JUST NOW: Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele retiring…..

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 22 before accepting the same position at

Ole Miss, was replaced by him.

Despite ranking 18th in terms of yards allowed per game and tied for 16th in terms of points allowed, Alabama’s

defense was nearly identical to Golding’s unit’s 2022 finish in both categories this season. In the Rose Bowl, the Tide

gave up a game-tying touchdown to Michigan and let the Wolverines score in two plays during OT, but under Steele’s

leadership, the team limited two of the top five scoring offenses in the country, Georgia and LSU, to much below

their season averages. Saban concluded his 17th season at Alabama with a 27–20 loss.

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 first met Saban in

1985. He worked as an assistant at his alma institution, 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.