Alabama football has new coordinators on both sides of the ball this season. On offense, Tommy Rees came over from Notre Dame.

On defense, Nick Saban kept it a little more familiar. Kevin Steele, who was his first defensive coordinator at Alabama, returns to his old job for 2023 after serving in that spot for Miami last season.

Saban had high praise for Steele, also worked with from 2013 through 2014, at SEC Media Days on Wednesday.

“Kevin Steele was a longtime defensive coordinator in this league,” Saban said. “Coached with us a couple times before so he knows the system, he knows what’s expected.”

One of Steele’s highest-profile charges this season will be linebacker Dallas Turner. With Will Anderson gone to the NFL, Turner will play a key role in keeping Alabama’s defense near the top of the SEC.

On Wednesday, Turner said Steele’s previous Crimson Tide experience could help the 2023 squad.

“Coach Steele is just showing a lot of the guys the true Alabama standard and the type of style we want to play on defense,” Turner said. “Because you know Kevin Steele, he’s been there multiple times, he has a history of coaching, being a good defensive coach. I just feel like he’s gonna bring all the attributes that we need to have as a defense.”

Changing out both coordinators was a difficult challenge for Saban when Pete Golding, who took the same defensive job at Ole Miss, and Bill O’Brien, who went to the NFL’s New England Patriots, left. But Alabama’s head coach has done this king of thing before.

From the podium, he explained what is most important for Steele and Rees as the season draws closer.

“I think the most important thing is probably relationships,” Saban said. “I think leadership. When you’re a coordinator, you’re in a leadership position for the players on that side of the ball. So to have good relationships in terms of how you present, how you motivate, and the players trusting and respecting the things that you’re trying to implement, the things that we do, that they trust and believe that that’s going to help them be successful.”

Saban said the challenges of replacing coordinators are somewhat eased by Alabama’s strategy of keeping the same systems for players. Steele  already knows what to expect on that front.

“He kind of understands the program and the expectation,” Saban said.

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