Steve Belles

Steve Belles (born November 21, 1966) is an American former professional football quarterback who played for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League (AFL). He subsequently became a high school football coach in Arizona, amassing five state championships at Hamilton High School in Chandler. He played college football at Notre Dame.

Steve Belles

No. 7
Position:	Quarterback
Personal information
Born:	(1966-11-21) November 21, 1966 (age 58) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school:	Phoenix (AZ) St. Mary's
College:	Notre Dame
Career history
Arizona Rattlers (1992)
Career highlights and awards
National champion (1988)
Career Arena League statistics
Comp. / Att.: 24 / 60 Passing yards: 212 TD–INT: 6–5 Passer rating: 40.42 Rushing TDs: 3 Stats at ArenaFan.com

Playing career

Belles attended St. Mary's High School in Phoenix, where in 1984 he won a state championship and was named Arizona High School Player of the Year. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame.^[1]

After college he played one season with the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League.^[2] He was also offensive coordinator of the Rattlers in 1993 and played in Europe for the Ravenna Chiefs [it] in 1991.^[1]

Coaching career

Belles has been a head coach at three Arizona high schools: Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, and most recently Hamilton High School in Chandler. He was at Desert Mountain from 1995 to 2000 with a 26-25 record.^[3][4] At Mountain Ridge, where he was head coach from 2000 to 2006 with a 47-13 record,^[4] his team advanced to the state finals in 2004 against his future team, Hamilton High School, losing 37–7.^[5]

Belles became the head football coach at Hamilton in 2006 after John Wrenn left to become Arizona State University's running backs coach.^[6][7] He was instantly successful there with a 13–1 record, Fiesta Region Title, and an Arizona State Championship in his first season.^[5] Belles amassed a 131–18 record as coach, including five State Championships at Hamilton, and Arizona's big school state record 53-game win streak.^[8] During his tenure, Hamilton was ranked as high as fourth in the nation by the USA Today Super 25.^[5] As a head coach, Belles has a 204–56 record.

As a result of a hazing scandal at Hamilton becoming public in 2017, Chandler Unified School District suspended Belles as coach before the start of the football season.^[9][10] He remained at the school as a teacher^[11][12] until September, when he was reassigned to the district offices,^[13] and in December the head coach position was advertised with the Arizona Interscholastic Association.^[14]

On June 25, 2018, Belles announced he would become an assistant coach at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, Utah responsible for the quarterbacks and defensive back positions.^[15]