Tag: Kevin Steele

Former Clemson coach retiring from football after final stint with Alabama

A former Clemson coach is retiring after a final run with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

After a long run as a coach, a former Clemson coach is retiring.

According to ESPN’s Chris Low, former Clemson defensive coordinator and, most recently, Alabama DC Kevin Steele is retiring from coaching. After four decades of coaching, the 65-year-old is hanging it up following a successful career.

Steele was with the Tigers for three years from 2009-2011. A DC for 12 years, Steele spent time with programs such as Clemson, Alabama, and Miami; he has also been the defensive coordinator at LSU and Auburn. He was most recently DC at Alabama, his third stint with the program. He joined the Crimson Tide again after being the defensive coordinator at Miami in 2022.

10 potential candidates to be Alabama’s next defensive coordinator

Alabama is on the hunt for a new defensive coordinator. Here are 10 names to consider.

The Alabama football program is looking to hire a new defensive coordinator. On Monday, reports circulated that Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is retiring.

With that being the case, Alabama is already searching for its next defensive coordinator.

In the past, the Crimson Tide have had successful defensive play-callers like Kirby Smart, Mel Tucker, Tosh Lupoi, and Steele. Each has found ways to have success at Alabama under the tutelage of Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

The offseason is young and the program has plenty of time, but it would be wise to hire one sooner rather than later so the void won’t impact the recruiting trail and the precious time to game plan for the upcoming season.

Roll Tide Wire takes a look at 10 potential candidates to fill Alabama’s defensive coordinator vacancy.

Alabama football DC Kevin Steele shocklngly announces to retire

Alabama DC Kevin Steele set to retire in the coming days

It likely did not come as a surprise to Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, but in a shocking move to the Crimson Tide fan base, defensive coordinator [autotag]Kevin Steele[/autotag] plans to retire in the coming days. 2023 marked Steele’s third stint with Saban and the Tide, and ultimately he was very solid in his last dance. The Alabama defense kept the Tide’s season alive as the Tide went through their early season growing pains and Steele deserves a ton of recognition and praise for that.

In the Tide’s ugly Week 3 win over USF, the Alabama offense had 10 points on the board until Ty Simpson scored a TD with 33 seconds left in the game to make it 17. Had it not been for the Alabama defense holding USF to three points, that game definitely could have gone another way than a 17-3 victory. The following week, Steele’s squad held a high-octane Ole Miss side to 10 points in a crucial top-15 matchup.

The departure of Steele is an unfortunate loss, but I’m sure Saban has been aware of this for a while and his been working behind the scenes. It will be curious to see who he has in mind as a replacement, but a lot of fans have rallied behind the idea of DB coach Travaris Robinson being promoted from within. Ironically, Robinson was a First-team All-SEC DB for Auburn back in 2002.

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On3 recognizes Kevin Steele as one of the best Power 5 coordinators in Week 4

Kevin Steele recognized as one of the best coordinators in the country in Week 4

After an underwhelming performance against the Texas Longhorns where the Alabama defense surrendered 34 points and 454 yards, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has turned the ship around, and fast. Over the course of the next two games, against USF and Ole Miss, the Tide defense has only given up 13 total points and has shown they are still one of the most talented units in football.

Serious questions were being asked of Steele after the Texas loss, but he has done an outstanding job of making the adjustments he has needed to since then. With Ole Miss coming to town and Alabama’s former DC Pete Golding in the same role with the Rebels, it was a big moment in the season for both sides. Going into the game the Rebels offense was averaging nearly 53 PPG and looked like one of the best in the country.

Steele and the Alabama defense shut them down to only 10 points, further proving that Nick Saban did the right thing by transitioning from Golding to Steele. The Alabama offense wasn’t perfect by any means, but they finally started to get the gears turning against Golding which was certainly a moral victory.

For his outstanding performance on Saturday, On3’s Matt Zenitz listed Steele as one of the best Power 5 coordinators of the week. Zenitz said, “During Alabama’s 24-10 win over No. 15 Ole Miss, Steele held Lane Kiffin to the lowest regular season point of his four seasons as the Rebels’ head coach. Ole Miss had just three points in the final three quarters. The Crimson Tide tallied 10 tackles for loss and five sacks.”

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ESPN’s Bowl projections for Alabama after Week 1

ESPN analysts project Alabama Crimson Tide bowl possibilities after Week 1

The Alabama Crimson Tide kicked off their 2023 campaign in dominating fashion with a  56-7 victory in their season opener over Middle Tennessee State. While the victory over MTSU isn’t the most impressive thing in the world, it was the way the Tide played that should give Alabama fans a lot of optimism moving forward.

Both new coordinators, [autotag]Kevin Steele[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommy Rees[/autotag], showed vast signs of improvement from what Alabama had a season ago. [autotag]Jalen Milroe[/autotag] looked phenomenal and basically slammed the door shut on whatever remaining QB controversy there was this season. People talk about the four generational QBs Alabama has had prior to Milroe, but I don’t think Milroe is far off from what those guys were able to accomplish.

However, the biggest takeaway for me was how much more disciplined this team looked. They rallied to the ball and tackled as a team, they only committed two penalties the entire game and nobody ever was lined up in the wrong spot. Overall, it felt like a massive sigh of relief compared to the past two seasons.

