Following high school at Brentwood Academy, Austin went to the University of Mississippi and played quarterback in the early 1980s.

He ranks seventh in passing yards in the Ole Miss records, behind Eli Manning, Bo Wallace, Matt Corral, Chad Kelly, Jaxson Dart and Romaro Miller.

Austin was an Academic All-American in each of his four college seasons and is a member of the University of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1990, Austin became Saskatchewan's undisputed starting quarterback after Burgess was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

That year, Austin threw a 107 yard touchdown pass to Jeff Fairholm against Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic.

On September 15, 1991, when the Roughriders hosted Edmonton, he set a CFL record for most passing attempts in a regular season game with 65.

On October 31 in Toronto, he tied Dieter Brock's 1981 CFL record for most passing completions in a regular season game with 41.

Austin was replaced by Danny McManus, who would lead the Lions to a win on a last-second field goal.

Austin joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1996, playing only one season with the team before being released on February 11, 1997.

When Austin's 10 year career as a CFL quarterback was complete, he ranked in the top 10 in numerous CFL all-time regular season passing statistics: In the Columbo episode "A Bird in the Hand..." (air date November 22, 1992), footage from a Saskatchewan Roughriders versus Edmonton Eskimos game was used to portray a fictional game played by a football team called "The Stallions".

[2] Under Austin's tutelage, quarterback Damon Allen, who was age 41, won the Grey Cup MVP award.

In 2005, Austin coordinated an offence that allowed Allen, now age 42, to, for the first time in his career, throw for 5,000 yards in a season as well as win the CFL Most Outstanding Player award.

On November 25, 2007, Austin coached the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the 95th Grey Cup Championship beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23–19.

[4] On January 16, 2008, Austin accepted the job as Offensive coordinator at the University of Mississippi, his alma mater, to serve under head coach Houston Nutt.

[6] On December 17, 2012, Austin signed on as the head coach, general manager and vice president of football operations of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL.