Auburn hires LSU’s Kevin Steele to replace Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator

The Auburn Tigers hired LSU Tigers defensive coordinator Kevin Steele to fill the same position after losing Will Muschamp to the South Carolina Gamecocks head coaching job.

For the second year in a row, the Auburn Tigers have a new defensive coordinator and for the second year in a row, Kevin Steele was hired as a defensive coordinator at an SEC West school.

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Steele leaves LSU after one year to take the Auburn job that was left vacant after Will Muschamp took the head coaching job at South Carolina. Before coming to LSU, Steele worked at Alabama, his second stint with the Crimson Tide as a personnel member and linebackers coach. He previously served as the defensive coordinator during Nick Saban’s first year at Alabama before a three-year stint with the Clemson Tigers before he was fired in 2011.

The hire was made official after Auburn’s win over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl.

“We’re extremely excited to have a guy with his experience, his character, his work ethic,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said, via AL.com. “He’ll fit in very good and I think he’s got a chance. He’s going to take over a very talented group. We’re excited.”

Steele inherits a defense that likely won’t include defensive linemen Carl Lawson or Montravius Adams who are expected to declare for the NFL Draft and could be potential first or second round picks, but it will include Byron Cowart who was the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, according to ESPN last year.

Auburn thought they hit a home run with the hire of Muschamp last year, but it didn’t work out as the defense struggled much of the year as did the rest of the team, but the hope is Steele will be able to recruit defense to Auburn and develop that potential into production.

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At LSU, Steele had the No. 27 total defense with a roster full of future NFL players and was No. 42 in scoring defense. If Auburn is going to be more competitive next year in the SEC West, they’ll need Steele to do what Muschamp couldn’t and turn this unit into a group of difference-makers.