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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Kent Austin Named Head Coach At Cornell
1/27/2010 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt announced here Wednesday that offensive coordinator Kent Austin will be leaving the Rebel football program to become the head coach at Cornell University.
"Kent Austin did an outstanding job for Ole Miss these last two years," Nutt said. "I am grateful for all his hard work and the contributions he made to our program. There are only so many head coaching positions in college football, and I am proud he is getting this opportunity. We appreciate Kent and his family and wish them the very best."
Austin's two seasons directing the Rebel offense produced the most points in a two-year span in school history, and helped the team register consecutive nine-win seasons for the first time since 1961-62 and back-to-back January bowl victories for the first time since 1960-61.
As the quarterbacks coach, Austin helped Jevan Snead become just the second Ole Miss signal-caller to reach 2,000 passing yards in consecutive seasons. Snead's 5,394 passing yards is the second-highest two-year total in school history and ranks fifth all-time for a Rebel career. He is also the Ole Miss all-time leader in average yards per attempt (8.0) and average yards per completion (14.4).
Also under Austin's watch, all-purpose threat Dexter McCluster became the first player in SEC history with 1,000 rushing yards (1,169) and 500 receiving yards (520) in the same season, while wide receiver Shay Hodge posted the first 1,000-yard receiving season ever by a Rebel (1,135). That duo was among seven Ole Miss offensive players to earn All-SEC honors the past two seasons.
In his first season with the Rebels, Austin tutored an offense that improved from 12th in the SEC in scoring (20.1 ppg) in 2007 to second (32.1 ppg) in the conference. The Rebels also ranked in the top four in the league in passing (221.2 ypg), rushing (186.5 ypg) and total offense (407.6 ypg), after not ranking above seventh in any category in 2007.
Prior to his arrival in Oxford, Austin spent 15 seasons in the Canadian Football league and won championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
An Ole Miss letterwinner from 1981-85, Austin still ranks among the school's all-time passing leaders. He is second in career completions (566) and attempts (981), third in passing yards (6,184) and fourth in passing touchdowns (31), 200-yard games (11) and total offense (6,179). In 1982, Austin completed 18-of-19 passes in the win over Tulane and connected on 15 straight attempts against Tennessee.
