5 things to know about Kevin Steele, Tennessee football assistant coach
Mike WilsonTennessee football and longtime SEC assistant Kevin Steele agreed to a deal Tuesday.
The school announced that Steele was hired as a defensive assistant, is responsibilities on the staff are not yet clear. Tennessee has openings at the defensive line and offensive line positions, and it could have more vacancies coming.
Here are five things to know about Steele:
Helping get Jeremy Pruitt started
Jeremy Pruitt was the defensive coordinator at Hoover High School when he got a phone call from Steele.
Steele, who had been hired at Alabama under Nick Saban in 2007, asked Pruitt if he'd be open to hearing from Saban.
Pruitt was, and eventually was hired as Alabama's director of player development, starting his path to being Tennessee's head coach.
“Coach Saban was the head coach and eventually hired me, but I think Kevin probably recommended me to him,” Pruitt said in October 2018.
Steele worked with Pruitt at Alabama in 2007-08, when Steele was defensive coordinator and later linebackers coach.
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Auburn's interim coach
Steele, who was Auburn's defensive coordinator for the past five seasons, gained traction after the Tigers fired ex-coach Gus Malzahn.
Steele, 62, was tabbed as the interim head coach and gained a reported push for the permanent role by Auburn boosters. But fans pushed back with a #StopSteele movement.
Auburn opted for Boise State's Brian Harsin, who hired ex-Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason as his defensive coordinator.
Steele, who had a 9-36 record at Baylor from 1999-2002, was in the running to be Tennessee's coach in 2017. He was among the finalists Vols athletics director Phillip Fulmer considered before he hired Pruitt.
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Defensive success
When Malzahn hired Steele, Auburn hadn't had a top-45 scoring defense since 2008. He rattled off four straight seasons in the top 20 nationally. Auburn allowed no more than 19.5 points per game in any of Steele's first four seasons.
He was named a finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the nation's top assistant coach, in 2017 — his best defensive season statistically. The Tigers allowed 17.1 points per game to rank No. 7 nationally, while holding Georgia to 17 points in an upset of the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs and Alabama to 14 points in toppling the top-ranked Crimson Tide.
None of his Auburn defenses allowed more than 25 points per game. Tennessee allowed 30.1 points per game in 2020.
UT again and again
Steele played two years of college football at Tennessee under coach Johnny Majors in 1978 and 1979.
The Dillon, South Carolina, native played his first season at Furman in Greenville, South Carolina.
As soon as his playing career was over, Steele started coaching at Tennessee. He served as a student assistant for one season, then a graduate assistant for a season.
In 1982, Steele gained his first assistant coaching gig as the outside linebackers coach at Tennessee. He was back in Knoxville from 1987-88 as the defensive backs coach.
SEC life
Steele has worked at four SEC institutions in his coaching career, including Tennessee. He also has worked at Alabama, LSU and Auburn.
He has been the defensive coordinator at three of those schools, following a year at LSU with a move to Auburn in 2016. He also had multiple stints at Alabama, coaching linebackers in 2014 and serving as the director of player personnel in 2013.
All in all, Steele has spent 15 of his 40 years in coaching in the SEC. He also has worked at Clemson, Florida State and Nebraska in his lengthy career as an assistant coach.
The News Sentinel's Blake Toppmeyer and the Montgomery Advertiser's Josh Vitale contributed to this story.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.