Scott Steffan - Head Track & Field Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Scott Steffan

Title:
Head Track & Field Coach
Email:
Phone:
719-333-4964

National Pole Vault Coach of the Year (2013)

Three-Time USTFCCCA Assistant Coach of the Year, Mountain Region

Scott Steffan, the 2013 National Pole Vault Coach of the Year and a three-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year, is in his third season as the head coach of the Air Force track and field program. Steffan, who oversees Air Force’s highly successful vertical jumps squad and multi-event athletes, was promoted to the head coach position in the fall of 2022, after serving as an assistant coach (2008-13) and associate head coach (2014-22) during his time at the Academy.

Since his arrival, six members of the men’s pole vault team – Dylan Bell, Nick Frawley, Kyle Pater, Cale Simmons, Joey Uhle, Greg Skage – have combined for 16 All-America awards, while two high jumpers – Taylor Smith, Shelley Spires – have combined for five. Frawley, who claimed a pair of top-three finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (second in 2008, third in 2010) and Spires, who earned first-team status during three of her four national appearances, are two of the program’s most decorated Division I All-Americans, with four overall selections apiece.

Steffan has coached the Falcons to 21 Mountain West titles in the pole vault, including the first-ever women’s outdoor title (Kathryn Tomczak, 2019). The men have dominated the top of the podium at the conference meet under his watch, winning 11 of the last 16 indoor titles and nine of the last 13 outdoor titles. Uhle accounted for five conference titles (2013 indoor, 2014 co-indoor, 2014 outdoor, 2015 indoor, 2015 outdoor) during his career, while Simmons (2012 indoor, 2012 outdoor, 2013 outdoor) and Bell (2014 co-indoor, 2016 indoor, 2016 outdoor) both claimed three. Steffan has seen multiple conference champions on the same roster five times, including a program-best three champions – Connor Stevens (2019 indoor), Greg Skage (2019 outdoor) and Mitch Lipe (2020 indoor) – on the 2020 roster.

He has also been on the sideline as Air Force’s high jumpers have accounted for 12 Mountain West titles, including two sweeps (Rachel Herald/Smith in 2014; John Reynolds/Spires in 2016) during the outdoor seasons. Most recently, he has coached Jalan Rivers to four-straight championships over the 2023-24 indoor and outdoor seasons, with the 2024 outdoor title boasting a 1-2 finish on the awards podium. Steffan also saw Spires set a new all-time MW standard of 6’1½” in 2017, while Smith recorded a conference and championship-meet record clearance of 7’2½” at the 2016 meet.

The men have amassed 60 all-conference (top-three) finishes in the pole vault since his arrival, including sweeps of the medalist positions at seven MW Championship meets (2013 outdoor, 2014 outdoor, 2015 indoor, 2015 outdoor, 2019 outdoor, 2020 indoor, 2021 outdoor) and multiple all-conference accolades in 15 additional championship meets. Highlighted by a five-meet stretch of at least five scoring finishers, the men’s pole vault has accounted for 112 top-eight finishes at the conference meet during Steffan’s tenure. The women’s pole vault has accounted for eight of the program’s nine all-MW placements and 45 scoring finishes over the last 17 years, while the high jump has combined for 26 top-three finishes (18 men, eight women) and 46 top-eight marks (35 men, 11 women) during his time with that event.

Steffan has coached six of the eight vaulters that have cleared the 18-foot bar at Air Force, as the men have continually rewritten the Academy record book under his watch. Backed by the current Academy records from Pater (indoor, 18’6½”) and Simmons (outdoor, 18’4¾”), his vaulters have accounted for eight of the top 10 indoor marks and seven of the top 10 outdoor marks on the Academy’s all-time standings.

The Falcons have also drastically influenced the Mountain West’s all-time standings during the last 16 years. Highlighted by Simmons’ conference-leading outdoor clearance of 18’4½” in 2012, the men hold two of the three-best clearances in conference history during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. In addition, Air Force set Championship Meet Records at both conference meets, behind winning clearances from Pater (18’6½” indoor) and Simmons (18’1¾” outdoor).

