Report: Steele joining LSU football staff

Former Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will return to the Southeastern Conference as the newest member of the LSU football staff, according to a report Tuesday by a website that covers LSU sports.

TigerBait.com reported Tuesday that Steele will join the Tigers in an administrative capacity.

Steele was replaced by Brent Venables at Clemson after West Virginia hung 70 points on the Tigers in an Orange Bowl rout last season. He served as Clemson’s defensive coordinator from 2009-11 after serving under Nick Saban at Alabama in the same capacity the previous two seasons.

A veteran college coach whose other stops as an assistant came at Nebraska, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, New Mexico and Florida State, Steele was 9-36 as the head coach at Baylor from 1999-2002.

Steele was a leading candidate to join Derek Dooley as the defensive coordinator at Tennessee after the 2009 season.

Attempts to reach LSU spokesmen regarding Tuesday’s report were unsuccessful.