Track and Field
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- dsteele@uoregon.edu
- Phone:
- (541) 346-5321
Few athletes or coaches have accumulated as diversified and international-caliber a resume as Olympic medalist and NCAA champion Dan Steele, the Ducks’ as associate director of track and field. The 2008 Pac-10 Track & Field Coach of the Year oversees Oregon’s sprinters, hurdlers, pole vaulters, decathletes and heptathletes.
As associate director of track and field, Steele is responsible for overseeing the daily operation of the men’s and women’s track and field teams. The 2005 and ’07 West Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for Men’s Sprints and Hurdles has established himself as one of the nation’s brightest coaches. Steele has guided Ducks to eight NCAA victories, 14 Pac-10 titles, 30 All-America honors and 22 school records.
In 2009, Steele guided Oregon’s multi-talented decathletes and heptathletes to three NCAA individual titles, a pair of Pac-10 championships, seven All-America certificates and five school records. He helped Ashton Eaton win his first NCAA indoor heptathlon title and then defend his NCAA outdoor decathlon title, as the junior scored vital points towards Oregon’s first ever NCAA Indoor national championship and outdoor runner-up finish.
Steele also led Brianne Theisen to her first NCAA heptathlon title in 2009 and watched as she set school records in the heptathlon (6,086 points), pentathlon (4,321 points), 100 meter hurdles (13.56) and indoor 60 meter hurdles (8.54). Eaton, Theisen and Kalindra McFadden all doubled up on All-America awards indoors and outdoors, while Marshall Ackley was a decathlon All-America honoree.
Theisen and Eaton also won Pac-10 titles in the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively, as Oregon swept the conference’s team titles for the first time in school history. It was the men’s third straight title, while the women won for the first time since 1992. Theisen (Team Canada) and Eaton (Team USA) went on to compete at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin.
Steele was named Pac-10 Men’s Coach of the Year after guiding Oregon to the 2008 league title. Under the leadership of Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna and Steele, and with the help of a talented assistant coaching staff, six Ducks won individual Pac-10 titles in 2008, including Ashton Eaton in the decathlon. Eaton would go on to win NCAA titles in the decathlon, one of 13 Oregon student-athletes who earned All-America awards in track and field in 2008.
At the U.S. Olympic Trials, Eaton became just the second Duck to go over 8,000 points in the decathlon with his fifth-place performance (8,122 points) and was the top collegian in the field.
In 2006-07, Steele deftly managed an influx of new talent, particularly in the sprints, and guided Duck athletes to titles at the Pac-10, West Region and NCAA levels. Pole vaulter Tommy Skipper finalized one of the collegiate scene’s greatest careers with a new Pac-10 record (19-0.25) and a school-record fifth NCAA title. He also claimed his third Pac-10 victory and ended his career ranked seventh all-time among collegians and 19th all-time among Americans.
As in the past, the men’s sprint unit helped UO win its third Pac-10 team trophy by advancing athletes to the finals of the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles. The 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relays were comprised entirely of Duck newcomers and notched UO’s sixth and seventh top-four finishes in the Pac-10 Championships the past four years?a stretch that has included one title and four runner-up finishes.
Individually on the track, junior newcomer Marcus Dillon earned All-America honors in the NCAA outdoor 400 meters. Dillon’s personal best (46.18) joined two other Steele-coached athletes in the top-five?Matt Scherer (second 45.19) and Kedar Inico (third, 45.22). UO’s 4x400 meter relay season best in the NCAA finale gave Steele-coached quartets 16 of the top 19 times in school history. He has guided 4x100 meter relays to 14 of the top 17 all-time marks.
In 2005-06, the men’s sprint and hurdle corps and pole vaulters added two NCAA titles and 13 All-America honors, four Pac-10 titles, and three school record records. The highlight of the season came in the Pac-10 Championships’ return to Eugene as a record number of fans roared in support of UO’s first-ever men’s relay crown in the 4x100 meter relay, then cheered wins by Scherer (400 meters), Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles) and Skipper (pole vault).
Skipper swept the pole vault top spot in the 2006 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. He added a third-place tie in the USA Outdoor Championships and ended the year ranked 16th in the world and fourth in the U.S. with his Oregon and Pac-10 record of 19-0 from the Oregon Preview.
The Oregon men’s relays added All-America honors for the second straight season in the 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relays. Also in the NCAA Championships, Mitchum added his fifth and sixth All-America honors in the high hurdles indoors (third) and outdoors (fifth), while Scherer added his second outdoor honor in the 400 meters (fifth).