In 2013, Air Force was the only team in the nation to have three vaulters clear 18 feet during the outdoor season, as the Simmons twins (Cale: 18’4¾”, Rob: 18’0½”) and Uhle (18’1”) were all ranked among the nation’s top 12.

His female pole vaulters have completely rewritten the Academy’s record book since 2008, as the top 16 outdoor clearances and top 22 indoor clearances have occurred under his watch. Steffan saw Tomczak become the program’s first-ever 14-foot vaulter, with program-best marks of 14’0½” (indoor) and 14’1¼” (outdoor), while four others surpassed the 13-foot barrier and the long-standing facility record at the Cadet Outdoor Track and Field Complex has been broken twice. With those 14-foot clearances, Tomczak also became the first member of the women’s team to earn a place on the Mountain West’s all-time standings in the pole vault, as she was ranked third for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

In addition to the impact his pole vaulters have made, three of the four Academy records in the high jump have been broken under Steffan’s watch. Smith set the men’s indoor record of 7’2½” in 2016 and Spires recorded program-best clearances of 6’1½” during both the indoor and outdoor seasons of 2017. Overall, the men have made eight improvements to the program’s top-10 list (three indoor, five outdoor) during his time coaching that event, while the women have accounted for seven total additions (two indoor, five outdoor).

Steffan took over coaching the multi-event athletes during the 2022 outdoor season – a campaign that saw Braeden Holcombe and Wyatt Murphy post a 1-2 finish in the decathlon at the MW Outdoor Championships. The success of his combined athletes has continued, as Air Force has been represented on the medal podium at every conference meet. Steffan saw Holcombe make history in 2024, as he became the first Falcon to sweep the heptathlon and decathlon titles in the same season – and become the first Air Force athlete to win the decathlon more than once in a career.

He has been named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association’s Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year three times (2012 outdoor, 2013 indoor, 2013 outdoor), while his athletes have earned the region’s Field Athlete of the Year four times (Frawley: 2009 indoor, Simmons: 2012 indoor; Spires: 2017 indoor, 2017 outdoor). His athletes have also succeeded in the classroom, as Smith (2016), Lipe (2020) and Skage (2021) have been named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and seven of his athletes have combined for 18 academic accolades from the USTFCCCA.

The success of Steffan and his Air Force athletes has not been limited to the collegiate arena. In 2016, he coached Simmons to a runner-up finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials and a spot on Team USA at the Olympic Games in Rio. Steffan, who has continued to work with several former Academy vaulters through the Air Force World Class Athlete Program, saw three of his vaulters advance to the finals of the Olympic Trials that year, as Simmons, Bell and Uhle all earned top-10 finishes in the preliminary round. More recently, he coached Pater to a world-leading clearance of 19’1” as a WCAP athlete at the 2020 Air Force Invitational.

Steffan joined the Falcons' program after spending seven years at the University of New Mexico, where he coached the pole vault and men's multi-event athletes.

He rebuilt New Mexico's pole vault program during his time in Albuquerque. Under his watch, three pole vaulters competed at the NCAA Championships, while at least three qualified for the regional championships during each of his last four years and eight Lobos earned all-conference honors. Steffan coached Robert Caldwell to All-America status and led Derek Mackel to the NCAA Midwest Regional record of 18'1". In addition to his work with the pole vault team, Steffan also improved the Lobos' decathlon and heptathlon teams. He guided New Mexico to two decathlon titles, as well as the first Mountain West Conference heptathlon crown. Overall, he coached six all-conference honorees in the multi-events, as well as two NCAA participants.

Prior to joining the UNM staff, Steffan spent three years at Wichita State University. While there, he coached All-Americans in the pole vault, triple jump and heptathlon. Members of his women's pole vault team finished first, second and third at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships during each of his three years.

Steffan began his collegiate coaching career at the University of Virginia in 1991. During his six years at Virginia, he coached All-American athletes in the high jump, heptathlon, decathlon, 400-meter hurdles and long jump. He also guided 22 Atlantic Coast Conference champions.

An all-Western Athletic Conference decathlete for New Mexico, Steffan graduated from the school in 1991, with a bachelor's degree in education. Before obtaining his master’s degree in sports psychology from the University of Missouri in 2016. A native of Aztec, N.M., Steffan has two sons – Jake and Trey.