Ticats.ca
TORONTO — Orlondo Steinauer was planning on staying in the NCAA for the 2018 season but as it turned out, there was interest north of the border to return to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as an assistant coach.
“Basically June Jones and Scott Mitchell were instrumental in having conversations with me,” Steinauer told Davis Sanchez and James Cybulski on The Waggle presented by Sport Clips.
“This all happened within seven days, to be honest with you. It wasn’t something that was drawn out or something that had been discussed previous.”
Jones and Mitchell presented Steinauer an opportunity to re-join their coaching staff, he told them he would be interested in returning to the Canadian game and then the Tiger-Cats gave him an offer. Simple as that.
“I was planning on coming back to Fresno again and building on a 10-win season,” he said.
“But an opportunity came up,” Steinauer continued. “I think the familiarity with Southern Ontario and what not (was part of the decision). It was just a decision we made as a family and decided that at this point in time that this was what was best.”
In his first two seasons as a coach with the Toronto Argonauts (2010-2012), Steinauer was the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator. Then when he moved to Hamilton (2013-2106) he was their defensive coordinator. Now, the 44-year-old is looking forward to learning from Jones as he gets his first opportunity to work with a CFL offence.
“One thing I didn’t get afforded along the journey was to jump on the offensive side of the ball,” he said.
“It’s very important for me in my growth,” he continued. “And where my mind is as a coach that I take advantage of an opportunity like this.
While coaching for Fresno State, Steinauer still kept tabs on the CFL, including the Tiger-Cats 0-8 start to the 2017 season.
“It was painful to watch, he admitted. “An 0-8 start, I don’t think anybody ever envisioned that. Everybody in the off-season was trying to get better. What made it a little tougher on me was that I know the staff there and how hard they worked.”
Heading into 2018, Steinauer doesn’t know exactly what’s going to be different for Hamilton from last season. He’s just planning on focusing on working with the black and gold to achieve the end goal that all eight other teams are also vying for.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” he admitted. “I can’t say what it is (that’s going to be different this year). We all know what the end goal is. You don’t get in it to not win the Grey Cup.”
