By Dan Wiederer
Staff writer / The Fayetteville Observer

Reprinted with permission

BUIES CREEK — Dale Steele doesn't hide the fact that he's a stickler for details, more organized than the Library of Congress.

That much is obvious on a walk around the Campbell football facilities, where Steele shows off the Camels' spacious meeting room with the chairs perfectly in line.

"And there will be a seating chart," he says, "so I can tell with one quick look who's here and who isn't."

In the locker room, Steele points to a giant orange football woven into the carpet in front of the markerboard, a soon-to-be symbolic oval where each of his players will come before kickoff.

"Once they step inside that orange that means they're set to go, that they have a singular focus."

Inside his office, Steele apologizes for "the mess" — though Martha Stewart would be proud of the cleanliness — and later pulls out a thick black binder that describes in vast detail the mission of Campbell football.

Minute-by-minute schedules, team policies, university rules.

Dress codes and job descriptions.

And, of course, the commandments Steele wants to build his program around.

Commitment, unity, toughness and effort.

Consistency, responsibility, unselfishness and enthusiasm.

"Coach is very hands-on and very passionate about what he's doing," says Art Link, Campbell's defensive coordinator. "He's putting everything he has into this mission, and he's asked all of us to jump out there and take a little leap of faith with him as we build this program basically from scratch."

Having a vision

At 53, Steele finally has his first college head coaching gig, with the Camels' season opener — heck, their program opener — now just 34 days away. Players report to camp Aug. 4.

"Where we are with what we're trying to do, you have to be a visionary person," Steele says. "The players that we have here have had to have a belief. And the kids that have worked hard to become the starters and the leaders on this football team had that unique vision where they could see this building before it was built.

"They could see themselves in that orange uniform before we had a single jersey ordered. They could see themselves playing right guard or linebacker or quarterback against Dayton before we ever had a schedule."

Just like Steele always saw himself becoming a college head coach, no matter how long it took or what roads it took him down.

Trace Steele's career path on a map, and it covers approximately 7,012 miles, a journey starting in Columbia, S.C., now stopped in Buies Creek, with stopovers in Muncie, Ind.; Madison, Wis.; New Orleans; LaPlace, La.; Wichita, Kan.; Manhattan, Kan.; Greenville; Rocky Mount; Waco, Texas; Johnson City, Tenn.; and Elon.

Ask Steele what it takes to survive such a demanding expedition and he doesn't hesitate with his answer.

"A good wife," he says.

That he has in bride Pam Steele, with whom he celebrated his 34th wedding anniversary just last week. The couple has two daughters — 23-year-old Meghan and 17-year-old Kelsey.

Dale and Pam first met at Autauga County High School in central Alabama, and both still vividly remember the drive that got this whole coaching voyage started, a 632-mile trek from South Carolina to Muncie in 1977 to meet Ball State coach Dave McClain about a graduate assistant position.

"We had typed more than 105 letters for Dale to become a graduate assistant," Pam says, "And I think we heard back from five, maybe six, schools."

A 20-minute interview with McClain was enough for Steele to land his first college coaching job, and the rest is a tale in which hellos and goodbyes and cardboard boxes have become a regular part of the Steeles' lives.

"I do believe I could go into the moving business," Pam says. "I know for certain that if anybody needed help, I could pack all their stuff up and none of it would break."

The only stop sign Pam has put up came after Dale had an interview to become wide receivers coach at North Dakota. One night in a hotel near Grand Forks, N.D., was all she needed, the curtains inside her hotel room blowing as if the windows were open.

"That was too much snow for a southern girl," she says. "When we got back on the plane to go home, I told Dale straight out, ‘I'm not moving here. There is no way. I'll go back to Alabama and live there until you get this out of your system.'"

To date, it's the only move Pam has vetoed.

Nomadic life

Steele has seen a bit of everything in 13 coaching jobs over 32 years. He's learned countless offensive formations and defensive schemes and picked up bits and pieces of his coaching style from those he admired.

His genuine care for the players? That he learned from McClain.

His detailed planning, staid temperament and up-front relationships with fellow coaches? East Carolina's Bill Lewis helped sharpen that. The understanding of how much extracurricular business comes with being a head coach? Steele's older brother, Kevin, provided plenty of insight during their time together at Baylor.

Memories of certain games still bring a satisfied smile to Steele's face. There was East Carolina's 37-34 win over N.C. State in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Day 1992, a victory that gave the Pirates an 11-1 record. A Daily Reflector sports page commemorating the triumph – headline: "Un-bowl-ievable!" – still hangs in a frame on Steele's office wall.

Believe it or not, there are also losses that give Steele an equal amount of pride. With a nod and a grin, he talks about the fight the 1988 Kansas State Wildcats showed in attacking No. 10 Oklahoma in what turned out to be a 70-24 loss. And he acknowledges a deflating 13-12 Ball State upset loss to Kent State in 1977 as the game that showed him the importance of never taking an opponent, a quarter or a play too lightly.

Steele has learned to appreciate all the nuances of the places he's been, big and small. He enjoyed the convenience of the 250-mile chartered plane rides from Baylor to Oklahoma. But he cherishes those long and exhausting bus rides, like the one from East Tennessee State to Tennessee-Martin in 2003, west across the entire state.

"We got on the bus," Steele says, "drove all day long, finally stopped to eat, do a walk-through and check into a hotel and I figured, ‘OK, we've got to be close. We get up the next morning and we still had another two-and-a-half hours to drive."

After a 14-7 overtime victory that night, it was back on the road.

"I'll never forget coming up the interstate between Knoxville and Johnson City and here comes the sun right up over the mountains," Steele says. "We had driven the entire daggum night. But it was a great experience. We won a football game."

That's Steele's mission at Stop 13, Campbell University: To win football games.

It's something he thinks the Camels are prepared to do. And he's determined to make it happen. After all, while moving has become commonplace for Steele, he'd love to root down in Buies Creek for a while.

"In this business, you understand that bouncing from place to place is just part of it," Steele says. "But you have to have an attitude that every job you take will afford you a new experience. We've met new people at every stop and it's allowed us to grow."

As for Pam? Long walks with her loyal Yorkie, Baxter, plus meaningful relationships with Kelsey and Meghan have helped make things easier. So, too, has a positive attitude.

"You have to embrace the newness of each situation," she says, "And you can't be selfish. I don't want to say that football is the most important thing in life, but it's important in that if you don't win, you won't have a job. Through all we've been through, I've really enjoyed the adventure."

Staff writer Dan Wiederer can be reached at wiedererd@fayobserver.com or 486-3536.