After two seasons as coach at Presbyterian College, Bentley resigned Tuesday and returned to the school district and high school program where he created his reputation as one of South Carolina’s top coaches.

Citing the time demands of being a Division I football coach, Bentley stepped down to spend more time with his wife and five children.

“I want to be a dad full-time,” he said during a news conference at Bailey Memorial Stadium. “This wasn’t working out for my family.”

He has lined up a job with Spartanburg District 5 to serve as public relations director and district athletics director, the latter a newly created position. He also will go back to coaching at Byrnes High, where he won four Class 4A state championships this decade. He will serve as offensive coordinator for Chris Miller, who has guided the Rebels to two more state championships since Bentley’s departure.

The 12th-ranked Tigers, sporting their highest ranking since the 1996-97 season, completed their nonconference slate unblemished by scooting past the Crimson Tide 66-59 Tuesday in front of a near-capacity crowd at Littlejohn Coliseum.

It wasn’t without a few tenuous moments, yet with Illinois State’s loss at Bradley, Clemson (15-0) emerged as just one of three remaining Division I unbeatens, joining No. 1 Pittsburgh and No. 4 Wake Forest.

“It’s a heck of a accomplishment to go through nonconference season unbeaten, and I congratulate our guys on that,” coach Oliver Purnell said. “But we have to recognize we have a lot of work to do, and a lot of that showed up.”

“There are a lot of things you normally need to do well, yet we won in a fairly convincing way against a team that came in playing well.”

Kevin Steele, most recently Alabama’s defensive head coach, was introduced Tuesday as the replacement for departed defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, several players said.

Steele’s hiring has yet to be confirmed by the university, although an announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Clemson has the maximum nine coaches on staff, so one assistant must leave or be reassigned to make room for Steele.

Outside linebackers coach Ron West has spoken with Tulsa twice about becoming a defensive coach, perhaps a coordinator, multiple sources said, and could be awaiting their decision. West is not among the Clemson assistants on the road recruiting, and Tulsa finished its season in Tuesday night’s GMAC Bowl.