The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have been relatively quiet in the first few weeks of free agency, at least when it comes to on-field additions. The Ticats made waves by re-signing defensive mainstays Larry Dean and Ted Laurent, but their biggest move has come off the field.

Bringing Orlondo Steinauer back into the fold could very well be Hamilton’s biggest move in free agency.

Succession plan?

I was rather stunned when Hamilton announced Steinauer was coming back as the team’s assistant coach for this season. After all, their former defensive coordinator had a ton of success in that same role in his first year with Fresno State. So what would pull Steinauer away from a great situation in NCAA Division 1 football?

Well, sometimes home is where the heart is. Other than his year in northern California and a year in Ottawa to start his professional career, Steinauer has split his life in one of two locales: the Pacific Northwest and Southern Ontario.

Either as a player or a coach, Steinauer spent almost two decades in either Hamilton or Toronto, from 1997 through 2016. From a family perspective, you can understand the pull of returning to Hamilton. I think there was a professional incentive for Steinauer, too, as the future certainly looks promising for him in the Tiger-Cats organization.

June Jones is 65 years old and, with no disrespect whatsoever, there are questions about how long he’ll remain Hamilton’s head coach. To have a young, rising star in the coaching ranks under contract sure seems like a good play for the future.

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Steinauer is 44 and now has eight years under his belt as a coach, almost exclusively spent as a coordinator. You can make a pretty strong argument he’s ready for a head coaching job right now, so is it crazy to think the Ticats have lured him back with the suggestion he might be Jones’s successor? It was the first thing to come to my mind when the news broke last week.

From a football perspective, this seems like a really good situation for Steinauer. We already know how high his defensive acumen is, but to work side by side with Jones is a huge opportunity for Steinauer to learn from one of the best offensive minds football has ever seen. Jones has a reputation of an offensive savant for a reason and that type of tutelage can only help Steinauer become a better-rounded coach.

Furthermore, this is the first time he’s ever held down the role of assistant head coach. Instead of being responsible solely for a team’s defence, Steinauer will have influence and responsibility on the offensive and special teams side, too. It seems like the perfect final stepping stone to a successful career as a head coach.

This should have an immediate knock-on effect for the Ticats, too. While Steinauer seems like the perfect fit to succeed Jones, he also should make an immediate impact in his first season back with Hamilton.

Steinauer had a ton of success in four years as the team’s defensive coordinator, so having his expertise should help a defensive unit that struggled for much of last season. There will be no shortage of knowledge with Steinauer and new DC Jerry Glanville joining the Tiger-Cats for 2018.

Whether Steinauer was brought back with the intention of being the team’s next head coach or not, his return is still extremely significant. The guy can flat out coach and is universally respected by his players. Signing Lirim Hajrullahu was important, as were the re-signings of Dean and Laurent. For me, though, the addition of Steinauer is Hamilton’s biggest off-season addition, on or off the field.

We want 10

A 10th CFL team in Halifax seems like an inevitability at this point, which I think is stellar news for the league. Crucially, though, everyone involved is being cautious, patient, and measured when it comes to this process. There’s zero reason to rush, and the fact everyone is on board with that line of thinking leads me to believe this will eventually be a successful venture.

The whole idea just makes sense. As Commissioner Randy Ambrosie has stated, a team in Atlantic Canada just seems to complete the league. It would give the CFL a team in essentially every time zone (we’d never forget Newfoundland time), and would truly give the league a coast-to-coast presence.

The balance it would create in alignment and scheduling would be significant, too. Since Ottawa’s return, we’ve been running on a nine-team league, which is fine, but 10 makes more sense. The schedule could be far more balanced and the playoff ratios would be even on both sides.

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But it doesn’t matter how much sense it makes on paper if things aren’t done the right way. Aforementioned Ottawa provided the ideal blueprint of how to nail it as an expansion franchise, both on and off the field.

Owner Jeff Hunt was awarded the league’s ninth franchise in 2008, and yet the REDBLACKS didn’t play their first game until 2014. Now, not all of that was by design, as construction issues pushed the timeline back a few years. That said, though, the initial plan called for more than two years of lead time ahead of the team’s first game.

That seems like a solid plan to follow for any team that may go down the expansion road in Halifax. Even more encouraging is the fact a 10th franchise won’t have to deal with one hurdle the REDBLACKS encountered.

Let’s not forget the sour taste the Ottawa Renegades left in so many mouths when they left the nation’s capital in 2006. Just the opposite would exist in Halifax, as understandable skepticism would likely be replaced by the enthusiasm that goes along with a debuting professional league.

Seeing the response to Ambrosie’s visit to Halifax last week was both extremely encouraging and largely unsurprising, as we know there is an appetite for football in Atlantic Canada. There are so many indicators to suggest expanding east will be nothing but successful right from the get go, but it’s crucial to get it right.

That’s why taking this slow and ensuring a good foundation is so important. I can easily see a sustainable CFL at 10 teams, but that 10th team needs to be set up to succeed in the long term. There is so much potential for this league in Halifax, so being patient and making 120 per cent sure to get it right is the best play here.