This is a B- hire.
While it’s true that Steele has been DC at Bama, LSU, Clemson and Auburn, he has either been fired or demoted at all those jobs with the exception of LSU, where he left for a lateral position.
Fans at most of those schools don’t speak highly of him. Clemson fans hate him. LSU fans are mixed. Auburn fans started a “#StopSteele” campaign on Twitter when it was rumored he was the frontrunner for the permanent HC job in 2020.
Steele is also almost 65 years old. He cut his teeth in the 80’s + 90’s when football was a completely different game scheme wise. At one point in time he was a great recruiter, but we don’t know if he’s still great at this stage of his career.
And then there’s the Maryland issue. That is by far the most worrisome aspect of the hire - the fact that the best job he could get this cycle (before we called) was at Maryland. Why couldn’t he do better than that? Shouldn’t schools been falling over their feet to hire him if he was such a great DC?
We’ll see how things shake out, but on the surface this is disappointing and would seem to indicate that Cristobal struck out on many of his top choices.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong about him, though, and that he kills it here. I would love nothing better to eat some crow.