ESPN announced on Monday night that Kevin Steele, the defensive coordinator for Alabama, is resigning.
Steele turns sixty-seven on March 17. When questioned about his coaching career last month prior to the Rose Bowl, he did not say he would soon be retiring.
His words, “I’m enjoying it,” “I think I have something valuable to contribute. I have a boat if that ever disappears, fades, or negatively impacts the program.”
Steele is now the third assistant from Alabama to go in this offseason. Wide receivers coach and associate head coach of offense Holmon Wiggins left to take a position as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Texas A&M, while outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator Coleman Hutzler was hired by Mississippi State as defensive coordinator. The most current board-approved contract for Travaris Robinson, the secondary coach for Alabama, likewise ends at the end of February.
After two previous stints with Nick Saban’s staff, from 2007–08 and 2013–14, Steele returned to the team last winter. Pete Golding, who called defensive plays for Alabama from 2018 to 2022 before accepting the same position at Ole Miss, was replaced by him.
Following their defeat in the Rose Bowl, what will happen to Alabama’s 2024 transfer site and NFL draft tracker?
This season, Alabama’s defense tied for 16th place in terms of scoring allowed per game and placed 18th in terms of yards allowed per game; both rankings are nearly identical to Golding’s defense’s 2022 finish. This season, under Steele, the Tide stopped Georgia and LSU, two of the top five scoring offenses in the country, from scoring far lower than their season averages. However, they let up a game-tying touchdown to Michigan in the Rose Bowl and let the Wolverines score in two plays during overtime. Saban’s 17th season at Alabama came to an end when Alabama was defeated 27-20.
Steele worked for Alabama for the sixth time during the 2023 season, and he has worked for ten public universities in Alabama overall. From 2016 to 20, he also worked five seasons as Auburn’s defensive coordinator.
Steele has a lengthy history of coaching in the Southeast. He is a native of South Carolina, and he first met Saban in 1985. He worked as an assistant at his alma mater, Tennessee, for half of the 1980s before taking over as head coach of Baylor in 1999–2000. In addition to his tenure at Auburn, he held the position of defensive coordinator at Alabama in 2007, Clemson from 2009 to 2011, LSU in 2015, and Miami in 2022.
Leave a Reply