Some people are still much higher on the Tide than others as ESPN released their first Bowl Projections of the new season (subscription required). Kyle Bonagura projects that Alabama will beat Florida State in the Rose Bowl Game and go on to face Georgia in the National Championship game. Mark Schlabach, on the other hand, is not a believer in Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide as he predicts them to take on Notre Dame in the Peach Bowl.

Do you think the Crimson Tide will find themselves in CFP content again come December? Let us know in the comments!

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5 takeaways from Alabama’s dominating 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee State in 2023 season opener

The 5 biggest takeaway’s from Alabama’s season-opening victory Saturday night

The Alabama Crimson Tide kicked off their 2023 campaign in dominating fashion with a 56-7 victory over Conference USA foe Middle Tennessee State Saturday night. The Blue Raiders were 8-5 a season ago which included a victory over the Miami Hurricanes who were ranked in the top-25 at the time, so MTSU isn’t quite the cupcake some people have made them out to be.

There is no doubt that Alabama entered the season as one of, if not the most talented teams in the country, but with two new coordinators, a new quarterback, a true freshman left tackle and many more changes, the Tide had some questions to answer. They answered resoundingly as they looked sharp from the jump. The Alabama defense forced a three-and-out to start the game and the offense took over from there with a six-play drive that went for 63 yards and a score, the Tide coasted from there.

There were a lot of positives to take away from game one, and Alabama fans should feel pretty good heading into their highly anticipated matchup with Texas. Here are some of the key takeaways from the Crimson Tide’s stellar performance last night.

Alabama dominates Middle Tennessee State 56-7 in season opener

Crimson Tide race out to a 1-0 start after thrashing MTSU

Alabama’s highly anticipated season opener could not have gone any better as the Crimson Tide thrashed Middle Tennessee State 56-7 in Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday evening. Now, all focus will be directed to Texas as the Longhorns come to town next weekend in what will be a top-10 matchup as well as the host of College GameDay.

The Tide’s new coordinators, Kevin Steele and Tommy Rees, both performed very strongly and seem to be a vast improvement from the coordinators Alabama had in 2022. The biggest takeaway of the evening is that Jalen Milroe is the guy. Whatever quarterback controversy there was heading into the evening, No. 4 slammed the door shut on it as he totaled 242 yards and five scores. The skill positions surrounding Milroe also showed a giant leap forward from what we saw a season ago.

The defense looked great for the most part as well as they only gave up one score on the evening. Grad transfer Jaylen Key got into the action early on as he forced the first turnover of the 2023 season before leaving the game with an injury. The status of Malachi Moore and Jaylen Key will be the big question marks heading into next week.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

‘Relentless effort’ is the focus for Kevin Steele and the Alabama defense

Kevin Steele has the Alabama defense focusing on the little things in fall camp!

On Sunday, Alabama held its annual Media Day from the Mal Moore Athletic Facility where head coach Nick Saban, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, and defensive coordinator Kevin Steele each took turns in speaking to members of the media.

Coach Steele is a veteran coach in college football who is one of the most well-respected defensive coordinators in the country. Steele’s experience with Coach Saban and Alabama has made his move back to Tuscaloosa seamless.

In his opening remarks to the media on Sunday, Steele laid out the focus that he was trying to hammer home to the defensive players this fall.

“We’re focusing very hard on relentless effort, physical and mental toughness, do your job mentality, and they’re very coachable to that, which is positive.”

Under the leadership of Pete Golding, who is now the DC at Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide defense seemed to lose some of its mental and physical toughness. That is by no means a shot a Golding, he simply had a different style of coaching.

Steele is more of a throwback coordinator who demands effort and toughness more than the execution of X’s and O’s. Steele understands that if players get the effort part right, the execution of the scheme will come a lot easier.

Having Steele back in Tuscaloosa to lead the Alabama defense should have Tide fans excited about the possibility of the return of elite defensive play for the Crimson Tide.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on Twitter @Blackwood89.

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Quotes from Alabama DC Kevin Steele at media day

Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele spoke with members of the media about the state of the defense. Here’s what he had to say.

With the Alabama Football season just weeks away from kicking off, head coach Nick Saban and his coordinators meet with members of the media to speak on the state of the program and answer questions. After Saban’s time at the podium concluded, it was defensive coordinator Kevin Steele’s turn to speak.

Steele is no stranger to the Crimson Tide program. He was the first defensive coordinator at Alabama in the Saban era back in 2007. He returns now to replace Pete Golding, who left the program to accept the same position at Ole Miss.

Here are some of the best quotes and moments from his time at Alabama media day, as shared to X, formerly known as Twitter, by observers and reporters.

5 sleepers on Alabama’s defense heading into 2023

Five sleepers on Alabama’s defense heading into the 2023 college football season!

We are now under two months away from the start of the 2023 college football season. Now, it truly feels like it is just around the corner. Before you know it, Nick Saban and the Alabama football team will be taking the field inside Bryant-Denny Stadium to play the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders on Sept. 2.

As we patiently await kickoff in early September, I thought we could dive into some players on Alabama’s roster who are being slept on entering the 2023 season. We have already looked at five sleepers on the offensive side of the ball. Today, we will shift our focus to the defensive side.

Let’s roll!