Ted Owens (basketball)

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Ted Owens

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1929|07|16}}

| birth_place = Hollis, Oklahoma, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| other_names =

| alma_mater = University of Oklahoma

| player_years1 = 1948–1951

| player_team1 = Oklahoma

| coach_years1 = 1956–1960

| coach_team1 = Cameron Junior College

| coach_years2 = 1960–1964

| coach_team2 = Kansas (assistant)

| coach_years3 = 1964–1983

| coach_team3 = Kansas

| coach_years4 = 1985–1987

| coach_team4 = Oral Roberts

| coach_years5 = 1989–1990

| coach_team5 = Maccabi Tel Aviv

| coach_years6 = 1990–1995

| coach_team6 = Metro Christian Academy HS

| admin_years1 = 1995–1999

| admin_team1 = Saint Leo University

| overall_record = 369–218 (.628)

| tournament_record = 8–9 (NCAA Division I)

| championships = {{Plainlist|

2 NCAA Regional – Final Four (1971, 1974)
6 Big Eight regular season (1966, 1967, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1978)
Big Eight tournament (1981)

}}

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Basketball Weekly Coach of the Year (1978)
4x Big Eight Coach of the Year (1967, 1971, 1974, 1978)

}}

| highlights =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Ted Owens (born July 16, 1929) is an American former college basketball coach, who was born in Hollis, Oklahoma.[https://www.coachesdatabase.com/ted-owens/ Coaches Database. "Ted Owens (born July 16, 1929)."] Accessed June 26, 2019. He is best-known as the coach of the University of Kansas men's basketball team from 1964 to 1983. He is the fourth-winningest coach in Jayhawks basketball history.{{cite web |url=http://6news.kusports.com/basketball/history/coaches/|title=KU Men's Basketball Coaches|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317174123/http://6news.kusports.com/basketball/history/coaches/|archivedate=March 17, 2007}}

Player and early coaching experience

Owens attended college at the University of Oklahoma (OU), where he was a three-year letterman under head coach Bruce Drake. He graduated with a BA degree in 1951. In 1956, he was hired to coach both baseball and basketball at Cameron Junior College (Lawton, Oklahoma), where he remained until 1960. His baseball team won the National JC Championship in 1958. The basketball team had a 93–24 record during his four years and appeared in three NJCAA Tournaments.

Owens' overall Kansas record was 348–182 (.657), and his Big Eight Conference record was 170–96 (.639). In Owens' tenure at KU, he won six Big Eight Conference titles and advanced to the NCAA tournament seven times. His 1971 and 1974 teams made it to the Final Four, and in 1968 the Jayhawks lost to Dayton in the finals of the National Invitation Tournament. Owens was named Big Eight Conference Coach of the Year five times and was Named National Coach of the Year in 1978 by Basketball Weekly. He coached five All-Americans: Jo Jo White, Darnell Valentine, Dave Robisch, Bud Stallworth and Walt Wesley. He was fired following the 1982–83 season after the Jayhawks posted back-to-back losing seasons. He is the only coach in the program's history to be fired. Kansas has not suffered a losing season since, and has only missed the NCAA tournament once since then, in 1988–89 when the program was on probation for recruiting violations committed by Owens' successor, Larry Brown.

A three-year letterman at the University of Oklahoma (1949–51), Owens honed his coaching skills as head coach at Cameron State Junior College in Lawton, Oklahoma. In four seasons his teams never won fewer than 20 games and three times advanced to the NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship semifinals. At Cameron, he amassed a 93–24 record and boasted four junior college All-Americans.

Owens then accepted an assistant's position under Dick Harp in 1960, and was promoted to head coach when Harp resigned following the 1963–64 season.

Other coaching activities

Owens had a brief stint of coaching at Oral Roberts University (1985–87), and then in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv during the 1989–90 season, before being fired in February 1990. He then went on to be the development director and basketball coach at Metro Christian Academy (high school) in Tulsa, Oklahoma for five years where his teams won the district championship five times, and went to the state tournament three times. Subsequently, he moved on to be athletic director at St. Leo University in Florida for four years.

Owens was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on August 3, 2009. He was inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame in the same year.

