Steve Owens just finished his ninth season at the helm of the Bulldog baseball program in 2019. In nine seasons, Owens has posted a 327-184-2 record, building the Bulldogs into one of the best in the Northeast Region and one of the top mid-majors in the country. He has led the Bulldogs to four 40-win seasons, eight-straight Northeast Conference Regular-Season titles and three NCAA tournaments.
Entering his 29th year as a college head coach, Owens holds a career record of 914-483-3 (.654), placing him in the top 20 among active Division I coaches in career winning percentage. He also ranks in the top 30 among active head coaches in career victories after earning his 900th in 2019. Even more impressive is the fact that Owens has produced 28-straight winning seasons as a skipper. Owens’ postseason accomplishments are just as extensive, as he boasts a 71-48 (.600) career record in the postseason.
Over the past nine seasons, Owens has earned five NEC Coach of the Year awards (2012, ‘13, ‘14, ‘16) and ABCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year honors in 2013 and 2014. His teams have won 30 games in seven of his nine seasons and have won 40 games four times. Owens’ teams have gone 192-59 (.765) in NEC play and have won eight-straight regular-season crowns. In addition, 64 players have earned all-conference honors and 13 have earned All-American honors in his nine seasons at the helm. Owens has also successfully recruited the NEC Rookie of the Year seven times and has produced 18 MLB Draft picks over the last seven seasons.
In 2019, Owens led the Black and Gold to their fifth 40-win season and one of the greatest offensive seasons by a Northeast school in some time. The Bulldogs set school and NEC records for home runs (81), hits (679), RBI (455) and runs scored (487). Bryant also set school and NEC records for strikeouts with 501. The Bulldogs had eight earn All-NEC honors and 10 more garner All-New England honors, while Chris Wright and Steve Theetge picked up All-American citations. Owens also saw three members of his Class of 2020 get drafted in the first 22 rounds of the MLB Draft as Ryan Ward (8th), Wright (12th) and Jimmy Titus (22nd) were all drafted.
Owens registered the 19th 30-win season of his career in 2018, guiding the Black and Gold to their seventh-straight NEC Regular-Season title. It is the longest streak of any team in the country. Owens watched as Ryan Ward put together one of the greatest seasons in program history on his way to becoming the first Collegiate Baseball Freshman Player of the Year in school history. Ward also became the first player in NEC and New England history to earn Player and Rookie of the Year honors. In addition, Bryant swept the NEC major awards for the third-straight season and had two players, Mickey Gasper and Jack Patterson, drafted in the MLB amateur draft.
The 2017 season saw the Black and Gold win 29 games and claim their sixth-straight regular season title, the longest streak for any school in the country. Bryant took home three major NEC year-end awards and had seven named All-NEC.
Owens guided the Bulldogs to their best season in program history in 2016, winning a program-record 47 games and finishing the season with the best winning percentage in the country (79.7). He led the Bulldogs to a fifth-straight NEC Regular-Season title, their third NEC Tournament title in four years and a No. 2 seed in the Charlottesville Regional, a first for an NEC school. Bryant finished the season with the best run differential in the country (+4.4) and an RPI of 35. The Bulldogs ranked in the top 25 in 12 team categories, became the first NEC team to sweep all four major awards, had a record 11 players named All-NEC, 10 more named All-New England and five earned All-American citations.
In 2015, the Bulldogs won 29 games and claimed their fourth-straight regular season title, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that feat. Bryant advanced to the NEC Championship game for the third-straight year, finishing as the runner-up. The Bulldogs featured nine All-NEC selections, the NEC Pitcher of the Year for the second-straight year and the NEC Rookie of the Year for the fourth-straight season. The Bulldogs led the NEC nearly every offensive category and finished seventh in the country in triples, 11th in slugging percentage, 12th in shutouts and 19th in scoring.
