Kent Austin apologizes to Drew Edwards for going after him in post-Grey Cup meltdown

We've seen plenty of CFLpressconferencemeltdowns over the last 12 months, and we've even seen CFL players and executives personally target reporters in the past, so Ticats' head coach and general manager Kent Austin's rant in response to a question from Hamilton Spectator reporter Drew Edwards at his post-game press conference following the team's Grey Cup loss Sunday night wasn't exactly unprecedented. What is relatively new is how Austin publicly apologized to Edwards at his end-of-the-season press conference Tuesday, though. First, here's Edwards' question and Austin's rant from Sunday:

Transcription: Edwards: "You feel you have this, after your first year, you feel you have this team pointed in the right direction after one year?"

Austin: "What?! (laughs) Well, I don't know. Two teams made it to the Grey Cup, you tell me. I mean, of course we're pointed in the right direction. I mean, what do you think? Do we need to get better? Absolutely! Are we good enough to win a championship yet? No, we're not. But we've certainly made a lot of strides. I mean, I'm not going to let you rain on our parade with a question like that, Drew. I mean, yes! I think it's an obvious answer. I don't want to get upset, but that's a disservice to those guys in there."

And here's Austin's apology from Tuesday (you can watch the full video here, but it's essentially eight minutes of Austin saying he can't comment on offseason strategies before this part):

Transcription: Austin: "And Drew, I also was, my demeanour at that question, it wasn't...I was just very, very frustrated at that point and upset about the game, so I apologize to you as well."

It's understandable that Austin was emotional and frustrated after a 45-23 Grey Cup loss, but the way he reacted to Edwards' question was still unprofessional and unseemly. It's relatively common for reporters to ask coaches about "the right direction" at the end of the season; it's a valid question, and really, the only objection is that it might be too leading (it's doubtful they'd ever say "no"). The general response is just a "Yes" with some examples of where the team improved over the course of the year, and Austin actually did go on to provide those (and gave exactly the answers needed for pieces about the team improving, such as this one from Edwards' Spectator colleague Steve Milton). If Austin had simply done that without becoming confrontational, this wouldn't have been a big deal, and it certainly wouldn't have turned into a highlight played all over TSN and the web.

However, Austin does deserve a lot of credit both for apologizing and for doing so in a public forum. In many situations like this, the coach involved won't say anything at all or will just apologize privately, and they can usually get away with that just fine; after all, reporters don't have a lot of power to make coaches do anything. Austin did well to admit his mistake this way. Maybe this will help him realize there are better ways to handle press conferences than going off on reporters.