LSU Football: New DC Kevin Steele Faces Tough Situation

He grew up in a football family that originally hailed from Prattville, Alabama, just north of Montgomery.

His father, Pete, was a football coach. Older brother Dale is now the director of football administration at East Carolina, and younger brother Jeff is an associate athletic director at Auburn.

But defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Kevin Steele’s long path to LSU really started in Dillon, South Carolina, where the family moved and where he met John Chavis.

They were high school teammates and later college roommates at Tennessee. Seemingly joined at the hip, they played for Johnny Majors and began their coaching careers with the coach as well, while developing a relationship between them that has been widely described as “like brothers.”

They still regularly talk on the phone and hang out together whenever possible, in addition to sharing family trips and vacations.

So when Chavis decided that it was time to move on to Texas A&M after six seasons at LSU, he pushed for Steele to be his replacement.

“They’re very similar,” LSU linebacker Kendell Beckwith said, although he has yet to see the full transformation that Steele goes through on game days.

Meet the coach away from the football field, and it’s easy to see why he was once named Recruiter of the Year by Rivals (2005). Personable, friendly and sociable, Steele's the kind of person with whom you want to go fishing or maybe play a round of golf.

“He’s very outgoing,” said Vadal Alexander, with whom Steele made a point to talk every day during spring practices, even though the offensive lineman wasn’t one of his position players.

“He’s always optimistic, always upbeat.”

On the sideline, though, he’s as intense as it comes, and Steele has the resume to back it up.

He’s been a head coach (Baylor 1999-2002), worked in the NFL (Carolina Panthers 1995-98), and has been an assistant for legends like Bobby Bowden, Tom Osborne and Dom Capers.

You name a defensive scheme, and Steele has probably run it in some shape or form, and by moving around so much he’s developed a bit of reputation—albeit a bit unfairly—as a guy who always likes the next opportunity. 

Yet while Steele’s record as an assistant coach is considered top-notch, the same can't be said for his time as a coordinator or head coach. His teams at Baylor went just 9-36. When he was Alabama’s defensive coordinator, Steele was reassigned after a year to associate head coach and linebackers coach to make way for Kirby Smart.

In his time at Clemson, the Tigers were 13th in the nation in scoring defense in 2010, but that dropped to 81st the following season. In total defense, they went from 12th to 19th to 71st.

What essentially did him in was the 2012 Orange Bowl. Clemson had won its first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 20 years and earned its first major bowl appearance since 1981, only to be dismantled by West Virginia, 70-33.

The defense was torched for 589 yards and 63 points.

That led to the first time Steele tried to work for Les Miles at LSU, where his son Gordon was a graduate assistant (he’s now the offensive line coach and run-game coordinator at Murray State), but the move wasn’t allowed, according to the contract he signed with Clemson.

So Steele went back to Alabama, and for $200,000 became Nick Saban’s director of player personnel, which meant that he was responsible for organizing all recruiting efforts and assisting in the day-to-day administration of the football program.

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

In some ways it was a great fit, even if just a temporary one. Steele had already worked for Saban and not only understood his system and how he recruited but also how he wanted things done. Alabama was still trying to find a suitable replacement for Ed Marynowitz (2008-11, now the vice president of player personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles), and above all else, Steele is highly organized.

Actually, that’s an understatement. He’s known for being a meticulous, write-everything-down, attention-to-detail freak. Steele doesn’t just take extensive notes but color-coordinates his vast assortment of notebooks by subject.

Only Steele still had the coaching bug, and when Louisville called about becoming Bobby Petrino’s defensive coordinator last year, he listened but instead became the Crimson Tide’s interior linebackers coach for $700,000 a year.

That was until Chavis urged his friend to go after his old job.

“They’re getting a good coach who knows football and will coach the heck of the guys around him. A good guy,” said Alabama interior linebacker Reggie Ragland, who still regularly calls Steele. “I knew it was a business decision.”

LSU gave Steele a two-year contract paying him $1 million annually, which was a significant raise but also $300,000 less than what Chavis made in 2014. Steele is only signed through March 2017, while his predecessor had a three-year deal.

Year	Team	Position
2003-06	Florida State	Linebackers
2007	Alabama	Defensive Coordinator
2008	Alabama	Assoc. Head Coach/LB
2009-11	Clemson	Defensive Coordinator/LB
2013	Alabama	Director Player Personnel
2014	Alabama	Linebackers
2015	LSU	Defensive Coordinator/LB

Steele's expected to run a similar defensive scheme, a flexible 4-3 base that should ease the transition for the players. So far, they say the changes aren’t too extreme, just some different checkdowns and terminology.

But last year LSU led the Southeastern Conference in pass defense and total defense and was second in scoring defense. Nationally, it was third, ninth and fifth, respectively.

That’s the standard Steele is being held to, and even he says, "They didn't bring me here to fix something."

“I can tell you that we've had some really talented teams in the last seven years or so and guys that have gone on to the NFL and played great,” Miles said. “... What I'm saying is that we would expect that that talent would continue and that we would have great defense—period.”

Should there be a drop-off, Steele will be blamed, pure and simple. If there’s not, a lot of credit will go to Chavis and new defensive line coach Ed Orgeron.

That’s a tough situation for any coach to be in, even one with a good reputation.

“Overall, he’s a great man,” Beckwith said. “I’ve learned a lot in a short period of time, and it’s special working with him.

“He’s the real deal.”

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.