Todd Stepsis is in his second season at Drake and serves as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator.
He was named to head coach Rick Fox’s staff at Drake following six seasons in the same role at Division II power Saginaw Valley State. There, he helped coach the Cardinals to a 44-23 record, three-consecutive GLIAC North Division titles and three NCAA playoff berths.
“The culture at Drake is what attracted me most, I’ve never seen a morale like there is at Drake,” Stepsis said. “I’m looking forward to working with our intrinsically motivated student-athletes. They want to win and compete. To me, that’s exciting.”
At Saginaw Valley, he coached 37 defensive all-conference performers, including the conference’s all-time leading tackler and three standouts that went on to NFL and CFL careers. One of those former student-athletes, Jeff Heath, is the starting safety for the Dallas Cowboys, while another, Matt Black, is a cornerback for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
“He has an incredible knowledge of the game and from what I can see he relates very well with the players,” Fox said of his defensive coordinator.
Prior to joining the SVSU staff, he was an assistant at Capital University for eight seasons during which the program amassed a 57-20 record and earned three straight NCAA Division III playoff berths from 2005-07. The team advanced to the quarterfinals in 2005 and 2006. He began his coaching career at Otterbein where he coached the top ranked pass defense in the conference and helped the program to its first winning season in nearly two decades.
He graduated with magna cum laude honors from Ashland University in 1999 with a degree in special education and also received a master’s degree from Ashland in sport education. He and his wife, Angie, have one daughter, Addison. He is also father to a son, Zander, and daughter, Zoe.
