This is an opinion piece.

Steve Mask could hear the excitement in his friend’s voice.

Kevin Steele is thrilled to be back in Alabama.

The 64-year-old former Auburn defensive coordinator has been tabbed to lead Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide defense once again. It will be his second tenure as defensive coordinator under Saban and third as an assistant coach under Saban overall.

“He’s ecstatic,” said Mask, the current Pell City High head coach and a four-time state champion coach at St. Paul’s in Mobile. “I could hear it in his voice. The coaches and the people of Alabama should be ecstatic about having Kevin Steele back in this state. He’s good for football. Alabama football. Auburn football. He has such a great rapport with all the high schools, and I think he’s the premier defensive coordinator in the country.”

Mask and Steele have been close friends for a long time. Steele was in attendance when Mask was inducted into the Alabama High School Hall of Fame in Montgomery several years ago. He said Steele’s experience and expertise will serve the Tide well.

“I think his energy and knowledge will spin off on those young coaches,” he said on Mobile’s Sports Talk 99.5 this week. “If they are smart and will listen, I think he will be a great mentor for those guys and for someone like Austin Armstrong, who is a young guy from Southern Miss with Alabama roots.

“It’s a great hire for coach Saban.”

The recruiting change at Auburn

Mask also was one of hundreds of high school coaches in attendance at the 18th annual Alabama Football Coaches Association convention in Montgomery last month.

Saban was one of a high-profile list of college head coaches who spoke to the group. Others included Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Troy’s Jon Sumrall, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel and new Auburn coach Hugh Freeze.

Mask said Freeze was “honest and open” about the relationship he hopes to build between his staff and the state’s high school coaches in his first address to the convention as the Tigers head coach.

“I think he recognized it’s been a little bit dysfunctional the last few years, but he sees the need to really reconnect, and he pledged to the coaches in attendance – and it was a full room – that it was their intention to do that,” Mask said. “I think the ground he has made up in the first weeks on the job is astronomical.”

Mask also was asked what he thought may have gone wrong with the brief Bryan Harsin era at Auburn.

“I think sometimes marriages don’t work out for whatever reason,” he said. “I think Bryan Harsin is a good person. I think he is a good man. I think he had some good people on his staff, some of whom are still at Auburn. But it’s a little different in our area of the country and other areas in how you approach things and how you do things.

“It doesn’t make it right or make it wrong, but sometimes the marriage just doesn’t fit, and it was just best for everyone involved for those sides to go their separate ways. I don’t think it was anyone’s fault. I think coach Harsin had a sincere belief in his mind that he could make it work but for whatever reason there was just never a connect there.”

Tourney time

It should be a fun few weeks across the state as we finish the high school basketball season.

Area tournaments are winding down today and Saturday with sub-regional games slated for Monday and Tuesday in Classes 1A-6A and the four AHSAA regional tournaments set to open later next week at Wallace-State Hanceville, Jacksonville State, Montgomery’s Garrett Coliseum and Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham.

Bill Harris is a new addition to the regional rotation. Last year, Montgomery hosted a pair of regionals at Garrett and the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. It was honestly a tad confusing, but it was a last-minute necessity.

The state tournament is Feb. 27-March 4 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.

A new Hall of Famer from Alabama

Congratulations to former Auburn High and Troy standout DeMarcus Ware on his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Ware ranks ninth on the NFL’s career sacks list with 138.5 during his 12 seasons, and he led the league in sacks in 2008 with 20 and 2010 with 15.5

In nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Ware earned first-team All-Pro recognition four times and was picked for the Pro Bowl seven times

I have fond memories of Ware from his college days. During his time in Troy, I was working for the Montgomery Advertiser and covering the Trojans a lot, both at home and on the road. I made trips to places like Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa State and Nebraska with the team as they made their transition to Division 1 football.

Those teams under coach Larry Blakeney struggled mightily on offense but had great defenses led by Ware and defensive tackle Osi Umenyiora. Both of those guys were so courteous to the media, often answering the same questions after each game about how good the defense was in a close, low-scoring loss. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice, and people remember it. I’ve never forgotten how cordial those two were even as they were becoming future NFL stars. Congrats DeMarcus and thank you.

Former Vigor and Auburn offensive lineman Willie Anderson fits into that same cordial category. “Stew Meat” didn’t get the Hall of Fame call this time around. He will. Hang in there, Willie. It’s coming.

Thought for the week

“Your promises never fail

I’ve got stories I’ll live to tell

So I’ll pour out my praise again

You’re worthy, God you’re worthy of all of it.”

— I’ve witnessed it, Passion Music

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. His weekly column is posted each Wednesday and Friday on AL.com. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.