5th Year as Head Women's Basketball Coach
Hometown: Sharon Springs, KS
College: Fort Hays State University
Landon Steele enters his fifth season at Dodge City as head women's basketball coach taking over the program prior to the 2021-22 season.
Steele has led the Conquistadors to history making performances including three-straight NJCAA Division I National Tournament appearances in the 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 seasons. The 2024-25 he guided the program to the first ever Final Four appearance of the NJCAA National Tournament, along with winning the programs first ever region title winning the Region 6 championship and won the KJCCC title for the second time in his coaching career. The Conqs posted a 31-5 record for the 2024-25 season marking the most wins in a single season.
During the 2023-24 season the Conqs finished second in the KJCCC with a 27-7 record and 19-5 in KJCCC, while beating East Georgia State in the first round of the national tournament 75-57 for the programs first ever national tournament win. He led the Conqs to an historic season in his second year at the helm, 2022-23, guiding them to a 29-4 record and 23-1 in KJCCC action leading to the programs first KJCCC title since 1987-88 and also leading to a NJCAA Division I National Tournament bid for the first time in school history. In four seasons he has a 106-29 record giving him the third most wins in program history and hads the best winning percentage in school history at 78.5%.
He has been named KJCCC Coach of the Year twice (2023 & 2025) and was selected as KBCA Two-Year College Women's Basketball Coach of the Year in 2023. Conqs have had three NJCAA All-Americans under Coach Steele - Layla-J Cameron (2nd Team), Paris Santacaterina (3rd Team), and Shorna Preston (Honorable Mention), while 15 athletes have earned KJCCC All-Conference honors under Coach Steele. He also has coached KJCCC Newcomer of the Year twice in 2023 (Leah Mafua) and 2024 (Parris Atkins), along with two KJCCC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2024 (Parris Atkins) and 2025 (Shorna Preston).
In his first season leading the Conquistadors he led the team to a 19-13 record and 13-11 in KJCCC play. The 19 wins is the most since 2005-06 season, while the program picked up their first playoff win since 2013-14 and hosted a playoff game for the first time since 2004-05.
During his tenure at Dodge City he's coached 10 All-KJCCC honorees, along with two KJCCC Newcomer of the Year (2023 - Leah Mafua & 2024 - Parris Atkins) honorees, along with a KJCCC Defensive Player of the Year (2024 - Parris Atkins). He also has had one NJCAA DI All-American as Paris Santacaterina earned third-team honorees in 2024.
Before taking over at Dodge City, Steele was head coach at Otero Junior College. He took over an Otero program that was 15-13 in 2018-19 and Coach Steele immediately turned them into a winner with a 25-6 record in his first year that ended in a Region IX championship game loss to Casper College. The 25 wins were the most for the Otero program since 2014-15. He followed his first year of success at Otero with a 19-4 record during COVID shortened season that included a Region IX regular season and tournament championship, while also earning a bid to the 2021 NJCAA Tournament in Lubbock, Texas. After upsetting KJCCC regular season champion Butler in the first round. Steele's squad fell to eventual national champion Northwest Florida State in the second round.
During his time at Otero, Steele recruited and coached multiple All-Region IX student-athletes, including a 2019-20 NJCAA All-American Honorable Mention performer in Leah Mafua. Mafua, along with Emma Florez-Pascual were also named World Exposure Report Honorable Mention All-American under Steele's tutelage.
Prior to his time at Otero, Steele has had stops South Plains Community College (2018-19), Lamar Community College (2016-18), and Northwest Kansas Technical College (2014-16). Coach Steele carries a career coaching record of 175-99 as a head coach in college.
While at Northwest Kansas Tech, Steele was responsible for doubling the program win total in each his two years as head coach, including the first 20 win season in program history. He moved on to Lamar where he led a turnaround of the program that included an increase of seven wins to their win total in just his first-year at the helm. Steele then moved on to perennial powerhouse South Plains College to be an assistant coach. In his lone season as a Texan he helped the team achieve an NJCAA #1 ranking for five weeks, a 30-5 overall record, and an Elite 8 appearance before falling to eventual national champion, Gulf Coast State.
Coach Steele began his coaching career at Wallace County High School, where he spent time with both the men's and women's program. Steele guided the women's basketball team to a State Championship title during the 2011-12 season.
Steele's Dodge City ties run deep as he is a relative of Charles Steele who coached the Conquistador men's basketball program from 1959-60. He and his wife, Lauren have three daughters and one son.
