PIERRE — Steve Steele, the architect of Pierre’s football dynasty, has chronicled the program’s rise to prominence and the leadership principles that fueled its success in a new book.

Steele’s book, Building the Empire, details his path from Dakota State University graduate assistant to head coach of a Pierre program that won eight state football titles in nine years.

Steele credits Pierre supporter Ed Jacobson and assistant coach Greg Stluka for planting the seed for the book and persuading him to bring the project to life.

“Between those two this kind of started, and once we kind of got going, it just took off and it was a really fun process to reflect back on everything that’s happened,” Steele, 36, said. 

A native of Michigan, Steele played college football at William Penn University in Iowa and was an all-conference offensive lineman. After four seasons on the Dakota State coaching staff, Steele accepted the head coaching position at Pierre in 2016 and quickly transformed the Governors into one of South Dakota’s premier football programs.

Under Steele’s watch, Pierre has gone 94-24 overall and 27-2 in the playoffs the past 10 seasons. The Governors won a state-record seven straight Class 11AA state championships from 2017-23 and another one in 2025. 

The book documents each season of Steele’s coaching career and gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at building a program. 

“There’s a lot of things that happened and people probably don’t understand just how much goes into things happening from the outside,” Steele said. “So I think it would be an appreciation from that side from fans or from people that follow football just to kind of see the inner workings and then what’s actually going on behind different decisions and different things that happen.”

The 347-page hard copy book (283 page paperback) details key games, but also the lessons learned from each season. Steele also outlines the leadership principles that guided his success, and lessons that extend well beyond the football field.

“There’s a lot of blunt honesty in the lessons,” Steele added. “There’s a chapter legitimately called Lady Luck. There’s a lot of luck that goes into winning, too. I think anyone that denies that is a liar. So there’s a lot of very good honesty and there’s a lot of very good things in the background you wouldn’t necessarily be thinking about if you are just kind of watching the games or following the teams.”

The project took six to seven months to complete, according to Steele, who immersed himself in the Governors’ history by revisiting game film from the program’s championship years.

“I watched quite a few of the games over again, just to kind of get back and relive those feelings,” Steele said. “As you are doing that, you see where all these people are today and I think that's a really cool thing. Not just in football, but in life. It’s cool to see how much you hope the game and being a part of something like our football program and how big of a difference it may have made in these kids' lives.”

In addition to recounting the program’s success, Steele recognizes the coaches who helped shape the program and includes a complete roster of every Governor football player he coached during his impressive tenure.

“It’s just really cool when I was putting that part together to see how many people were a part of this,” Steele said. “I just really, really appreciate everybody for being a part of building this empire.”

Steele’s book can be purchased HERE.