Tennessee reportedly hires former Auburn coordinator Kevin Steele
So much for Tennessee being on a hiring freeze.
After speculation began regarding this potential hire on Rocky Top in recent days, Tennessee has officially made the move to bring former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele according to Chris Low of ESPN.
Which position Steele will take on Tennessee’s coaching staff remains to be determined.
Steele was available to be hired after Auburn dismissed Gus Malzahn and hired former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin. Harsin then turned around and hired Derek Mason to be his defensive coordinator on The Plains.
Steele has a long history in the SEC, coaching at Auburn, Alabama LSU and Tennessee. Steele is also a graduate of Tennessee and began his coaching career in Knoxville.
Following Auburn’s decision to fire Malzahn, Steele was named the program’s interim coach and was rumored to be the next Auburn head coach before the school moved to hire Harsin.
While this is a big move for Tennessee, it doesn’t solve the biggest question in Knoxville right now, which is the status of head coach Jeremy Pruitt. This looks to be a promising sign for Pruitt, but Tennessee fans are well aware of the fact that things can change in a hurry on Rocky Top.
For now, Tennessee has something to point to regarding some positive momentum as the Vols are bringing in one of the most respected defensive minds and recruiters the SEC has to offer in Steele.
(Photo credit Auburn Athletics)
Well I didnt see this coming. I like it too. At least right now. So pruitt is safe for another season. Cant imagine they would hire Steele and then fire pruitt. Im ok with it too. I still have no faith in pruitt getting the turnaround we need to see to save him next season but we will know fairly early on next season if he stays or goes and if he is going away phil will have plenty of time to do a proper search for the right coach. Maybe Ansley is on his way out… I will also gladly, enthusiastically say I was totally wrong about pruitt if he can get it done.
If you want to know what’s going on listen to Tony Basilo each day on his site.
These national media types don’t have a clue about what is going on in Knoxville. They are all mouthpieces for agents.
Steele is just a placeholder and insurance policy. JP MUST go!
TonyBasilio.com
The best
I wouldn’t say he’s safe. They considered him for the HC job when Pruitt was hired. Part of this hire might be having a head coach on staff if Pruitt is fired at some point this off season
nah no way they do it for that reason. if they dont fire him now they wont in 3-4 months. if he is let go next season then maybe steele gets a shot but he certainly would not be my first choice.
Not to mention that if CJP is fired, I highly doubt that the next HC will be a defensive guy.
well truevol may be closer to whats right than I am if basilio can be believed. he thinks steele was brought in to stop a mass exodus of defensive players as henry T was getting antsy and others as well. Not sure I buy that completely with Butler announcing his return but who knows. he also said that ansley is shopping his resume around a lot. so maybe steele is the next DC. He also said he still thinks there is a negotiated settlement with pruitt ongoing. Sooo with all that said I think I will just wait and see what happens next. Sounds like things may get cleared up this week.
He is a good DC. Based on this, not sure what his role will be. Also, is the hiring freeze off now? The timing of this seems a little unusual.
That being said, he did a good job for us. He had some quality assistants around him, as well as some good recruiters. He also had total autonomy on his side of the ball.
Unfortunate we are losing him. But fairly or unfairly, he was painted in with some of our meddling boosters. No one is going to know the real story. Really wasn’t much of a way he could stay.
You are getting a good one.
So do you think he meddled, or your boosters finally decided to move forward with pushing Malzahn out and he was the simple answer?
The rumors were that he and Garner were going directly to the boosters to get Gus canned. It sounds a little far-fetched…but no one will really say what happened.
Its hard to say. Like I said, fairly or unfairly he was linked to it.
Doesn’t matter now. Harsin is HC. We have moved on. And so has Steele. To the tune of $5.2 M in severance. That is sweet music.
Minus what UT is paying him. ;-)
True 99. I just didn’t want to get into all that
you got me weagle. I guess it is off for him anyway:) who kno9ws. It wouldnt be a UT coaching search, of any kind, without some head scratching.
I guess that’s the right answer.
Ya’ll do make it interesting.
I just wish you all would get this fixed. Conference needs you all to be good.
Since Fulmer was ousted in 2008, it has been a revolving door there.
If they turn around and fire Pruitt now Tennessee can complete the impossible to look even dumber. They’ll have another coach payout to make… Hell, give Pruitt another extension for the great hire while we’re at it why don’t we?
