Getty ESPN analyst Peter Burns is optimistic about Alabama football following the coordinator hirings of Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele
In one fell swoop over a three-day stretch, Nick Saban filled the two coordinator vacancies on his Alabama football staff — poaching Tommy Reese from Notre Dame, his alma mater, to be the offensive coordinator on February 2 and hiring Kevin Steele away from Miami to be the defensive coordinator on February 5. While polarized opinions exist about the hirings, ESPN’s Peter Burns is optimistic about what Rees and Steele bring to the Crimson Tide coaching staff.
Burns was responding to a Tennessee fan who claimed that the hirings were good news in Knoxville and all of Alabama’s other rivals when he relayed the potential bright side of Rees and Steele’s arrivals:
Counterpoint….Tommy Rees has likely never had the talent in South Bend that he’ll have in Tuscaloosa.
Regarding Kevin Steele, he knows his way around the SEC well, has worked with Saban before.
Bama will be MORE than just fine with this staff. https://t.co/FIIeRQlqyE
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) February 5, 2023
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Rees is now at his fourth coaching stop in his eight-year coaching career, while Steele now returns to Tuscaloosa for a third stint in Tuscaloosa. Steele was last a linebackers coach in 2014, before that serving as director of player personnel and defensive coordinator.
Twitter Notices Age Difference in Alabama Football Coordinators
Steele is 64 years old and has been coaching football for longer than Rees has been alive. The long-time defensive coach Steele was a linebacker for Tennessee in the 1970s while Rees played at Notre Dame during the last season of the BCS era before the inception of the College Football Playoff.
The notable differences in the Alabama football coaching hires did not go unnoticed on social media in the hours of following Steele’s February 5 hiring:
1. Tommy Rees is 30 years old and offensive coordinator at Alabama.
2. Kevin Steele has been coaching for 39 years and is defensive coordinator at Alabama.
— RJ Young (@RJ_Young) February 6, 2023
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Having someone as old as Kevin Steele on the same staff as Tommy Rees is very funny https://t.co/MqKkTz3Qy5
— bro-bro ma 🌊🏝 (@brobroma) February 5, 2023
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Saban will be crafting a defensive gameplan with Steele, someone in his age-range, while handing the play-calling reins over to a young quarterback who’s ran an offense in the last decade.
Fans Split On Alabama Football Coordinator Hires
There’s not a consensus about Saban’s two Alabama football coordinator hires just yet, with social media being split down the middle on whether or not Rees and Steele were the right men for their respective jobs.
Some were high on the hires:
tommy rees & kevin steele hires tell me two things:
1. it’s much bigger than x’s & o’s. mentality & discipline is the key ingredient here. “culture” hires.
2. return to the old days philosophy wise. run the rock & stop the run + force turnovers.
(more hires to come too).
— Kyron Samuels (@kyronsamuels) February 5, 2023
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Both Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele feel like solid, safe hires with high floors for Nick Saban and Alabama.
Now Mario Cristobal needs new coordinators on both sides of the ball after one season at Miami. https://t.co/EggKZuOfmD
— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) February 5, 2023
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Kevin Steele and Tommy Rees = back to the basic. It ain’t flashy but it is what is necessary
— 🅱️🅰️Ⓜ️ (@_bigbam_) February 6, 2023
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While others were not…
I don’t see them as an upgrade over O’Brien & Golding… but Nick Saban seems to be making a bet that Tommy Rees & Kevin Steele can get the job done with Bama’s talent.
And with Bama, that’s probably a safe bet.
— Jon Tweets Sports (@jontweetssports) February 6, 2023
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Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele? Saban just trying to sink the ship before riding off into the sunset
— Back2BackSZN (@WTFlGO) February 6, 2023
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Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele.
Maybe Bama is slipping. https://t.co/svd8KnTXjc
— Dustin L. Davis (@DustinLDavis) February 5, 2023
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Steele’s visions of taking over head coaching duties at Auburn in 2020 could make his tenure a quick one if another program offers him more money to be head coach. Rees could be a rising star play-caller with several blue-chip quarterbacks joining the program in 2023.