How new LSU football cornerbacks coach Robert Steeples is winning over players

Matt Markway had always respected Robert Steeples from afar.

Steeples was the football coach at De Smet Jesuit  in Creve Coeur, Missouri, when Markway was the offensive coordinator at St. John Vianney in St. Louis. Even from the opposite sideline, he could tell Steeples was building a formidable high school program — one that had consistently challenged Vianney and won a state championship in 2019.

Markway knows a good coach when he sees one. Beyond formerly being one himself, he comes from a football family. He played at Iowa, his step-brother at Ohio State and his nephew, Kyle Markway, at South Carolina — winning a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams in February. And they're all tight ends.

So when it came time to decide which high school his son Mac — also a talented tight end who already had an offer from Michigan — should go to, the answer was clear.

"I always admired Coach Steeples' players and how hard they played and how physical they played and how disciplined they were," Matt said.

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Four years later, Mac, now entering his senior year at De Smet, has committed to playing for Steeples again. But this time at LSU.

"When we went and visited it was just Mac came away thinking this is the spot," Markway said. "It was a pretty easy decision for him."

Steeples' early impression at LSU football

Steeples, 32, was a cornerback for De Smet before he ever became a coach. And he was good too, coming out of high school as a three-star recruit and the No. 6 player in Missouri, per the 247Sports Composite.

He then played three years at Missouri and a season with Memphis in 2012 before signing as an undrafted free agent with the St. Louis Rams. Steeples went on to play for the Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys, appearing in two games before  his career came to end in 2015.

In 2016, he was hired by  De Smet where he spent the next five seasons. The Spartans went from 2-8 in his first year to state champions and state runner-ups in his final two years, respectively.

"He had kind of helped turn this place, turn the football program back around," said John Pukala, who was Steeples' offensive coordinator and athletic director at De Smet.

Steeples left De Smet after the 2020 season to become an assistant special teams coach with the Minnesota Vikings. After one year in the NFL, he was hired by LSU as  its cornerbacks coach. He had never worked with coach Brian Kelly before, but Kelly had interviewed him for an open position on his staff when he was at Notre Dame.

"If I got another opportunity, I was going to hire him," Kelly said. "I got that opportunity here and I'm glad I did."

He's only coached 15 spring practices and is less than halfway through his first full recruiting cycle at LSU, but Steeples is already making an impression.

Besides having a hand in recruiting Markway, Steeples was the primary recruiter in gaining four-star cornerback Daylen Austin's commitment and leads the charge in the Tigers' attempt to land top 100 prospect and De Smet cornerback Christian Gray. He's quickly gained the trust of the Tigers' new-look secondary while garnering constant praise from fellow coaches and players.

"Put a guy in front of him, he will roll out there and coach him up," LSU defensive coordinator Matt House said. "He loves to coach, he loves to teach. I don't think it matters who's out there. As long as you have a helmet and uniform, he's going to get you ready to practice and play."

LSU defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo played under Steeples at De Smet for four seasons. But Wingo, who was in the transfer portal from Missouri, wasn't recruited by his former coach to join LSU since his official visit was during Steeples' first week in Baton Rouge.

"We really were on tour together just touring the facilities and things like that," Wingo said. "With him being my former coach and stuff, it played a part in it. But he couldn't really sell me on something that he didn't know, honestly."

But he had always loved playing for Steeples and has already noticed him putting his imprint on the Tigers' lockerroom.

"All of the corners and things like that, they like him too. Him being a young coach, they relate to him," Wingo said. "I talk to (UL transfer cornerback) Mekhi Garner a lot about Coach Steeples. We took our official visit together. He knew that Steeples used to coach me."

How Steeples gained the trust of his players at De Smet

An acronym Steeples has brought from De Smet to LSU is MAAD Men, which stands for mindset, accountability, action and discipline. They are values Wingo says are meant to apply to life on and off the field. The expression was one of many ways Steeples was able to imbue his coaching style and philosophies on his players at DeSmet.

He wasn't always a rowdy coach, often leaning on his laid-back personality to connect with players. But Wingo remembers the motivational pregame speeches he would make and how they would always inspire.

The most memorable of them for Wingo came before a midseason game against Christian Brothers College during De Smet's state title-winning season. In a game that was also televised on ESPN, De Smet beat its rival 42-14.

"I've always said that as good as a coach he is, he's an even better motivator," Wingo said. "His speeches and just the way he communicates with the players, and how he gets through to us. He's very good at motivating you and getting everything out of you."

While at De Smet, Steeples also connected with players through activities that had nothing to do with football.

Pukala remembers seeing Steeples playing video games and going paintballing with the  players. Wingo's favorite bonding activity was playing beach volleyball. And yes, Wingo's team always won even if they probably weren't playing by the rules.

"He's very relatable to those guys," Pukala said. "They really trusted him and he brought in a really good group of kind of diverse kids to make up that team."

Steeples' younger age has helped him relate with his players at De Smet and now at LSU. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

His coaching style contains multitudes. He is a motivator, a teacher, a cool person to shoot paintballs at. And, particularly with Mac, Steeples can be tough on his players — an attribute Mac relished.

That's why everyone respects him.

"No matter where they came from or if they're a great player, if they were not a great player, they all had the same respect for coach Steeples," Matt said.

Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser and the USA TODAY Sports South Region. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Robert Steeples: LSU football CB coach was Minnesota Vikings assistant