As a former Vol his hiring must be exciting to Vol nation. He is a respected name. I see hiring Steele as putting a HC insurance policy in. Question is do you want Steele as a HC? DCs tend not to make great HCs. I can totally see them hiring Steele in with the idea that Pruitt will get fired and Steele is made HC. Why? Because it’s so UT right now.
UT’s problems are structural. Every hire has been done with a sh!tty AD who makes a p!ss poor decision that’s forced. Kiffin may have been the only one that looked good and that was the beginning of the downfall. The Steele exodus theory reinforces the shortsightedness with which UT makes coaching hires. It’s not to say Steele couldn’t be successful but I don’t see it happening with him.
I think Pruitt goes down and you’ve hired your next coach. If you’re lucky, Fulmer will go down too and UT will spend time to hire an upper echelon AD to start fixing UT’s problems and not just react to them.
guinny I think you are getting waaaayyy ahead of yourself. Thats quite a theory though. Anything is possible I suppose. How about we see what happens with pruitt before we start talking about steele as our HC. I will agree that a steele hire would not sit well at all with the fan base.
So at the very least they hired Steele as the DC. Pruitt does not strike me as the guy who hands over control of the defense and I seriously doubt Steele is a Chad Morris. Do you see Pruitt there long term, do you see him surviving the next 2 years? I see neither. And do you see the Steele hiring driven by Pruitt? Steele was just linked to Malzahn’s firing, rightly or wrongly. So what I come up with is a hiring that wasn’t driven by Pruitt, who has lawyer-ed up to my understanding for the potential charges but they must also be talking about the possibility of him being dismissed without compensation by UT. That thought process is how I get to my theory. I don’t know whether or not Vol nation would be behind Steele as a HC. My knowledge of Vol fans are that two of my 3 best friends are Vols(one of whom I discuss this stuff weekly with him bc/the other won’t make time for him), another two Vol fans I talk with (well really one who acts as proxy with the other) and the Vol fans here and that frequent my team’s board. The fanbase as a whole does come across as volatile.
And in regards to getting ahead of myself, no I’ve been saying this going back to Dooley’s hire, albeit with my friends. I’m familiar UT’s issues over the last 15 years. They were the SEC team I was familiar with before joining the SEC. So that’s where I’m coming from when I throw out what I think UT’s plan should be. It’s what I would do if I were a Vol.
I wrote this with a calm voice in my head so don’t read any of this hearing an excited voice, anger, etc.
LOL no problem guinny. I just think its too much conjecture to place steele in the HC seat right now. You may be right. I certainly dont know but it sure seems wrong. if they were to fire pruitt would they make steele an interim HC? Not much makes sense around here right now. Hopefully we know something soon. I must say the admin has kept a pretty tight lid on all this so far.
That’s the question isn’t it. Would it be an interim? Given the pain of the last couple of searches maybe he’s been selected already. It is conjecture. The lack of quality ADs has really shown at UT. Everytime the word Heart is mentioned my buddy gets Hartburn. I just don’t see Pruitt and Steele on the same page but I could be wrong. They may be old fishing buddies.
This is Steele getting his HC opportunity. The Vols can probably expect to get Garner and maybe another former Auburn assistant along with some transfers. Steele wouldn’t be joining that train wreck unless he knew he would be taking over.
man I hope you guys are wrong. But nobody screws up a coaching hire like UT these days.
So if they’ll put Steele in as DC/Co DC, and LB coach, then bring in Chavis as the DL coach, maybe we can call Gruden and get him to bring Joe Brady in. Then next year we’ll win a NC and get a record setting No. 1 recruiting class. Pruitt will be a hero and everyone else will eat crow. Oh wait nvm letting my dreams get out of control again…… probably just keep Pruitt while everyone calls for Freeze to be hired, without noticing how funny that is when adding the context of the Greg Shiano backlash. So with that being said I’m opening my recruitment to other fan bases so I can enjoy a team win at some point this decade. As a nice bit of news at east Will Friend is gone.
I apologize for chuckling at your expense. But I get it. You left off the part where Mullen goes the NFL and Florida hires Freeze and he proceeds to win out against Tennessee the next 4 years. Go poach a top level AD so that he can bring the boosters under control and then start a search for that coach who has what it takes to turn the program around. Swinging for homeruns has struck out.
No apologies needed. It was meant to give people a chuckle.
The next head coach for the Vols….. LMAO
Hopefully Steele won’t be the defensive savior Bob Shoop was.