Steele Is Fired as Baylor’s Coach

Baylor football Coach Kevin Steele was fired Sunday but agreed to finish the season.

Steele, in his fourth season at Baylor, is 9-33 and his teams have won only one Big 12 conference game during his tenure. The Bears are 3-6 this season, including 1-4 in the Big 12.

“It is with regret that I announce this move,” Athletic Director Tom Stanton said. “Kevin’s efforts have made significant improvements in many areas of our football program.”

Baylor lost to Texas Tech, 62-11, on Saturday. Since beating Kansas, 35-32, on Oct. 5 to end their 29-game Big 12 losing streak, the Bears have been outscored, 181-21, in four games, including shutouts by Texas A&M; and Colorado.

“I am disappointed that we were not able to meet the demands placed upon the Baylor football program in the time allowed,” Steele said in a news release.

Stanton said the school will begin the search for a successor over the next few weeks and would not comment on the coaching situation until after the season.

“You can do all the rebuilding and coaching and recruiting that you want, but there’s some simple truths in coaching,” Steele said. “At some point as a football coach, you’ve got to win. If you don’t win enough, something may happen.”

The program was in bad shape when Steele arrived.

Dave Roberts briefly preceded Steele, going 4-18 in two seasons.

The Bears’ last winning season was 1995, when they went 7-4. Their last bowl appearance was after the 1994 season when they lost, 10-3, to Washington State in the Alamo Bowl.

Before coming to Baylor, Steele was an up-and-coming defensive assistant, serving as linebackers coach with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers for four years.

Before the stint with Carolina, he spent six years as linebackers coach at Nebraska. During that time, the Cornhuskers went 60-11, appeared in six bowl games and won a national title.