Ohio State Officially Hires Jack Owens As Assistant Coach

On Apr 11, 2022

Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann officially announced on Monday afternoon the addition of former Miami (Ohio) head coach Jack Owens, who will serve as an assistant with the Buckeyes. He replaces Tony Skinn, who departed for the same job at Maryland.

“We are really excited about the addition of Jack Owens,” Holtmann said in a statement. “He has shown the ability for a number of years to coach, recruit and develop talent at the highest level. His broad experiences working for excellent coaches, competing for Big Ten championships and running his own program will prove to be an outstanding asset to our staff.

“Jack Owens is an outstanding person and an excellent and well-rounded basketball coach. We are thrilled to welcome he and his family to our Buckeye family.”

The 44-year-old Owens went 70-83 in five seasons with the RedHawks, leading the program to its first winning record in more than 10 seasons in 2020-21. He was fired last month, though, as they went 14-18 and finished in seventh place in the Mid-American Conference this season.

Prior to that, Owens spent nine years at Purdue, including three years as an assistant and six as the associate head coach on Matt Painter’s staff. He’s spent 22 years in coaching overall, with stints at Howard Community College, Barton Community College, Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois, as well.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to join coach Holtmann’s staff and I’m forward to helping build a championship team,” Owens said. “I’m thankful of coach Holtmann for the opportunity and I can’t wait to get going.”

A native of Indianapolis, Owens played collegiately at Murray State and Eastern Illinois. He averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 assists and 3.2 points in 76 career games between 1995-99, earning honorable mention All-Ohio Valley honors as a senior.

Owens joins recently promoted assistant Jake Diebler on Holtmann’s staff, with the Buckeyes still needing to replace former assistant Ryan Pedon, who was named the head coach at Illinois State in early March.