No stranger to college football in the state of Alabama, Kevin Steele has again emerged as a candidate to watch in Nick Saban's search for Alabama's next defensive coordinator.
The Crimson Tide are seeking to replace Pete Golding after Golding's departure last month to Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss staff and veteran Charles Kelly's departure to the Colorado Buffaloes staff of Deion Sanders.
In the past 72 hours, Steele has emerged as a legitimate candidate for the Alabama defensive coordinator post, multiple sources with direct knowledge have told FootballScoop.
Sources indicated that Steele has spoken directly to Saban within the past week; the Tide's search had zeroed in on Todd Grantham, the well-traveled veteran defensive coordinator who had been an analyst for the Crimson Tide in 2022.
However, per sources, Grantham accepted a job Friday with the NFL's New Orleans Saints in an effort to embrace the different calendar and requirements of coaching in the NFL.
Steele served on Saban's earliest Alabama staffs, and he later returned to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in an off-the-field role in personnel. Following that lone season in the personnel department, Steele returned as a full-time assistant coaching the Tide's linebackers in 2014.
Additionally, Steele has Southeastern Conference experience at Auburn, LSU and Tennessee; he was hired last year by Mario Cristobal to become the defensive coordinator of the Miami Hurricanes.
Steele similarly had a brief role in 2021 as the University of Tennessee's interim head coach during the ouster of disgraced former Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
Pruitt has been a name consistently linked the Tide's vacant defensive coordinator post, and Pruitt had great success at Alabama.
However, sources indicated that the ongoing NCAA probe in Pruitt's behavior atop the Vols' program has "made it impossible to hire him" right now at Alabama.
Sources indicated to FootballScoop that Saban, who is not in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, right now as he is on a weekend golf trip, has one additional candidate aside from Steele that he is further vetting.