‘I knew it was a no-no’: University women’s bowling team assistant, 38, resigns after cheating on his wife – the head coach – with one of the players
- Steve Lemke admitted affair but said ‘there’s no rule saying it can’t happen’
- He still resigned after cheating on his wife Amber and they filed for divorce
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An assistant women’s bowling coach at Stephen F. Austin has been fired after the university discovered he was cheating on his wife, who is the team’s head coach, with a student-athlete.
SFA aide Steve Lemke chose to resign rather than be fired after the school learned of the affair, which led to a split with his wife, the Lufkin Daily News reported Tuesday.
“He doesn’t work here anymore,” said SFA sports director Ryan Ivey. “From a department standpoint, he had a choice, and he chose to step down.”
SFA assistant Steve Lemke resigned after cheating on his wife with one of the players
Lemke, 38, who is married to head coach Amber Lemke, helped coach the team to two league titles and two runners-up before resigning on April 10.
The newspaper did not identify the student-athlete involved, but reported that she was a member of the bowling team.
Ivey said that while the relationship was consensual, Lemke and the student violated the university’s relationship rules.
Steve Lemke said his wife found out about the relationship when she saw text messages from the woman on his phone.
“I knew it was kind of a no-no, but there’s no rule saying it can’t happen,” said Steve Lemke. “There’s no law that says I’m going to jail for something like this.
‘There is nothing set in stone. I think it’s just a code of ethics, like we’re frowning at it, but there’s no rule, no law being broken.’
The student involved in the affair is no longer on the team after she becomes ineligible.
The student involved in the affair has not been named, but is no longer on the team
“Once we found out, we went through the process,” Ivey said. “We support our student-athletes and of course Amber, with what was going on.”
The team won NCAA titles in 2016 and 2019 and finished second in 2015 and last year.
Amber Lemke has been coaching the team since the 2011-2012 school year. Steve Lemke volunteered with the team until he was hired as an assistant in 2019.
Amber Lemke, who remains the coach, did not respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.