Former Tennessee Vol retires from coaching
Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, a former Tennessee Vols linebacker, is retiring from coaching according a report from ESPN's Chris Low. Steele, who is from South Carolina, played under Johnny Majors at Tennessee from 1978-1979. The former Vol started his coaching career as a student assistant at Tennessee in 1980. He progressed to outside linebackers […]
Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, a former Tennessee Vols linebacker, is retiring from coaching according a report from ESPN's Chris Low.
Steele, who is from South Carolina, played under Johnny Majors at Tennessee from 1978-1979.
The former Vol started his coaching career as a student assistant at Tennessee in 1980. He progressed to outside linebackers coach by 1982. Steele returned to Tennessee as an assistant for the 1987 and 1988 seasons.
Steele's lengthy career saw him make stops at Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Clemson, Miami, Florida State, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State. He spent four seasons as the head coach at Baylor in the late 90s/early 2000s and he also had a four-year stint as a linebackers coach in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers.
After Jeremy Pruitt was fired at Tennessee in early 2021, Steele served as the program's interim head coach during the search for Pruitt's replacement.
Steele, who spent two months at Tennessee in late 2020/early 2021 and never coached in game with the Vols, earned a buyout worth $860,870 after he wasn't retained by new head coach Josh Heupel.
“It was brought to my attention that they needed me home,” said Steele in late 2021 of his brief return to UT. “For whatever reason. So I did that. I will be honest with you, it was not a business decision. It was an emotional one because it was Tennessee.”
Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava receives some love from NBA superstar
One of the NBA’s biggest stars
