Orlondo Steinauer (born June 9, 1973) is the president of football operations and

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). As a player, he played professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

for 13 seasons with the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

from 1996 to 2008. He finished his career second all-time in CFL history for interception return yards with 1178 yards. Steinauer was a two-time

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

champion as a player after winning in 1999 with the Tiger-Cats and in 2004 with the Argonauts. He has also won a championship as a coach, winning the 100th Grey Cup as the

defensive backs coach In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the Toronto Argonauts in 2012.

High school career

Lynnwood High School Lynnwood High School is a high school in the Edmonds School District, located in Bothell, Washington. The school has approximately 1600 students enrolled for grades 9–12 as of the 2013-2014 school year. Lynnwood High School's mascot is a Chimer ...

in Lynnwood, Washington, Steinauer

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

in football, basketball, and baseball. He graduated in 1991.

College years

Steinauer starred in football at

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

and finished his career with 20 interceptions, 160 tackles, a forced fumble, and 89 punt returns for 965 yards (10.84 yards per punt ret. avg.) and a touchdown. In 1995, his final year, he was a consensus first-team All-American and the CFA Defensive Player of the Year leading the United States in pass interceptions with 10 and ranked ninth nationally with an 11.6 yards punt return average. In 1999, he was named to Western Washington University's All-Century team and was the only player named to two first-team positions, at

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

and punt returner.

Canadian Football League

Steinauer joined the

of the CFL in 1996, but saw minimal playing time prior to the team's dissolution at the end of that season. In 1997, with the

, he emerged as a defensive star, earning a spot on the East Division All-Star team. He was also a punt returner. Steinauer's performance in Hamilton (1997–1999) and Toronto (2001–2008) was well regarded; he was named a divisional All-Star six times and CFL All-Star five times. Toronto released him on August 25, 2008, prior to the ninth game of the season. As a CFL player with more than six years experience, playing more than eight games would have guaranteed his salary for the remainder of the year. At the time of his retirement, Steinauer was the last active player in CFL history to play for the

. He was inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

as a player in 2021.

Post-playing career

After being released by the Argonauts, he was approached by

Rogers Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was r ...

to work as a football analyst for their broadcasts. Steinauer says that, as a player, football reporters told him he'd make a good broadcaster but he never thought about it until the opportunity presented itself. In 2009, he did analysis for Sportsnet's television broadcasts and the radio

Fan 590 CJCL (590 AM, ''Sportsnet 590 The Fan'') is a Canadian sports radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis in downtown Toron ...

Coaching career

Toronto Argonauts

On February 19, 2010, Steinauer was hired by the Argonauts as their defensive backs coach. On August 4, 2011, Steinauer was promoted to defensive co-ordinator of the Argonauts after the firing of Chip Garber from that position. On December 8, 2011, new head coach

Scott Milanovich Scott Stewart Milanovich (born January 25, 1973) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the ...

announced that Steinauer would be retained as the team's defensive backs coach.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On January 3, 2013, Steinauer was named the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for the

. Steinauer coached with the Ti-Cats for four seasons. By the end of the 2016 season he was considered one of the leading candidates for a head-coaching position in the CFL.

Fresno State Bulldogs

On December 14, 2016 Steinauer announced that he would be leaving the CFL and heading south to become the defensive coordinator for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (II)

After one season with the Bulldogs, Steinauer returned to the CFL and

on February 22, 2018, as an assistant head coach to

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1 ...

for the 2018 season. With the

and

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

both looking at Steinauer for their head coaching vacancies for the 2019 CFL season, the Tiger-Cats and Jones decided to name Steinauer as the 26th Head Coach of the Tiger-Cats on December 3, 2018. He tied the CFL record for wins by a rookie head coach as the Tiger-Cats finished with a 15 win and 3 loss record. Due to the cancellation of the

2020 CFL season The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the s ...

, Steinauer did not coach in 2020. In his second season, the Tiger-Cats began the season with an 0–2 record, but finished 8–4 in a pandemic-shortened season to finish second in the East. The Tiger-Cats defeated the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

and

in the playoffs as Steinauer led the team to their second consecutive

appearance. However, he suffered his second championship loss as a head coach as the Tiger-Cats lost the

108th Grey Cup The 108th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2021 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled and the start of the 2021 season was delayed, pushing the game to December 12, 2021. The ...

game to the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

. Following the season, Steinauer was named president of football operations, in addition to his duties as head coach, on December 24, 2021.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Hamilton Tiger-Cats page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinauer, Orlondo 1973 births American players of Canadian football Canadian football defensive backs Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Hamilton Tiger-Cats coaches Living people Ottawa Rough Riders players People from Oakville, Ontario Players of Canadian football from Seattle Toronto Argonauts players Western Washington Vikings football players Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees