Education
A native of Moline, Illinois, Steele graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a degree in sociology. Steele even finished eighth in the decathlon at the 1999 World Athletics Championships in Seville, Spain.
athletics competitor bobsledder
A native of Moline, Illinois, Steele graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a degree in sociology. Steele even finished eighth in the decathlon at the 1999 World Athletics Championships in Seville, Spain.
He is currently one of the most successful track and field coaches in America. During the 1990s, he also competed in athletics first in the 400 m hurdles (winning the 1992 National Collegiate Athletic Association title) and later in the decathlon, qualifying for the United States Olympic trials for the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympics, earning his best finishes of fifth in the decathlon in the 2000 trials. In 1993, Steele moved from Illinois to Eugene, Oregon to train full-time in track and field
In 2001 he became a volunteer athletics coach for the University of Oregon.
In between coaching stints, Steele competed in bobsleigh for the United States. both in 1998 and 2002. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he earned a bronze medal in the four-man event, a feat that ended a 46-year medal drought for the United States in that sport.
Retiring from bobsleigh after the 2002 Winter Olympics, Steele is currently the Head Track and Field coach at the University of Northern Iowa. Prior to University, Steele was the Associate Head Coach at the University of Oregon.
That same year he coached Ashton Eaton to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Decathlon title and Brianne Theisen to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Heptathlon title.
This marked first time in National Collegiate Athletic Association history both multis winners represented the same institution. Steele has guided athletes to eight individual National Collegiate Athletic Association titles, 24 conference titles, 31 All-America honors, 32 school records, five Pac-10 team titles, and one National Collegiate Athletic Association team title.
Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002. In 2009 Steele was named the National Men"s Coach of the Year for helping lead the Oregon men to an National Collegiate Athletic Association Indoor title. Steele was also named the West Region Women"s Coach of the Year in 2009 for helping lead the Oregon women to their first Pac-Ten title since 1992. The 2005 and 2007 National Collegiate Athletic Association West Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for Men's Sprints and Hurdles and the 2008 Pac-10 Coach of the Year has established himself as one of the nation’s top coaches. In 2015, Dan Steele, whose exemplary resume includes experiences as an Olympic medalist, National Collegiate Athletic Association champion and head coach, is Iowa State Cyclones’s new Men's & Women's Associate Head Track & Field coach.
