Denver Broncos High School Football Coach of the Week: Thompson Valley’s Jamie Steele

Despite coaching high school football for 28 years, Jamie Steele didn’t get a chance to be a varsity head coach until the 2023 season, and so far, the results have been extremely promising.

Steele is 2-1 so far in his first season, and in Week 3, helped Thompson Valley notch their first win over Loveland High School in 16 seasons. The 14-0 victory for the Eagles also represents the first time Loveland has been shutout in seven years.

At 2-1, Thompson Valley is off to their best start since 2015, and they’re only getting started.

Record at Thompson Valley: 2-1

Overall record as a head coach: 2-1 (Varsity only)

What were your previous coaching positions
Freshman Head Coach, Loveland: 1996-2013
RBs Coach and Freshman/JV Head Coach, Resurrection Christian: 2014-2017
RBs Coach, Northridge: 2018
Freshman Head Coach, Mountain View: 2019-2021
RBs Coach, Thompson Valley: 2022
Head Coach, Thompson Valley: 2023

Why do you coach high school sports?
I just love being around the game of football and being around players. If I can make a difference in their lives, and they understand and respect the game of football – I just get joy out of that.

What is your favorite part of coaching?
Just connecting with the players and seeing if I can advance them to the next level. Also, helping them experience some success, and I hope to always give them some success there.

How would you describe your coaching philosophy?
I just like to build character through the game of football. I just want the kids to really understand what it’s like to commit to something, like football, real life situations, you know. ‘You have to be on time, you have to work hard.’ I always tell them, ‘the six W’s—work will win when wishing won’t.’

What aspect from the start of your first season as Thompson Valley’s Head Coach are you most proud of?
I’m proud of this team. They have a can-do attitude. They love to compete, and they’re just wonderful men to work with. I couldn’t be prouder of them.

What was the key to shutting out Loveland High School this past week and breaking Thompson Valley’s 16-year-long losing streak against the program?
We’ve worked really hard as a coaching staff and I give all the credit to the coaches this past week, on offense and defense – the schemes that we developed, and how they made them execute. The coaches did great, and the players executed wonderfully. I didn’t expect that we would ever shut down Loveland to no scores. That surprised me even. That surprised a lot of people in the state of Colorado, I think.

What is your goal for the remainder of this season?
Continue to grow. I always tell them, ‘One game at a time.’ If the kids were here, they’d say, ‘Yup, Coach Steele says, ‘One inch equals feet, feet equal yards, yards equal touchdowns, touchdowns equal wins.’