University of Miami officially announces Kevin Steele as defensive coordinator

Almost a week after reportedly accepting the job, the University of Miami officially announced Kevin Steele as its new defensive coordinator on Wednesday morning.

Mario Cristobal had the following to say about his new defensive coordinator:

Steele’s background was well chronicled last week by our own Justin Dottavio, which can be seen here.

Personally, I’m thrilled with the hire. Being able to land someone with significant experience and prior success is key in helping turn around a defense that struggled with fundamentals like assignment responsibility and tackling last season. That should be shored up quickly under Steele.

He’s also served as linebackers coach on some great programs, having guided the Blackshirts in Nebraska during their heyday. Given Miami’s struggles at linebacker over the past few years, I’m happy to have as much help as possible to begin to turn that positional group from a relative weakness back to a strength.

And he coached against Miami while working for that school up in capitol city, so he knows just how important the Miami-Florida State rivalry is to this school and to college football as a whole.

Welcome to the U, Coach Steele!