In 2004-05, the Duck sprint and hurdle unit stamped itself as one of the nation’s best with 17 All-America honors, two West Regional titles and two Pac-10 titles. The 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relays added Pac-10 runner-up placings to help UO to its second conference team win in three years. Their All-America efforts helped the ?Men of Oregon’ finish top-10 as a team in the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships the same year for the first time in school history.
The 4x400 meter relay particularly shined in the 2005 NCAA outdoor showdown with a 2.46-second school record (third, 3:00.81)?the fourth-fastest time in Pac-10 history and faster than every NCAA champion since 1964 except three seasons. The day before in the NCAA 4x100 meter relay final, Oregon claimed its second straight school record (sixth), and its highest NCAA finish since 1972. Indoors in ’05, the 4x400 meter relay added its first-ever All-America honor (sixth) and ranked second nationally during the season (3:04.17).
In 2003-04, the Oregon sprint corps established nine school records and earned seven All-America honors. NCAA runner-up Eric Mitchum paved the way with school records in the 60 meters and 110 hurdles. The 4x400 meter relay also staked a fifth-place NCAA outdoor finish?its first All-America honor since 1971.
Steele initiated his Duck coaching career as a men’s volunteer in 2000-01, and oversaw the hurdles and javelin. John Stiegeler won Pac-10 and NCAA javelin titles and set a school record in the collegiate finale (252-10).
In between his UO coaching stints, Steele competed as a brakeman on the Olympic bronze medalist four-man bobsled team in 2002. That same unit won the U.S. Olympic Trials, and he was also a part of the 1998 Olympic Team in both the two- and four-man sled races (and the only rookie on either team).
Steele was equally well-known in international track and field circles as a decathlete and hurdler. He ended his career with a fifth-place finish in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials decathlon (7,890 points)? only 167 points shy of another Olympic berth. The year before, he took eighth in the 1999 World Championships with a personal best of 8,130 points, and ranked second among Americans in the event. That summer he also ranked second in the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, third in the USA Championships in Eugene, and eighth in the IAAF Grand Prix decathlon standings.
As a collegian at Eastern Illinois University, the two-time All-American won the NCAA 400 hurdles title as a senior, and was a nine-time Mid-Continent Conference event champion, and EIU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee in 2001.
The Moline, Ill., native graduated from Eastern Illinois with a BA degree in sociology. He and his wife Dusky have two sons, Xander and Blake.
Coaching Honors
2009 USTFCCCA National Indoor Coach of the Year
2009 (M)
Pac-10 Track & Field Coach of the Year
2008 (M)
NCAA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year
2007 (M), 2005 (M)
Dan Steele Has Guided Athletes...
...to 8 NCAA Track and Field Titles
Pole Vault 2006 (outdoor),
2006 (indoor),
2007 (outdoor)
Javelin 2001
Decathlon 2008, 2009
Heptathlon 2009 (indoor),
2009 (outdoor)
...to 30 All-America Honors
60 Meter Hurdles 2004, 2005, 2006
110 Meter Hurdles 2004, 2005, 2006
400 Meters 2005 (indoor),
2005 (outdoor),
2006 (outdoor),
2007 (outdoor)
4x100 Meter Relay 2005, 2006
4x400 Meter Relay 2004 (outdoor),
2005 (indoor),
2005 (outdoor),
2006 (outdoor),
2008 (indoor)
Pole Vault 2008 (indoor),
2008 (outdoor),
2009 (indoor)
Javelin 2001
Decathlon 2008, 2009 (2 athletes)
Heptathlon 2008 (indoor),
2008 (outdoor)
2009 (indoor)
2009 (outdoor; 2 athletes)
...to 14 Pac-10 Conference Titles
110 Meter Hurdles 2004, 2005, 2006
400 Meters 2005, 2006, 2008
4x100 Meter Relay 2006
Pole Vault 2006, 2007, 2009
Javelin 2001
Decathlon 2008, 2009
Heptathlon 2009
...to 22 School Records
55 Meter Hurdles 2004
60 Meter Hurdles 2004, 2006,
2009 (indoors),
2009 (outdoors)
110 Meter Hurdles 2001, 2004
200 Meters 2005 (indoor)
400 Meters 2004 (indoor),
2005 (indoor)
4x100 Meter Relay 2005
4x400 Meter Relay 2004 (outdoor),
2005 (indoor),
2005 (outdoor)
Pole Vault 2006 (indoor),
2006 (outdoor),
2007 (outdoor)
Javelin 2001
Heptathlon 2008 (indoor),
2009 (indoor),
2009 (outdoor)
Pentathlon 2009
