Worcester Polytechnic Institute

2011, 2013, 2019 NEWMAC Coach of the Year

Jason Steele begins his 25th year at the helm of the Women's Rowing team.

WPI recorded eight top-three finishes during the 2023-2024 campaign and a 17th-place showing at the HOCR. The Engineers concluded the spring with a ninth-place and 10th-place finish at the NERC and NIRC championships respectively. WPI reclaimed the NEWMAC Varsity Eight championship en route to a second-place performance last spring with a 7:09.7 time over Smith. 

The 2022 fall featured a top-10 finish at the Head of the Charles and a third-consecutive victory in the Wormtown Chase Regatta. Spring action on Lake Quinsigamond started with a first-place finish as the Engineers retained the Jennifer McLaughlin Cup and four second-place showings including a runner-up finish at the NEWMAC Championships. The Crimson and Gray later logged a fourth-place finish at the NERC and sixth-place performance at the NIRCs to wrap up the 2023 stint.

Steele's crew made the 2021-22 campaign one to remember taking home two titles in the fall in the Quinsigamond Snake and Wormtown Chase Regatta along with a fourth- and 26th-place finish at the legendary Head of the Charles Regatta. The Engineers posted four first place finishes in the spring including the Jennifer McLaughlin Cup, Barbara Grant Donahue Cup and Bernie Brown Cup. No. 5 WPI posted a runner-up finish at the 2022 NEWMAC Championships to No. 1 Wellesley. The Crimson and Gray later posted a third-place showing at the NERCs behind No. 1 Wellesley and No. 2 Bates. The nationally-ranked Crimson and Gray later jumped up to No. 3 and rowed to a fourth-place outing at the NIRC regatta to close out the stint on Lake Quinsigamond. WPI later earned a selection to the 2022 NCAA Division III Rowing Championships claimed the second national championship in WPI Athletics history as the Varsity Eight got to toss their coxswain in the water after logging a 6:55.265 time defeating Wellesley, Bates, Ithaca, Williams and Tufts in the Varsity Eight final. The 2V8 finished fifth helping WPI to a third-place overall finish at the championships. During the trip to Sarasota for the program's third-ever NCAA appearance, Ashley Schulinger earned the coveted Elite 90 award as the fourth student-athlete in WPI history to claim such feat and second in program history. 

WPI returned to Lake Quinsigamond in the spring of 2021 and posted wins over Conn College, Trinity while finishing second to NEWMAC foe Coast Guard. The Engineers posted NCAA Division III's fastest varsity eight time en route to outpacing Divsion I Holy Cross to wrap up the 2021 stint. 

The Engineers followed their 2018 third-place debut at the NCAA Rowing Championship with a Runner-Up finish in 2019, bolstered by second place showings in both the varsity eight and the second varsity eight.  WPI was tested early and often throughout its Spring campaign. The Crimson and Gray recorded an unprecedented undefeated regular season including a win over #1 nationally ranked Bates College early in the season.   WPI was ranked #1 in the Nation according to the CRCA Varsity 8 national Poll for the final three weeks of April 2019 and continued its win-streak with a first-ever NEWMAC Championship which secured an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Rowing Championship where the Engineers finished 2019 with its highest-ever finish..  The team also excelled in the classroom.  In 2019 WPI Oarswomen Sarah St. Pierre was awarded the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 award and WPI boasts 14 Academic All-Conference honorees and touting 16 NIRC selections. Both lists included nine student-athletes that achieved a 3.5 GPA or better and rowed at the national regatta. 

As the first head coach of women’s rowing after its inception as a varsity sport in 1999, WPI's rise to prominence began immediately upon his arrival.   WPI has consistently ranked amongst the nation’s top DIII Rowing teams.  In 2004, WPI was ranked second in the nation, missing the country’s top slot by less than one second. The WPI varsity eight was ranked seventh and ninth in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Prior to the 2019 season the Engineers had been the runner up at the NEWMAC Championship five of previous six years.  The 2016-17 varsity eight was nationally ranked ninth a majority of the season while the varsity eight and second varsity eight were regionally-ranked by the NCAA in the final public release. The varsity eight remains undefeated during Fall head racing on its home course of Lake Quinsigamond since 2016.

Athlete accomplishments include All-America awards for Christine Hovermale and Kinsey McNamara in 2018 and 2019 and selection of Kinsey McNamara ’19 to the 2019 USA World Championship squad, where McNamara earned a Bronze medal as the 3-seat of the USA eight.  Corre Steele (no relation) was selected as a CoSIDA Academic All-America three times (2013, 2014, 2015) to go with Jessica McAlear's 2002 nod. At the conference level, the program is poised to exceed 100 Academic All-NEWMAC laurels following the 2018-19 season.

Steele began his rowing career in 1987 as a member of Lake Quinsigamond's own St. John's High School. During his years at St. John's, he developed a passion for rowing which he carried forward into college. A founding member of Emory University's Crew Club (Atlanta, GA), he maintained his affiliation with Emory until 1999.

Notable non-collegiate coaching experience has come as a part of the United States National Team where Steele coached at the USA Lightweight Men's Pair at the 2001 World Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland. Continuing his interest in elite rowing, Steele spent time during the summers of 2002 and 2003 assisting the Canadian Women's National Team in London, Ontario, and the summers of 2004 and 2005 working with the United States Junior Women's National Team in New London, CT.

Steele holds a bachelors in history and near eastern studies from Emory and an MBA from Clark.  He currently lives in Princeton with his wife and daughter.