Coaching is in Joe Austin’s blood. So it was a surprise when he announced his retirement from coaching football after twenty-five years in an X/Twitter post on July 15. The biggest surprise was his plan to retire immediately, weeks before the Southwestern Pirates opened Fall Camp.

“There are typical times (to make a retirement announcement), but there’s never a right time,” Austin said recently during an interview. “Often, when a head coach leaves during the recruiting cycle, it can be even more disruptive. Leaving when I did was pretty good timing for my staff to give them as much stability, security, and protection as possible while providing the longest runway for them to either continue at Southwestern or decide what might be next for them.

“It was a prayerful decision and the right time for me and my family. My parents are aging, and I can give them some more help. My daughter’s going into fourth grade, and I actually get to see her a little bit now. And I get to be around my wife more.”

Austin left the Southwestern football program in great hands, which was never in doubt for the man tasked with building it from the ground up in 2012. Bill Kriesel was selected to serve as interim head coach after serving as associate head coach and defensive coordinator. Kriesel, offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and academic success coordinator Tom Ross have been a part of the Pirates program since its inception. In his ninth season with the program, Nick Mast was promoted to assistant head coach and is responsible for calling plays and coaching quarterbacks. Kriesel and Ross have spent the last 19 years on staff with Austin.

“The program is in great shape,” Austin said. “(Kriesel and Ross) have always been heavily involved in all processes of our organization. Nick was promoted to assistant head coach, so they don’t need me. They’re going to do awesome.”

For a man who owns three small businesses, Austin’s focus hasn’t been solely on football for at least the last 10 years. He has been an outside consultant for the last decade.

“Outside consulting is not a new thing for me, so it’s a pretty easy transition,” Austin said. “My vocation, my calling by God, is to be a coach, so coaching, motivating, planning, and administration is what I do. I’m still coaching, but I’m just serving a different population.”

Writing is a passion for Austin, who has written two business publications he provides to every client. The first book is “45 Minutes to 45K,” which outlines the top 12 strategies that are good starting points for most businesses. The second book, “Physician For Profit,” focuses on organization. Recently, Austin began publishing a blog on his website, CoachJoeAustin.com.

“What I did for 25 years in college football translates to any business. How you script out your recruiting communication is how a business scripts out their communication with their leads,” Austin said. “My specialty is profit acceleration. I can find virtually any business $45,000 or more in one 45-minute assessment. I can guarantee those results because I have a subscription to a really powerful, proprietary business coaching software that builds a roadmap.”

While Austin may have stepped away from the sidelines, the author of “TEX-BONE: Triple Option for the 21st Century” will remain involved with football.

“I’ll be doing a series of videos this fall called the Textbook Play of the Week, so I’m still going to be posting football content,” Austin said. “Staying involved in football is really good icing on the cake. It makes it easier to know that I can continue to do some of the things that are the most fun. I’ve visited with a few staffs and helped them install an offense, and that’s stuff you don’t get to do when you’re a college head coach with all the administrative stuff.”

Austin may have been destined to be a coach in life, but once football enters your blood, it never leaves.

“There’s been days during training camp that I’ve thought about what they’re doing. There’s been a couple of days where I haven’t thought about it at all - like Sunday. I went to church with my family, came home, and did some chores before watching a little TV with my wife. I hadn’t thought about football camp once,” Austin said with a chuckle. “However, the day before was campus move-in day, and that’s a hectic thing that takes a lot of practice, so I thought about them and how it went.”