[Tuck4Bama]

TUSCALOOSA - In early January, Kevin Steele knocked on his boss' office door. All he did was look at Florida State coach Bobby Bowden and ask him, "Coach, can I see you for a minute?"

College football's winningest coach had a feeling he knew the fate of the man who had been his executive head coach and linebackers coach for four seasons.

"He looked up and said, `No,'" Steele recalled. "Obviously, it was on my face."

What Bowden knew was that on Jan.3, the University of Alabama had hired Nick Saban to be its head coach. What Bowden also knew was that Saban shared his affinity for having a defensive specialist, and that hiring Steele was a powerful way to start a staff.

Saban did exactly that, and Steele is the defensive coordinator for No.22 Alabama (3-1), which plays Florida State (2-1) on Saturday.

Steele's return against his former team is one of the game's pertinent story lines, though he wishes it wasn't. He's declined all interview requests this week.

But in an August conversation with The Birmingham News, Steele called Bowden "an amazing human being" and described leaving Tallahassee as "the hardest thing I've ever done coaching."

Steele calls leaving FSU `hardest thing I've done'- al.com

[Stoney]

Now the hardest thing will be beating his former coach.