FOOTBALL NEWS

Coaching veteran Steele rejoins Pirates

From staff reports.

Dale Steele has a new position as Director of Football Administration at East Carolina. The former Campbell head coach began his new duties on Aug. 1, replacing Cary Godette, who retired.

"I've known Dale for 20-plus years," said Pirates head coach Ruffin McNeill. "Great reputation. Hard worker. ... He'll do a great job and we're happy to have him."

McNeill and Steele coached together at ECU in 1992. McNeill was defensive line coach at his alma mater for one season before returning to Appalachian State to be defensive coordinator.

Steele was on the Pirates staff from 1989 to1994. That included an 11-1 season for ECU in 1991. Steele was assistant head coach at East Carolina in 1994 and was the Pirates’ receivers coach from 1989-1993.

"It was a great time to be here," Steele said of his earlier stint with the Pirates. "Football has always been important at East Carolina."

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New ECU Director of Football
Operations Dale Steele
(Campbell University photo)

McNeill noted that Steele helped steer Adhem Elsawi to ECU after the offensive lineman decided to transfer from Campbell.

"Instead of being mad at the kid for transferring, Dale called Cary and said, 'I've got one,' " McNeill said. " 'You need to look at him.' "

Elsawi is listed on the first team at right tackle on the preseason depth chart.

McNeill said Steele's position "had a lot of tentacles."

Steele will handle compliance issues, assist in some areas of player discipline, work with players on housing, assist recruits in the enrollment process and with financial aid.

"It's a lot of what I handled at Campbell," Steele said. "It's just solving problems. I had to do it at Campbell. ... I'll be helping make sure the players and coaches can focus on football."

Steele was hired as head coach at Campbell when the program restarted after more than 50 years of dormancy. He guided the Camels to a 6-5 overall record and 5-3 mark in the Pioneer Football Conference in 2011. CU fell to 1-9 in 2012 as significant graduation losses and injuries affected team performance.

Former Carolina Panthers standout Mike Minter was hired as Steele's successor.

Steele's wife, Pam, works in job placement for Campbell's school of business. He accepted a position at Gardner-Webb as offensive coordinator in February but the commute to the family home in Buies Creek will be significantly shorter from Greenville.

Steele, who played at South Carolina, comes from a football family. His brother, Kevin, is currently Director of Player Personnel at defending BCS champion Alabama.

This report was edited from The Daily Record of Dunn.

E-mail Al Myatt

PAGE UPDATED 08/08/13 03:22 AM.