The 2023 Hamilton Tiger-Cats expect to have a chance to win the 2023 Grey Cup Championship at Tim Hortons Field. During the off-season, the Tiger-Cats made personnel moves to address issues that have been obstacles in Hamilton’s previous campaigns to win the Grey Cup. The investment in building an elite group of players is essential but meaningful with leadership to help those players build the chemistry required to play championship football in the CFL.
The leaders attempting to lead the Tiger-Cats to their first Grey Cup victory since 1999 bring a wealth of experience and a history of success. Head Coach Orlondo Steinauer has built a staff packed with coaches with diverse backgrounds, including championships at the CFL, NFL, and college football levels.
We will look at each of these coaches and the experience they bring to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats franchise.
Orlondo Steinauer – President of Football Operations and Head Coach
Steinauer has been the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats since the 2019 season. He led the Tiger-Cats to two Grey Cup championship appearances in 2019 and 2021. Every year, Hamilton has made the playoffs when Steinauer has been the head coach. Before becoming the head coach of the Tiger-Cats, he had been a defensive back and defensive coordinator for the Tiger-Cats. He was also the defensive coordinator for Fresno State in 2017.
Tommy Condell – Assistant Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, and Quarterback Coach
Condell is a veteran coach in the CFL, and he has been the offensive coordinator for the Tiger-Cats since 2019. 2019 was the start of Condell’s second stint with Hamilton, as he was also the Tiger-Cat’s offensive coordinator from 2013 until 2015. In 2017, he was a wide receiver coach for the Toronto Argonauts and was a part of their run to the 2017 Grey Cup championship. In addition, to being the offensive coordinator at Hamilton, he also held the same position in Toronto during the 2018 season and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2006.
Mark Washington – Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator, and Defensive Backs Coach
Washington has been the Tiger-Cat’s defensive coordinator since the 2019 season. He also spent time as the defensive coordinator for the BC Lions from 2014 until 2018. Before being the defensive coordinator for the Lions, he was the Lions defensive backs coach from 2008 until 2013.
Jeff Reinebold – Special Teams Coordinator and Assistant Defensive Backs Coach
Reinebold has been coordinating special teams in the CFL since 1991. Reinebold is re-joining the Tiger-Cats staff after serving as the Tiger-Cats special teams coordinator from 2013 until 2016 and 2019 until 2021. In 2019, he was the defensive coordinator for the BC Lions. During the 1997 and 1998 CFL seasons, Reinebold was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Reinebold’s experience, knowledge, and energy could create an explosive season for the Tiger-Cats special teams units.
Scott Milanovich – Senior Assistant Coach
Milanovich came to the Tiger-Cats with three Grey Cup championships in 2009, 2010, and 2012 and was named the 2012 CFL Coach of the Year as the head coach for the Toronto Argonauts. He has also coached in the NFL as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2017 until 2019. During the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he was the quarterback coach for the Indianapolis Colts.
Defensive Position Coaches
Linebackers coach Robin Ross comes to Hamilton with a wealth of coaching experience, including being the defensive line coach with the BC Lions from 2015 until 2017 and multiple coaching stops at the NCAA level. Also, defensive line coach Randy Melvin coached with the New England Patriots during their 2001 Super Bowl-winning season and has made multiple CFL stops. Melvin has been the Tiger-Cats defensive line coach since the 2019 season.
Charlie Taggart is an Assistant Special Teams Coach for the Tiger-Cats. Taggart played defensive line at Guelph and was a defensive line assistant coach at Laurier. Matt Tolliver is a defensive Quality Control coach that has also been with Hamilton for the last eight seasons at various support positions.
Offensive Position Coaches
Mike Gibson is the offensive line coach for the Tiger-Cats and made several stops in the CFL and the University of Regina as an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. Jarryd Baines is a receivers coach and passing game analyst for the Tiger-Cats, and he has held multiple quality control positions in the CFL since the 2015 season. Tim Smith is also working with the Tiger-Cats wide receivers; previously, Smith coached receivers at Valparaiso University at the FCS level in 2022 and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania from 2018 until 2021. Rob Payne is the running backs coach for the Tiger-Cats, and he previously coached with the Edmonton Elks in 2017 and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2021.
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