CEDAR FALLS - Dan Steele could have stayed the course at the University of Oregon.

Instead, he chose to retrace his steps to the Midwest.

Thus, Steele became the new head track and cross country coach at Northern Iowa. The Moline, Ill., native and Eastern Illinois graduate met the media Tuesday for the first time as a Panther after agreeing to a five-year contract worth $77,500 annually.

"I do know the area, and it's just a great place for athletics and family and community," said Steele, 40. "It's just a really warm environment and I was really drawn to that."

Steele outlined his vision of what UNI track is and where he wants the program to go during his tenure.

Steele also met with his new team before appearing at the press conference in the McLeod Center.

"I'm really excited about it for a multitude of reasons," said Panther senior Greg Offerman, who was a member of the search committee formed to find a replacement for Travis Geopfert. "(Steele) is a great coach. First and foremost, he has a great background."

Steele won an NCAA outdoor championship in the 400-meter hurdles 17 years ago as a senior at Eastern Illinois. He nearly made the United States Olympic team in the decathlon in 2000. Along the way, he won a bronze medal as a member of the U.S. four-man bobsled team in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

He came to Oregon in 2001, left briefly for his Olympic stint and returned in 2003. Listed as the associate director of track and field under associate athletic director Vin Lananna, Steele contributed to the Ducks' success. Last year, for example, Oregon claimed its first NCAA indoor track crown on the men's side. Steele earned indoor coach of the year honors.

Now, he's the head man at UNI. Steele said he made no secret of his desire to be in charge of his own program. He's got the chance

"I enjoyed my experience at Oregon very much," said Steele. "I loved it. I had some terrific athletes there. It's really a terrific place, and it was going to take a very special place to get me away from there."

Steele added, "To leave Oregon, I would have to be in a place that was very good athletically, very good academically and a community my family could thrive in and have a very good life. Not every good program has those things. Northern Iowa encompasses all of that and more. The more I looked at it, the more excited I got.

"If anybody knows me well, they know I don't always make the obvious choices. I make the choices that are right for me. Through the years, they've been right. My instincts were very clear on this decision. This is the right time to leave Oregon and this is the right fit."

Steele said he's well-aware of UNI's history. His immediate goal is to lift the women's track and cross country programs to a level matching the Panther men, who have won 10 straight Missouri Valley Conference indoor track titles and three in a row outdoors.

The former NCAA hurdles champion thinks it can be done despite the budget issues (a pay and hiring freeze) brought by the country's economic woes. And he thinks the kind of athletes he wants at UNI differ little from the Ducks at Oregon.

"We'll take the kids that know how to work hard and have some talent so you can take them from good to great," said Steele. "Those are the kind of kids we'll be going after. The kind of kids aren't going to change that much, but we're not going after the greatest hurdler in Germany, for example."

Steele said he carries no "preconceived notions" of what his UNI staff will look like. He intends to meet with the holdover assistant coaches.

Meanwhile, UNI will get to know Steele - hurdles champion, decathlete, bobsledder and former coach at one of the most renowned track and field programs in the country.

"If I told you we were looking for somebody who won a national championship as an athlete, somebody who won a national championship as a coach and somebody who won an Olympic medal, I'd be lying," said UNI director of athletics Troy Dannen.

"We didn't start off that way, but we sure found that person and it's just a little bit extra on the coach's resume."