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Former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has struck a deal to join the Tennessee football coaching staff, sources told ESPN.
Steele, 62, was Auburn’s defensive coordinator for the past five seasons, but was not retained by new Auburn coach Bryan Harsin, who hired former Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason as defensive coordinator .
Steele, a finalist for the Broyles Award as the best assistant coach in college football in the 2017 season, has a deep connection to Tennessee. He played in Tennessee and began his coaching career in Tennessee, both under Johnny Majors. Steele was a finalist for the Flight Head Coach position in 2018 when Jeremy Pruitt was hired. Steele and Pruitt worked together on Nick Saban’s staff in Alabama.
In Auburn, Steele’s defenses finished in the national top 20 scoring the defense in four of his five seasons on the Plains. He is widely regarded as one of the best recruiters in the country and has worked for some of the biggest names in college football including Bobby Bowden, Tom Osborne, Dabo Swinney, Les Miles and Saban. Steele also worked in the NFL as a linebacker coach for the Carolina Panthers from 1995 to 1998.
“He’s an exceptional coach and as strong as anyone I’ve ever seen in recruiting,” Bowden told ESPN.
Auburn owes Steele just over $ 5 million on the contract he signed last January, making him at the time the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football.
Steele is returning to his alma mater amid an internal investigation into alleged irregularities in Tennessee’s football program that has been ongoing since November. The university announced last month that it had retained the services of Michael Glazier and Kyle Skillman of the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King to help it review what the university said in a statement to be ” regulatory issues that have been brought to our attention. “
ESPN reported last week that Tennessee had failed to extend the contracts of assistant football coaches and had suspended the hiring of coaches for vacant positions while Flights continue to investigate program violations.
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