The Black and Gold put together another outstanding season under the watchful eye of Owens in 2014. In addition to their second-straight 40-win season, the Bulldogs earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament for the second-straight year and finished as the top ranked team in New England. Bryant possessed one of the most balanced and dynamic teams that Owens has ever coached, ranking top 25 nationally in batting average (14th, .302), scoring (15th, 6.7), runs (19th, 386), doubles per game (20th, 1.98), doubles (22nd, 115), home runs per game (23rd, 0.67), home runs (23rd, 39), slugging percentage (9th, .436), stolen bases per game (13th, 1.71), stolen bases (7th, 99), ERA (21st, 2.84), hits allowed per nine (13th, 7.41), OBP (13th, .391), WHIP (15th, 1.17) and shutouts (7th, 12). Owens was named NEC Coach of the Year for an unprecedented third-straight year and his team took home both NEC Pitcher and Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2013, Owens led his charges to an impressive 45-18-1 record that included a conference tournament championship in the school’s first year of Division I post season eligibility. Bryant advanced to the Kansas State Regional as a No. 3 seed, earning the school’s first-ever NCAA D1 win with a first round victory. They finished the season with an RPI of 42 and the nation’s 18th-highest winning percentage. The Bulldogs ranked fifth nationally in runs given up, 16th in scoring margin and 10th in pitching. Bryant set program and NEC records for overall (45) and league (27) wins in 2013 and posted a 19-game winning streak, the longest in the country. The Bulldogs also achieved their first ever national ranking at the Division I level, coming in at No. 30 in the Collegiate Baseball weekly poll.
Owens didn’t miss a beat in his first two seasons at Bryant either, posting 30 wins seasons in 2011 and 2012. The Bulldogs posted 30 wins in his first season, finishing fourth in the NEC with a 19-12 record. Bryant rebounded in 2012 to post 33 wins and won its second regular-season title in three years with a 24-8 mark in the NEC. Owens and his team were rewarded for their outstanding accomplishments as they took home NEC Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year honors.
Prior to coming to Bryant, Owens spent 11 seasons as the head coach at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. He led the Dolphins to 11-straight winning seasons and three NCAA tournament berths. He guided Le Moyne to back-to-back NCAA regionals at Arkansas and North Carolina State in 2003-04, and then took the Dolphins to the Texas A&M regional in 2007. Over his tenure with the Dolphins, Owens was named the MAAC Coach of the Year twice, (’04 and ’06) and was also named the ABCA/Diamond Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2003. Owens reached an even more impressive milestone during the 2007 season as he became one of the youngest coaches in country to reach the 500-win plateau. He finished his Dolphins career with an impressive 342-217 record.
Owens started his coaching career in 1992 at Division III Cortland State. Over eight seasons in the dugout, Owens led the Red Dragons to six 30-win seasons, seven NCAA regional tournaments and four trips to the Division III College World Series. He guided the 1997 and 1998 teams to third-place finishes at the national tournament, finishing a game short of a shot at a national championship. Owens went 245-82-1 in his eight seasons with Cortland St. and was named the New York Regional Coach of the Year and the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Coach of the Year four times each.
Outside of wins and losses, Owens’s style of player development has produced professional baseball players over the course of his career. In all, Owens has seen 49 of his former players sign professional contracts, including 20 in his first nine years at Bryant.
Owens has lofted his players to new individual heights, coaching 22 All-American selections, 10 Freshman All-American picks, 32 All-MAAC selections, 64 All-NEC selections, 36 All-Region nods and 4 Academic All-Americans.
A native of Sauquoit, N.Y., Owens is a 1987 graduate of St. Lawrence, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport and Leisure Studies. Playing baseball and football at St. Lawrence, he was named a two-time MVP in baseball playing at both third base and shortstop. He finished his career with a .349 batting average, including .454 as a senior, and stole 73 bases in 80 attempts. In football, he led the team in rushing his junior and senior seasons, scoring 18 career TD’s, and was named offensive MVP as well as Outstanding Senior Athlete. He has been inducted into the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame (Fall 2010), the Cortland State Hall of Fame (Fall 2017) and the Greater Utica Hall of Fame (June 2019).
Drafted by the Chicago Cubs, Owens spent two seasons with the organization, including stints in Geneva (New York-Penn League Champions) and with the Charleston (W.Va.) Cubs in the South Atlantic League.
Following his playing days, Owens was a graduate assistant coach in football and baseball at Ithaca College where he received a Master of Science degree in 1991.
Owens, 54, and his wife, Catharine, have three children, Jack, Sam and Jane.
