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Jeremy Pruitt is out at Tennessee and Kevin Steele is in — at least, for now.
Following the Volunteers’ decision to dismiss Pruitt following an internal investigation into alleged recruiting violations, Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman announced Steele has been named Tennessee’s “acting head coach” until further notice.
“We have a path forward, Phillip and I have agreed that defensive assistant coach Kevin Steele should be named acting head coach,” Plowman said on Monday. “Although he just joined the Volunteers, he has the right leadership experience having been a head coach at Baylor and defensive coordinator at Auburn. He also acted as the interim head coach at Auburn and is widely considered a top recruiter. Coach Steele has deep Volunteer roots, having played here and coached here in the past. We will give him the support he needs to keep the program moving forward toward success.”
Keep in mind, Steele just joined Tennessee last week after not being retained by new Auburn coach Bryan Harsin.
Steele is a Tennessee graduate that began his coaching career under former Volunteers coach Johnny Majors. He has spent experience at Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Clemson and Baylor (as a head coach), in addition to his time at Tennessee.
Steele is regarded as one of the best defensive coaches and recruiters in the SEC.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
