Murray McCormick
The Leader Post

REGINA -- The Saskatchewan Roughriders' search for a head coach may soon come to an end.

The process was given a bump forward Tuesday when former Riders head coach Kent Austin informed the Leader-Post that he was remaining at Cornell University. Austin, who recently concluded his second season as the head coach of the Big Red football team, said he was staying due to family reasons and an opportunity to build the football program.

Riders general manager Brendan Taman spoke Tuesday with Austin's agent, Gil Scott, about his client's situation. Scott confirmed that Austin was indeed remaining at Cornell, which should speed up the process of determining a head coach in Saskatchewan.

"There was a good chance this could have dragged into January if that situation was going on and we were still negotiating,'' Taman said Tuesday. "Now with that being removed, I don't think there is a reason for this not to be concluded before Christmas.''

Taman said the uncertainty surrounding Austin's status added to the challenge of finding a new head coach. The Riders completed the first stage of interviews of candidates on Monday. Taman wanted to move forward to the short list of candidates, but felt it would be difficult to proceed without having a decision from Austin.

"It would be hard to get the search done because he's pretty special and you don't want to overlook a special guy,'' Taman said. "We were sort of on his timetable. Now with what he did (Tuesday), the timing works out to the point that we're still on track with where we should be.''

The Riders were aggressive in their pursuit of Austin, who had also drawn interest from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to fill their vacancy at head coach. Austin attracted that interest based on the fact that he guided the Riders to a 23-19 Grey Cup win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2007. He has been involved in the NCAA since January of 2008, but Taman felt it was worth investigating Austin's interest.

Taman talked extensively with Scott throughout the process. The Riders even made an offer to Austin, which was rejected.

"It does close the door on him coming back here to work,'' Taman said. "It would have been very interesting to work with him and I was relishing it because he's a good coach. All along I didn't think it would happen, but I just didn't know.''

Taman now knows where he's headed. He has conducted interviews with six candidates - Riders defensive coordinator Richie Hall and special teams coordinator Craig Dickenson, Toronto Argonauts special-teams coordinator Mike O'Shea, Winnipeg defensive coordinator Tim Burke, Tiger-Cats defensive coordinator Corey Chamblin and Calgary Stampeders offensive coordinator Dave Dickenson (Craig's younger brother).

Taman had two phone conversations with Mike Benevides, whom the B.C. Lions promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach on Tuesday. Taman felt from his conversations with Benevides that he was destined to land the job with the Lions.

There have been reports that Taman is interested in Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach George Cortez, a veteran CFL coach. Taman said he was interested, but isn't willing to wait until the Bills conclude their season to test the interest of Cortez. The NFL regular season ends Jan. 1.

Taman said the next step in the process is creating a short list from the candidates he has interviewed. He will review his notes from the earlier interviews while paring down the list of candidates.

"That shouldn't take long and then we can get on with it,'' Taman said.

There is even a process that needs to be followed once Taman decides on a head coach. For example, the hiring needs to be cleared with the Riders' board of directors and contracts have to be worked out. Those kind of details take time.

"Greg Marshall didn't do his second interview until Dec. 23 last year,'' Taman said. "Timing-wise, we're still OK.''