But for one weekend at the end of May Coach Steele found himself where all coaches dream of blowing their whistles and barking instructions.The NFL with the Seattle Seahawks.
"They were great. From Coach Carroll down to the assistants, all the different coordinators. They were just great guys, really open. The players were really open. They wanted to talk to you." said Steele.
Around a decade ago, Coach Steele developed a friendship with Seahawks Defensive Assistant Rocky Seto, while Seto coached at USC under Pete Carroll.The two talked a few months ago about catching up, leading to an invitation to Seattle.
"He said let me talk to Coach Carroll and make sure everything's cool with it and get the clearance. And so he did and got back to me and he gave me some dates." added Steele.
"He was excited just to go. He told us 'Yeah I'm going to go meet the Seahawks.' This and that. Pete Carroll. And I was like dang. Pete Carroll, USC, Seahawks, Rose Bowl, all that stuff. That's pretty crazy." said Vikings senior lineman Frank Gutirerrez.
And what coach Steele saw was mind blowing. Unable to take notes on paper, he packed as many details in his head as he could to bring back to Kingsburg.
"The one thing I took is a lot of organization. A lot of guys that are really serious about their craft. And just talking with the coaches and talking with the players." said Steele.
Coach Steele knows he's got limited time to make changes in how the Vikings handle their business, but the work has already begun.
"A big thing is tempo, very impressed. It's a lot of stuff that Coach Carroll was doing down at 'SC. He's doing it there. They're having a lot of fun doing it. They're exciting practices to go to." added Steele.
"He's never seen so much speed. He wants us to be faster and then he went and saw them and it's like woah. That's totally different. And then coming to practice he's just brought a different intensity that he wants us to do. It's amazing." said Gutierrez.
