Stephen F. Austin State University built a powerhouse bowling program at the Division 1 Football Subdivision (FCS) level, but recently a scandal has moved attention away from their success in between the lanes to what’s going in their locker room.
Steve Lemke resigned this spring after spending over a decade as the assistant coach for the women’s bowling team. He didn’t leave for another job or because the program wanted to go in a different direction. Lemke was forced to resign by the university after they discovered he had an affair with one of the female bowlers. To add more fuel to the fire, he is married to the head coach Amber Lemke.
Team Bonding
According to the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Steve was brought on as a volunteer assistant at the start of 2011-12 school year by his wife Amber, who was hired as head coach that same year. He’s been with the program ever since and was officially hired on Sept. 1, 2019. He reported directly to Loree McCary, associate athletic director for administration, after he was hired because of state nepotism laws.
The 38-year-old stated that Amber found out about the affair when she saw text messages between him and the student-athlete.
“It didn’t have anything in detail,” Steve said of the text to Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel. “It was just about how amazing I am, basically, in general perspective. Amber saw that and questioned me, and I got to the point where it just built up so much that I basically told her the truth after she dug through my phone.”
He said the relationship between him and the female bowler was consensual. Consensual sexual relationships between faculty and students at the college level are not prohibited under state law in Texas.
“I knew it was kind of a no-no, but there’s not a rule saying it can’t happen,” Steve said to Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel. “There’s not a law saying I’m going to go to jail for doing something like this. There’s nothing in stone. I guess it’s just an ethics code, like we frown upon it, but there’s no rule, there’s no law broken.”
Blindsided
Steve said he initially volunteered to help out his wife, but their work relationship damaged their home relationship.
“I was the stay-at-home dad for five years with the kids while Amber got to go off and coach the team, and when she’d get back, I’d run practices on top of taking care of the kids while she was back,” Steve said to Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel. “When they’d travel again, I would sit back and take care of the kids. Then when I got hired on, she almost forced me to run practices. I was a volunteer the entire time before that trying to help out Amber. Once I got hired on, one thing stemmed from another. I felt like I was doing too much for what I was being valued at.”
Despite their rocky marriage, the two help lead the program to two national championships. The women’s bowling team was started in 2009 but is the only team at SFA to win a national title since they moved up to compete at the Division I level. They won in 2016 and 2019. The team had two runner-up finishes in 2015 and 2022. Last season, they lost to North Carolina A&T in the national championship.
Everyone Got the Boot
Ryan Ivey, athletics director, gave Steve an ultimatum after the affair was discovered. Steve chose to resign on April 10 instead of being fired. The team last bowling match was on April 22 and the university didn’t say if he was allowed to coach until that date.
“He’s not working here anymore,” Ivey said. “From a departmental standpoint, he had a choice and he chose to resign.”
As for the student-athlete, she has no eligibility left and would not return to the school. Her name was never released to protect her identity.
“As soon as we found out, we went through the process,” Ivey said. “We support our student athletes and obviously Amber, with what was going on.”
Amber and Steve filed for divorce. Amber will return next season as the head coach.
