Les Steckel (born July 1, 1946) is an American football coach currently serving as the quarterbacks coach at

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

. He was the third head coach of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

in 1984, and he has also worked as an assistant coach with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans,

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

Early years

Steckel was born in Whitehall, Pennsylvania and attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, where he was a Golden Gloves boxing champion and graduated in 1968 with a triple degree in social work, human relations, and political science. He volunteered on the Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign that year with Rosey Grier. He then enlisted in the

Marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

and served in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

as infantry. He retired from the Marine Reserves after thirty years of service with the rank of Colonel. After his return from Vietnam in 1970, Steckel was stationed in

Quantico, Virginia Quantico (; formerly Potomac) is a town in southeastern Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 578 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., bound ...

, where he played football for the Quantico Marines football team until 1971. He joined the USMC Reserves in 1972.

Coaching career

Steckel then worked as an assistant

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

from 1973 to 1976. He was an assistant at

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

in 1977, then an assistant with the

in 1978. Steckel joined the

coaching staff as the receivers coach in 1979 and remained an assistant coach through the 1983 season. He was promoted to head coach of the Vikings for the 1984 season after longtime coach

Bud Grant Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. (May 20, 1927 – March 11, 2023) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). Grant was head coach of the NFL's Minnesota Viki ...

retired. As a coach with a military background, Steckel emphasized discipline. He was fired after one season, in which the team posted a 3–13 record. He was succeeded by Grant, who briefly came out of retirement to fill the post. He later worked as an assistant coach or coordinator with the

from 1985 to 1988, then with

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1989, followed by another two years at the University of Colorado from 1991 to 1992. He returned to the NFL with the

from 1993 to 1994, followed by five years with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, where he helped lead them to

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion ...

as offensive coordinator. In a surprise move, Steckel left the Titans just three weeks later to become offensive coordinator of

in 2000. The result was the Bucs' highest-scoring season ever, a 10–6 record, and a trip to the playoffs. Despite his transformation of the team's offense, Steckel's

drill sergeant A drill instructor is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces, fire department, or police forces with specific duties that vary by country. Foot drill, military step, and marching are typically taught by drill instructors. Australia Aust ...

approach to coaching was a poor fit for the Tampa Bay franchise. Less than one year on the job, he was fired after the Bucs lost 21–3 to the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

in the NFC Wild Card Game. His final year of professional coaching was with the

in 2003. He became president of the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international nonprofit Christian sports ministry based in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. History FCA was founded in 1954 by Eastern Oklahoma State College, Eastern Oklahoma A&M basketball c ...

on March 1, 2005, after taking time off to coach his son's high school team. During his one year of coaching at the high school, the team won the Tennessee state high school championship. In January 2021, Steckel joined the coaching staff at

, in

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micr ...

, as the team's quarterbacks coach. Shortly after joining the team, Centre College's offensive coordinator Ben Fox left to become the head coach for

Maryville College Maryville College is a Private college, private liberal arts college in Maryville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1819 by Presbyterian minister Isaac L. Anderson for the purpose of furthering education and enlightenment into the West. The colleg ...

. Steckel was then promoted to offensive coordinator, and he left the team after the season. The Colonels finished the season 2-2 while averaging 31.5 points per game. Trentin Dupper, the Colonels' quarterback, earned the Southern Athletic Association Newcomer of the Year award under Steckel's tutelage.

Personal life

He is married to the former Chris Picket, and they have three children: Lesley, a graduate of

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

, Luke Steckel, who played football at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and is currently the offensive line coach for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

; and Christian, also a Baylor graduate, is a reporter and host for

Bally Sports FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group). The networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from variou ...

Southwest. Les's brother, Dave Steckel, is the former head coach of the Missouri State Bears football team and previously served under Gary Pinkel at

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. Dave served as the defensive coordinator for the team when they won back-to-back SEC East championships in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steckel, Les 1946 births Living people Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Buffalo Bills coaches Denver Broncos coaches Houston Oilers coaches Kansas Jayhawks football players Minnesota Vikings coaches Minnesota Vikings head coaches New England Patriots coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Tennessee Titans coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Quantico Marines Devil Dogs football players NFL offensive coordinators United States Marine Corps colonels Players of American football from Pennsylvania Leaders of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes United States Marine Corps reservists United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War Centre Colonels football coaches