Steve Luke is in his third season with the Purdue track & field program in 2023-24 and serves as an assistant coach with the jumpers, primarily coaching the pole vaulters.
In his tenure, Luke has helped lead his athletes to some of the best marks in school history, including an All-America honor and some of the best pole vault clearances in recent history.
In 2022-23, Luke coached his vaulters to a Big Ten podium finish, by Jessica Bray for her first career outdoor top-eight finish. Danny Affleck also notched Purdue’s best pole vault clearances both indoors and outdoors since 2015, as he became the first Boilermaker to clear a bar at the Big Ten meet since 2013.
Luke’s first year of 2021-22 saw him guide Isaiah Martin to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and Second Team All-America honors. With his best-ever NCAA Championships finish, Martin notched a school-record-tying 7,708 points to collect his fifth career All-America accolade and first outdoors since 2019. Martin finished his illustrious career by earning the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award. Bray also earned a second consecutive trip to the NCAA East Preliminary Round in the pole vault in 2022 after she cleared 4.21 meters indoors, which ranks No. 3 in Purdue history and was Purdue’s best since 2010.
An Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (ITCCCA) Hall of Fame nominee, Luke came to Purdue following 30 years as a high school head coach and three seasons as an assistant at the University of Illinois and Wabash College. After a record-setting career as a pole vaulter, Luke’s coaching career has seen him coach state and conference champions and a 2020 Olympian.
Most recently, Luke was an assistant at Wabash College in 2021, where the coaching staff was named the NCAC Staff of the Year and he directly coached an athlete to All-NCAC honors.
In 2021, Luke also coached Paraguayan Olympian Cami Perelli-Cubas on her path to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she competed in the 100-meter hurdles.
Luke spent the previous two seasons at the University of Illinois, where he worked with U of I’s multi-event athletes and assisting with the vaulters.
As a high school coach, Luke coached five individual state champions, one relay state title winner and 57 all-state honorees in addition to numerous conference and regional champions and state qualifiers. His coaching career began at Waubonsie Valley High in Aurora, Illinois, where he led the program for 17 years. He then returned to his hometown of Danville, Illinois, and coached Danville High for 13 seasons.
A number of Luke’s high school athletes went on to successful NCAA Division I careers, which included NCAA and NAIA championships along with Big Ten, MAC, Big East and OVC conference titles and a Nigerian nation championship. Luke’s athletes also have gone on to serve as successful coaches at the high school and collegiate levels, including Ceith Creekmur at Michigan State and Mike Bina at Texas A&M.
Luke was a two-time ITCCCA Head Coach of the Year nominee in his time at Waubonsie and Danville and recently was nominated to the ITCCCA Hall of Fame by his colleagues.
A graduate of Augustana University, Luke was a pole vaulter and also played football. He qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships in both 1979 and 1980 and earned All-CCIW accolades. Luke’s collegiate career began at Western Illinois University, where he set the school pole vault record booth indoors and outdoors and made the NCAA Division II national meet as a sophomore.
A native of Danville, Illinois, Luke held the Danville High pole vault record for 27 years before it was broken by two of his athletes.
In his tenure, Luke has helped lead his athletes to some of the best marks in school history, including an All-America honor and some of the best pole vault clearances in recent history.
In 2022-23, Luke coached his vaulters to a Big Ten podium finish, by Jessica Bray for her first career outdoor top-eight finish. Danny Affleck also notched Purdue’s best pole vault clearances both indoors and outdoors since 2015, as he became the first Boilermaker to clear a bar at the Big Ten meet since 2013.
Luke’s first year of 2021-22 saw him guide Isaiah Martin to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and Second Team All-America honors. With his best-ever NCAA Championships finish, Martin notched a school-record-tying 7,708 points to collect his fifth career All-America accolade and first outdoors since 2019. Martin finished his illustrious career by earning the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award. Bray also earned a second consecutive trip to the NCAA East Preliminary Round in the pole vault in 2022 after she cleared 4.21 meters indoors, which ranks No. 3 in Purdue history and was Purdue’s best since 2010.
An Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (ITCCCA) Hall of Fame nominee, Luke came to Purdue following 30 years as a high school head coach and three seasons as an assistant at the University of Illinois and Wabash College. After a record-setting career as a pole vaulter, Luke’s coaching career has seen him coach state and conference champions and a 2020 Olympian.
Most recently, Luke was an assistant at Wabash College in 2021, where the coaching staff was named the NCAC Staff of the Year and he directly coached an athlete to All-NCAC honors.
In 2021, Luke also coached Paraguayan Olympian Cami Perelli-Cubas on her path to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she competed in the 100-meter hurdles.
Luke spent the previous two seasons at the University of Illinois, where he worked with U of I’s multi-event athletes and assisting with the vaulters.
As a high school coach, Luke coached five individual state champions, one relay state title winner and 57 all-state honorees in addition to numerous conference and regional champions and state qualifiers. His coaching career began at Waubonsie Valley High in Aurora, Illinois, where he led the program for 17 years. He then returned to his hometown of Danville, Illinois, and coached Danville High for 13 seasons.
A number of Luke’s high school athletes went on to successful NCAA Division I careers, which included NCAA and NAIA championships along with Big Ten, MAC, Big East and OVC conference titles and a Nigerian nation championship. Luke’s athletes also have gone on to serve as successful coaches at the high school and collegiate levels, including Ceith Creekmur at Michigan State and Mike Bina at Texas A&M.
Luke was a two-time ITCCCA Head Coach of the Year nominee in his time at Waubonsie and Danville and recently was nominated to the ITCCCA Hall of Fame by his colleagues.
A graduate of Augustana University, Luke was a pole vaulter and also played football. He qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships in both 1979 and 1980 and earned All-CCIW accolades. Luke’s collegiate career began at Western Illinois University, where he set the school pole vault record booth indoors and outdoors and made the NCAA Division II national meet as a sophomore.
A native of Danville, Illinois, Luke held the Danville High pole vault record for 27 years before it was broken by two of his athletes.