Steven Lee

Head Coach

Boys Varsity Lacrosse

Coach Steven Lee enters his 2nd season as the head coach with a career record of 19-6 (0.760), leading the program to the WCAC Semifinal and the VISAA Division I Final in his first year.  He joined the staff of Paul VI during the academic year 2018-19 as the head JV coach.  Paul VI appointed him the head varsity coach following the retirement of the venerable Bob Waters in 2021.  Coach Lee is a USA Lacrosse Men’s Level 3 Coach.

His playing career began locally in Northern Virginia, from youth to high school.  He was a 4-year varsity letter winner and captain in his final year at Oakton High School.  As a senior, he was an All-Northern District selection at midfield and played in the US Lacrosse Potomac Chapter North-South High School All-Star Game in 1989.  He continued his playing career at Navy (1989-1991) as an attackman and a midfielder.

He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1993, commissioning as a Surface Warfare Officer.  He has led naval elements and units at all levels, culminating with command of a guided-missile destroyer of the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet.  Coach Lee retired from active duty in 2015 after achieving the rank of Navy Captain following an assignment as the Special Assistant to the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assisting in shaping the military’s strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region.

He was the Navy’s Foreign Policy and National Security Fellow at The Brookings Institution and served as an Aide to the 42nd President of the United States and the First Lady.

Coach Lee completed graduate and post-graduate education at Boston University and the University of Oxford.  He is a graduate of the Naval War College, Joint Forces Staff College, National War College, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

Coach Lee is the founder and CEO of the Potentia Group LLC, a management consulting firm supporting the national security enterprise.  He is also the co-founder and CEO of L2 Sports Group LLC, a firm specializing in sports management.

He is an adjunct professor for the Naval War College, teaching the art of war at the United States Naval Academy.

In the 178-year history of the United States Naval Academy, Coach Lee was the first Korean American graduate to command a combat unit in the United States Navy.