Kevin Steele offers his view on Tennessee, Josh Heupel this season
By Keith Farner
Published:
For the first time in more than 40 years, Kevin Steele is out of college football this season, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be completely removed from the sport.
The long-time SEC defensive coordinator who spent time at Alabama, Auburn, LSU and most recently Tennessee, Steele this fall instead will watch Auburn and South Alabama, where son Gordon is the offensive line coach. And Tennessee will also no doubt be on his mind.
After being an interim coach at Auburn, before the Tigers hired Bryan Harsin, Steele was hired at Tennessee as a defensive assistant under Jeremy Pruitt. Then Pruitt was fired in January with the Volunteers amid an NCAA investigation into improper recruiting practices, and Steele was installed as interim coach.
“I want Tennessee to win, and get it back to the way it should be,” Steele said on Mobile’s SportsTalk 99.5, per AL.com. “Josh is a good guy. I think he’s got a lot of energy, brings a lot to the table offensively. And then I was very impressed with Bryan when I met him in the interim. He’s a very, very smart football coach. You can tell he’s a leader; it doesn’t take long when you’re in the room with him. There are good players there, and as he gets that thing molded like he wants it, hopefully there will be a lot of success.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
