Tennessee Hiring Kevin Steele as Assistant Amidst Uncertainty with HC Jeremy Pruitt

Tennessee has hired former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele for an unspecified position on their coaching staff, according to a report from Chris Low of ESPN.

This news is fascinating on a few levels. Last week, Low said on the radio that it would be "difficult" for Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt to keep his job amidst an ongoing recruiting investigation and an underwhelming overall job performance. Later in the week, Low's ESPN colleagues reported that Tennessee had paused new hires and extensions for football assistants due to the ongoing investigation.

We still don't know whether will Pruitt will keep his job, but that pause has evidently been lifted to bring Steele onto the coaching staff.

Steele, who played linebacker at Tennessee and began his coaching career there 40 years ago, was a candidate for the Auburn head coaching job this offseason before a faction of power brokers reportedly blocked the deal and sent the coaching search into chaos. Auburn ultimately hired Bryan Harsin away from Boise State to replace Gus Malzahn.