| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1929-07-16)July 16, 1929 (age 96) Hollis, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Oklahoma |
| Playing career | |
| 1948–1951 | Oklahoma |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1956–1960 | Cameron Junior College |
| 1960–1964 | Kansas (assistant) |
| 1964–1983 | Kansas |
| 1985–1987 | Oral Roberts |
| 1989–1990 | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
| 1990–1995 | Metro Christian Academy HS |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1995–1999 | Saint Leo University |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 369–218 (.628) |
| Tournaments | 8–9 (NCAA Division I) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| |
| Awards | |
| |
Ted Owens (born July 16, 1929) is an American formercollege basketball coach, who was born inHollis, Oklahoma.[1] He is best-known as thecoach of theUniversity of Kansasmen's basketball team from 1964 to 1983. He is the fourth-winningest coach in Jayhawks basketball history.[2]
Owens attended college at theUniversity of Oklahoma (OU), where he was a three-year letterman under head coachBruce Drake. He graduated with a BA degree in 1951. In 1956, he was hired to coach both baseball and basketball atCameron 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.[1]
Owens' overall Kansas record was 348–182 (.657), and hisBig Eight Conference record was 170–96 (.639). In Owens' tenure at KU, he won sixBig Eight Conference titles and advanced to the NCAA tournament seven times. His 1971 and 1974 teams made it to theFinal Four, and in 1968 the Jayhawks lost toDayton in the finals of theNational Invitation Tournament. Owens was named Big Eight Conference Coach of the Year five times and was Named National Coach of the Year in 1978 byBasketball Weekly. He coached fiveAll-Americans:Jo Jo White,Darnell Valentine,Dave Robisch,Bud Stallworth andWalt 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-yearletterman at theUniversity of Oklahoma (1949–51), Owens honed his coaching skills as head coach atCameron State Junior College inLawton, Oklahoma. In four seasons his teams never won fewer than 20 games and three times advanced to theNJCAA 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 underDick Harp in 1960, and was promoted to head coach when Harp resigned following the 1963–64 season.
Owens had a brief stint of coaching atOral Roberts University (1985–87), and then inIsrael withMaccabi 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) inTulsa, 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 atSt. Leo University in Florida for four years.[1]
Owens was inducted into theOklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on August 3, 2009. He was inducted into theKansas Hall of Fame in the same year.[1]
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.[3] He returned to Lawrence to coach on September 24, 2011, for the "Legends of the Phog" exhibition match, oppositeLarry Brown, in which various Kansas alumni played an exhibition game during the2011 NBA lockout.[4]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas Jayhawks(Big Eight Conference)(1964–1983) | |||||||||
| 1964–65 | Kansas | 17–8 | 9–5 | 2nd | |||||
| 1965–66 | Kansas | 23–4 | 13–1 | 1st | NCAA University Division Elite Eight | ||||
| 1966–67 | Kansas | 23–4 | 13–1 | 1st | NCAA University Division Regional Third Place | ||||
| 1967–68 | Kansas | 22–8 | 10–4 | 2nd | NIT Runner-up | ||||
| 1968–69 | Kansas | 20–7 | 9–5 | T-2nd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1969–70 | Kansas | 17–9 | 8–6 | 2nd | |||||
| 1970–71 | Kansas | 27–3 | 14–0 | 1st | NCAA University Division Fourth Place | ||||
| 1971–72 | Kansas | 11–15 | 7–7 | T-4th | |||||
| 1972–73 | Kansas | 8–18 | 4–10 | 7th | |||||
| 1973–74 | Kansas | 23–7 | 13–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I Fourth Place | ||||
| 1974–75 | Kansas | 19–8 | 11–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1975–76 | Kansas | 13–13 | 6–8 | T-4th | |||||
| 1976–77 | Kansas | 18–10 | 8–6 | 4th | |||||
| 1977–78 | Kansas | 24–5 | 13–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1978–79 | Kansas | 18–11 | 8–6 | T-2nd | |||||
| 1979–80 | Kansas | 15–14 | 7–7 | T-4th | |||||
| 1980–81 | Kansas | 24–8 | 9–5 | T-2nd | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 | ||||
| 1981–82 | Kansas | 13–14 | 4–10 | 7th | |||||
| 1982–83 | Kansas | 13–16 | 4–10 | T-6th | |||||
| Kansas: | 348–182 (.657) | 170–96 (.639) | |||||||
| Oral Roberts Titans(Midwestern City Conference)(1985–1987) | |||||||||
| 1985–86 | Oral Roberts | 10–19 | 5–7 | 5th | |||||
| 1986–87 | Oral Roberts | 11–17 | 5–7 | T-5th | |||||
| Oral Roberts: | 21–36 (.368) | 10–14 (.417) | |||||||
| Total: | 369–218 (.629) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||