CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy Director of Athletics Steve Peed will step down from his role in January during the institution's semester break. Peed has been a member of the Academy's athletics staff since August 2011 and has served as the Director since August 2012.

"I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that the Academy has provided me, and I look forward to the continued growth of Mariners Athletics and the outstanding professionals on staff," said Peed. "The Academy will always hold a special place in my heart as will the outstanding students and alumni I have encountered in my time in Castine."

Mariners' athletics enjoyed unprecedented growth during Peed's tenure. The department served 218 athletes when he took over in 2012 and now serves 314 with the addition of women's lacrosse, men's and women's swimming and diving, and men's and women's wrestling. Mariners' athletes have completed 16 consecutive semesters with term and cumulative grade point averages better than 3.0. Maine Maritime has produced three North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Man of the Year Award recipients on Peed's watch as well as the Academy's only NAC Woman of the Year Award winner. The department has also produced 22 NAC Senior Scholar Athletes of the Year since the award's inception in 2015.

Entering the current academic year, Maine Maritime's coaching staff produced 17 conference Coach of the Year Awards under Peed's guidance. The 2021-2022 academic year marked the first time Maine Maritime had ever won four conference titles in a single academic year; a feat repeated in 2022-2023. The 2022-2023 academic year culminated with the first ever NCAA postseason contest in Castine when men's lacrosse hosted a first-round game. The 2023-2024 Mariners rolled up three more championships, marking only the fourth time in the department's history that the Mariners had won more than two championships in one year.

Peed also served as the head women's lacrosse coach from 2019 through the 2022 season and then again in 2024. He served as an assistant coach in 2023. Peed's first full season as head coach was the 2022 campaign, in which his team defied expectations. Picked to finish sixth in the NAC preseason poll, Maine Maritime advanced to the league Championship game. Without any seniors and only three players on the roster that had ever played a game together, the squad posted eight wins, the most in the six full seasons of lacrosse at Maine Maritime. The team picked up the first postseason win in program history, defeating Cazenovia College in the NAC semifinals.

The 2022 Mariners produced the NAC Rookie of the Year in First-Team All-NAC selection Hazel Stoddard. She finished the regular season fifth in NCAA Division III in goals and sixth in goals per game. She was one of six all-league nods with the Mariners landing three on the All-NAC First Team and three on the All-NAC Second Team. In addition to Stoddard, Peed recruited the NAC's 2023 Co-Rookie of the Year. The 2024 Mariners produced the NAC's Co-Player of the Year in Stoddard along with the Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Aubrey Mitchell. Mitchell was also the first Mariner selected for the IWLCA North/South Senior All-Star Game. Mitchell and Stoddard were two of the four Mariners to earn an all-league nod. 

Peed came to Castine from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where he served as Associate Director of Athletics. He spent five years (2001-2006) as the Director of Sports Information at McDaniel College at the start of his career.

Interim football head coach Bill Motolla will assume the position of director of athletics on an interim basis until a formal search is concluded.