Retirement

After leaving St. Leo, a friend invited him to return to Tulsa and work as an investment adviser for First Capital Management, where he spent the next ten years. After retiring from this position, he decided to continue living in Tulsa in retirement.[https://www.tulsaworld.com/lifestyles/all-roads-kept-coach-ted-owens-coming-back-to-tulsa/article_5bb595f3-504d-5f08-a71f-8a79c3a60833.html Cherry, Don. "All roads kept coach Ted Owens coming back to Tulsa." Tulsa World. March 16, 2017.] Accessed June 26, 2019. He returned to Lawrence to coach on September 24, 2011, for the "Legends of the Phog" exhibition match, opposite Larry Brown, in which various Kansas alumni played an exhibition game during the 2011 NBA lockout.{{Cite web |title=2011 Legends of the Phog roster {{!}} KUsports.com |url=http://www2.kusports.com/mens_basketball/roster/2011_12/Legends_of_Phog/ |access-date=March 14, 2022 |website=www2.kusports.com |language=en}}

Head coaching record

{{CBB Yearly Record Start|

|type=coach

|conference=

|postseason=

|poll=no

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

|name=Kansas Jayhawks

|startyear=1964

|conference =Big Eight Conference

|endyear=1983

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1964–65

| name =Kansas

| overall =17–8

| conference =9–5

| confstanding =2nd

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1965–66

| name =Kansas

| overall =23–4

| conference =13–1

| confstanding =1st

| championship =conference

| postseason =NCAA University Division Elite Eight

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1966–67

| name =Kansas

| overall =23–4

| conference =13–1

| confstanding =1st

| championship =conference

| postseason =NCAA University Division Regional Third Place

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1967–68

| name =Kansas

| overall =22–8

| conference =10–4

| confstanding =2nd

| championship =

| postseason =NIT Runner-up

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1968–69

| name =Kansas

| overall =20–7

| conference =9–5

| confstanding =T-2nd

| championship =

| postseason =NIT First Round

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1969–70

| name =Kansas

| overall =17–9

| conference =8–6

| confstanding =2nd

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1970–71

| name =Kansas

| overall =27–3

| conference =14–0

| confstanding =1st

| championship =conference

| postseason =NCAA University Division Fourth Place

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1971–72

| name =Kansas

| overall =11–15

| conference =7–7

| confstanding =T-4th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1972–73

| name =Kansas

| overall =8–18

| conference =4–10

| confstanding =7th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1973–74

| name =Kansas

| overall =23–7

| conference =13–1

| confstanding =1st

| championship =conference

| postseason =NCAA Division I Fourth Place

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1974–75

| name =Kansas

| overall =19–8

| conference =11–3

| confstanding =1st

| championship =conference

| postseason =NCAA Division I First Round

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1975–76

| name =Kansas

| overall =13–13

| conference =6–8

| confstanding =T-4th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1976–77

| name =Kansas

| overall =18–10

| conference =8–6

| confstanding =4th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1977–78

| name =Kansas

| overall =24–5

| conference =13–1

| confstanding =1st

| championship =conference

| postseason =NCAA Division I First Round

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1978–79

| name =Kansas

| overall =18–11

| conference =8–6

| confstanding =T-2nd

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1979–80

| name =Kansas

| overall =15–14

| conference =7–7

| confstanding =T-4th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1980–81

| name =Kansas

| overall =24–8

| conference =9–5

| confstanding =T-2nd

| championship =conference tournament

| postseason =NCAA Division I Sweet 16

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1981–82

| name =Kansas

| overall =13–14

| conference =4–10

| confstanding =7th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1982–83

| name =Kansas

| overall =13–16

| conference =4–10

| confstanding =T-6th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name =Kansas

| overall ={{Winning percentage|348|182|record=y}}

| confrecord ={{Winning percentage|170|96|record=y}}

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

|name=Oral Roberts Titans

|startyear=1985

|conference=Midwestern City Conference

|endyear=1987

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1985–86

| name =Oral Roberts

| overall =10–19

| conference =5–7

| confstanding =5th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season =1986–87

| name =Oral Roberts

| overall =11–17

| conference =5–7

| confstanding =T-5th

| championship =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name =Oral Roberts

| overall ={{Winning percentage|21|36|record=y}}

| confrecord ={{Winning percentage|10|14|record=y}}

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record End

|overall={{Winning percentage|369|218|record=y}}

}}

References

External links

[http://www.rockchalk.com/seasons/coaches.sht Kansas Basketball Coaches]
[https://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/interview/owens-ted/ Voices of Oklahoma interview.] First person interview conducted on May 12, 2016, with Ted Owens.

Category:1929 births

Category:Living people

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Israel

Category:American men's basketball coaches

Category:American men's basketball players

Category:Basketball coaches from Oklahoma

Category:Basketball players from Oklahoma

Category:Cameron Aggies men's basketball coaches

Category:College men's basketball head coaches in the United States

Category:Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball coaches

Category:Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. coaches

Category:Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players