Inside The Vikings

Vikings Hire Former Player Robert Steeples as Assistant Special Teams Coach

The former De Smet Jesuit High head coach joins the Vikings, who he spent parts of two seasons with as a player.
Will Ragatz|
Vikings Hire Former Player Robert Steeples as Assistant Special Teams Coach
Vikings Hire Former Player Robert Steeples as Assistant Special Teams Coach

The Vikings have hired ex-player and successful high school football coach Robert Steeples as their assistant special teams coach.

Steeples was a standout cornerback for Missouri and Memphis during his college career. An undrafted rookie who started out with the Rams, he joined the Vikings' practice squad in September 2013 and eventually was added to the active roster. Steeples made two appearances for the Vikings that season, playing a handful of snaps on special teams.

He stuck around into 2014 training camp — Mike Zimmer's first year as Minnesota's head coach — but was cut before the season. After stints with the Chiefs and Cowboys, Steeples moved on from the NFL following a three-year career.

In 2016, Steeples was hired as the head football coach for his alma mater, De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur, Missouri. During his first season, the team went 2-8. Three years later, he led them to a state championship. They went back to the championship game last year and in total, compiled a record of 29-4 over the past three seasons.

Now Steeples, who is just 31 years old, has his first coaching job in the NFL. And it's with the only team he ever played for in a regular season game.

Steeples steps into the assistant special teams gig previously held by Ryan Ficken, who was promoted to special teams coordinator this year after Marwan Maalouf's contract was not renewed. Ficken and Steeples will work together to attempt to turn around what was a historically awful special teams unit in 2020.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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