the match 24-13, it was a gratifying evening for the crowd of more than 4,000 that packed Newman Arena, as $8,000 was raised for the Adam Frey Fund (to donate, go to http://adamfrey.us ).
COACHING KUDOS As the men's lacrosse team prepared to take the field to begin practices, news of another honor for last year's outstanding season arrived. In January, Jeff Tambroni was named the FieldTurf Division I Coach of the Year. Tambroni led the Big Red to a 13-4 record and into the 2009 national championship game, its second Final Four appearance in the last three seasons. He won the same award in 2007.
STEPPING DOWN After 27 years as a collegiate athletic director, Laing Kennedy '63 will end his career in athletic administration. He has announced that he will retire as athletic director at Kent State University, a position he has held since 1994. Previously, Kennedy spent 11 years as Cornell's athletic director, during which time the Big Red won nine national championships and 36 Ivy League titles. As an undergraduate, he was an outstanding goalie on the men's hockey team.
BACK TO SCHOOL Former Cornell quarterback Bill Lazor '94 will return to the college game for the first time in seven seasons, as he has been named the offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia. Lazor spent the last two years as quarterback coach with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. He also served as an assistant coach with the Washington Redskins and the Atlanta Falcons, and he was an assistant coach at Cornell before becoming offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University at Buffalo under Jim Hofher '79, his head coach during his Big Red playing career.
TOP KICK Already a member of the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame, Bruce Arena '73 has been selected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame Class of 2010. Named on 78 percent of the ballots in the "Builders" category, Arena has enjoyed great coaching success, winning five national championships at the University of Virginia and two Major League Soccer Cups as head coach of D.C. United. Arena also led the U.S. National team to its best World Cup finish since 1930, as the 2002 team reached the quarterfinals. He is currently the general manager and head coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy, who were the 2009 MLS runners-up.
SHOOTING STAR In January, Evan Barlow '09 was named the MVP of the ECHL all-star game. Barlow, who is
playing for the Idaho Steelheads in his first season as a professional hockey player, collected a game-high four points, scoring two goals and assisting on two others. He was joined on the National Conference team by former teammate Sasha Pokulok '08, who spent the first half of the season with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors before joining the Springfield Falcons of the AHL.
Big Game
January 30, 2010
After completing the non-conference portion of its season with a 14-3 record—with two of the losses coming to powerhouse squads from Kansas and Syracuse—the men's basketball team began its Ivy League schedule with two wins over Columbia and a 71-37 thrashing of Dartmouth. Next up was Harvard, seen by many as the team most likely to challenge the Big Red for the league title. A tight game was anticipated, but Cornell jumped out to a 38-24 halftime lead and kept pouring it on before an ecstatic Newman Arena crowd to post an 86-50 victory. Seven-foot center Jeff Foote '09 led the onslaught with 16 points and nine rebounds. Jeremy Lin, Harvard's highly touted point guard, led all scorers with 19 points, but was hounded all night by the Cornell defense, recording only one assist while committing eight turnovers. In the week following the game, Cornell was ranked 25th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll— the first time since 1951 that Cornell has had a nationally ranked basketball team and the first time in more than a decade that any Ivy League team has been ranked.