Thompson Valley’s Jamie Steele is All-Colorado Coach of the Year after leading Eagles to first title

Two years ago, Jamie Steele was ready to hang up his whistle.

A longtime assistant around Larimer County, including a 17-year run as Loveland’s freshman head coach and stints with Resurrection Christian and Mountain View, Steele was Thompson Valley’s running backs coach in 2022.

But when then-Eagles head coach Chris Tedford left for Fossil Ridge ahead of the 2023 season, Steele wasn’t sure of his football future. He’s coached preps in Colorado since ’96, but figured his run might be done.

“I thought my coaching career was over, to be honest,” Steele said. “I figured they would hire someone new, and that guy would bring in a new staff. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to a new program, or learn a new system (if I was retained). But I had players calling me, encouraging me to apply for it and see what happens.

“Here I am two years later, and it’s the craziest ride I’ve ever been on in my life.”

That crazy ride began with the Eagles reaching the Class 3A semifinals in 2023 with Steele as the interim head coach — the program’s most successful season since going 10-3 in 2005.

Then, after the interim tag was taken off this fall, Steele guided Thompson Valley to the program’s first state championship. It earned Steele the distinction of Denver Post All-Colorado Coach of the Year.

The title, which came via a dramatic 16-14 win over Mead on Dec. 7 at Canvas Stadium, was a pay-off for the decades Steele spent as a lower-level coach before finally getting his chance to lead a program.

Steele had previously interviewed for the head job at Loveland, Resurrection Christian, Greeley West and Mountain View, and was a finalist for a couple of those gigs. But “it was always, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.'”

That was until Thompson Valley gave him a chance at the job last season. To those closest to Steele, his success in quickly morphing the Eagles into a title contender came as no surprise.

“Jamie is a superior relational football coach,” explained Mark Roggy, who had Steele on his staff at Resurrection Christian. “What I mean by that is he has the capacity to make kids want to play the game, and to move people and a community in the right direction. He’s always been able to make football something that’s fun for kids to be a part of. I saw that unique skill at lower levels when he was on my staff.”

Thompson Valley senior captain CJ James, a CSU Pueblo commit and All-Colorado selection, says that skill enabled Steele to quickly earn the trust of his players when he took over in the summer of 2023.

Steele’s mantra repeated at practice every day also helped, as did the Bible study he coordinated on Sundays at Foundations Church in Loveland.

“He preaches the six Ws —  work will win when wishing won’t,” said James, who played linebacker and wideout. “… And with the Bible study, where we had about nine players each week, having that time away from football together to bond and talk about things bigger than football with him and other teammates really helped me build a relationship with him. That helped form trust quickly, and when we got into tough moments during the season, that sort of trust is something we leaned back on.”

The Eagles won four games by one score or less en route to their perfect 14-0 mark. Considering where the program was not too long ago — Thompson Valley went 0-10 in 2017 and was mercy-ruled in nearly every game — Tedford marveled at how Steele took the Eagles to the mountaintop.

“The complete transformation of that program is phenomenal in terms of where it was recently,” Tedford said. “They went from worst to first. That’s a testament to those kids buying into what Jamie was teaching.”

Steele credited his coaching staff for helping bring Thompson Valley back to relevance.

Defensive coordinator Clint Fick, defensive backs coach Matt Smith and linebackers coach Ken Fantetti, who played seven seasons for the Detroit Lions, made the Eagles D the class of Class 3A with just 6.36 points allowed per game. And on offense, guys who Steele brought over from his time at Loveland, including line coach Jim Dubois and wideouts coach Travis Lease, also made a difference.

And with a hoard of impact players coming back in 2025, Steele believes the Eagles will again be among the classification’s elite next year.

“We’re reloading again,” Steele said. “We’ve got some great underclassmen who are going to be pretty good, and I expect us to do pretty well again next year. This was not a one-shot deal.”