Sources — Kevin Steele changes course, signs as Miami Hurricanes’ defensive coordinator

Kevin Steele is headed to Miami to be the Hurricanes’ defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN.

Steele was set last week to become Maryland‘s defensive coordinator, and the two sides were in the process of trying to finalize a deal, but late Tuesday afternoon Steele signed a deal to join Mario Cristobal in his first year as Miami’s coach, sources said.

Cristobal and Steele worked together on Alabama’s staff in 2013 and 2014 under Nick Saban.

Steele was out of coaching last season. His most recent stop as defensive coordinator was at Auburn from 2016-20, during which he was a Broyles Award finalist in 2017 and a semifinalist in 2019 as the top assistant coach in the country. Steele, one of the highest-paid coordinators in college football when he was at Auburn, was not retained when Bryan Harsin was named Auburn’s head coach before the 2021 season.

This will be Steele’s second stop as a defensive coordinator in the ACC. He worked under Dabo Swinney at Clemson from 2009-11. Steele has worked for some of the biggest names in the sport, including Bobby Bowden, Tom Osborne and Saban. This will be his fifth different defensive coordinator’s job.

Steele, 63, served as the interim head coach at Auburn for the bowl game when Gus Malzahn was fired in 2020. Steele was also briefly the Tennessee interim head coach before Josh Heupel was hired last January.