Tennessee football: 10 coaches Vols should avoid hiring

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Jan 1, 2021; Orlando, FL, USA; Auburn Tigers interim head coach Kevin Steele walks on the field before the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Kevin Steele

In the minds of many, Kevin Steele is the stability hire. He played for Tennessee football, is a highly respected defensive coach and was brought on specifically to manage the program through this crisis. It makes all the sense in the world to give him a chance to run the program for a year just to see if it works out. Why not?

Well, Steele made a move over 20 years ago that should have wrecked any chance he ever had to be a head coach again. In just his second game as head coach of the Baylor Bears, Steele’s team had the ball up 24-21 against the UNLV Rebels. They were at the UNLV 8 with 20 seconds left, and UNLV had no timeouts.

Rather than take a knee, Steele decided to try to punch it in for another score. Well, he paid a price, as Darrel Bush fumbled the ball at the one and UNLV returned it 100 yards for the win. That’s the worst coaching decision in the history of sports.

Steele proceeded to go 9-36 in four years at Baylor. He may be a solid coordinator, but a losing coach who made a decision like that forfeits all rights to be a head coach of a program ever again. Yes, I’m holding that against him here.

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