Why Kevin Steele makes sense as Alabama's defensive coordinator

Kevin Steele has had a long and well-documented coaching career as he now enters his third separate stint with Alabama. The newest Crimson Tide defensive coordinator has made a multitude of stops inside and outside of the SEC, bringing over 40 years of coaching experience with him back to Tuscaloosa.

His 2010 Clemson defense held opponents to just 18.8 points per game, and his 2019 Auburn defense held the National Champion LSU Tigers to just 23 points after averaging 48.4 per game that season, losing by LSU’s most narrow margin of victory of their season.

Bama Online‘s Tim Watts discussed with Andy Staples why Steele’s the right guy for the job at Alabama, even referencing back to his five-year stint with the program’s rival.

“Auburn’s defense was a nasty defense under him,” Watts said. “The thing that you like is Auburn has a tendency to put a lot of guys in the NFL and you don’t really talk about them a lot, you don’t hear a lot of them when they’re being recruited. Lower-ranked guys, it’s not the big-name guys, but you look up and they’re All-Americans, All-SEC, they’re going high in the draft. Kevin Steele did a good job with that of evaluating, I think that carries over to Alabama where also if you’re Alabama you’re pulling from the national pool when you recruit. So I think there’s a lot to like.”

Steele contributed to two Auburn wins in the Iron Bowl during his time with the Tigers, most notably holding the Crimson Tide to just 14 points when they were ranked No. 1 in the country in 2017. He’ll now hopefully translate that same defensive prowess back to Alabama’s side with even more experience under his belt.

“Kevin Steele’s seen so much, you can’t replace that experience. And like you said, he walked up to that podium, shot you as straight as you can get, right? Calls him [Nick Saban] coach, it’s his scheme but I’m comfortable doing it, he said everything right in that press conference,” Watts said.

Steele impressed both Staples and Watts in his first press conference with the Crimson Tide, as he returns to Tuscaloosa after serving as Alabama’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2008 and their director of player personnel and linebackers coach again in 2013 and 2014. And according to Watts, his age and experience may even be just what the Crimson Tide needed following the departure of former coordinator Pete Golding.

“This is my theory, Pete related really well to the players, was almost like a big brother or uncle. So it’s hard for Pete, who’s very young, to really come down hard on the guys. I know a lot of them liked Pete, I think Kevin Steele is gonna be the type to be very strictly business, handle it, pat you on the head, tell you what he thinks about what happened, and then walk way,” Watts concluded. “I’m old, I’ve got kids, that’s what I do. I yell at them and I walk away, not hanging out with them.”