A key member of the Alabama football coaching staff is calling it quits, with Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kevin Steele reportedly retiring, according to Chris Low of ESPN.

The 65-year-old Steele is walking away from college football after another solid job as the mastermind of Alabama's stop unit. In the 2023 season, Alabama football managed to finish 16th in the nation with just 19.7 points allowed per outing. The Crimson Tide also ranked inside the top 20 nationally in total defense and yards surrendered per play.

Steele's career would have been punctuated better if Alabama's defense held better against the Michigan Wolverines at the College Football Playoff semis at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where the Crimson Tide lost to the eventual CFP national champs via a 27-20 score. Nevertheless, Steele had made his mark as one of the program's chief strategists under Nick Saban.

Steele had several stints with Alabama. He first coached the team in 2007 as a defensive coordinator and was also an inside linebackers coach the following year. He left Tuscaloosa after that to be with the Clemson Tigers from 2009 to 2011 then returned to Alabama to help Saban from 2013 to 2014. In 2015, Steele went to the LSU Tigers and then to the Auburn Tigers in 2016. One of the many highlights of Steeler's career was when he won the Broyles Award when he was still with Auburn. The award is given annually to the top assistant in college football.

He also served for the Miami Hurricanes in 2022 before ending up with Alabama football for the final time in 2023.