Steve Caldwell

Biography

Tennessee Athletics added a familiar face in February of 2020, as longtime assistant football coach Steve Caldwell returned to Rocky Top as Assistant Director of Life Skills & Character Development. Caldwell coached defensive ends on Phillip Fulmer's Tennessee football staff from 1995-2008 and was UT's special teams coordinator from 2000-05. Overall, Caldwell boasts more than 40 seasons of collegiate coaching experience. He was a part of 10 conference championship teams, two national championship teams—including Tennessee's 1998 BCS Championship squad—and he coached in 20 bowl games. Chief among Caldwell's duties in his administrative role is implementing and managing strategic development plans for incoming football student-athletes as they transition to campus life and high-level intercollegiate athletics. Caldwell engages with student-athletes from their signing, through enrollment and then assists with on-boarding processes. In addition to his 15 seasons on staff at Tennessee, Caldwell also coached at Arkansas State (1978-80, 1985-89, 2013), Pacific (1991-93), Nevada (1994), Ole Miss (1994-95), Arkansas (2010-12, 2018-19) and Boise State (2014-17). Among the many gridiron standouts Caldwell coached directly, a dozen players who developed in his position room were selected in the NFL Draft, including Leonard Little, Shaun Ellis, Will Overstreet and Super Bowl LIV champion Dustin Colquitt. Caldwell has walked in the shoes of the college football student-athlete, having play