Greg Owen is entering his fourth season at SAU, having been tabbed to be the head coach of the recently revitalized men’s and women’s tennis programs at Southern Arkansas University.
The appointment of Owen was made on December 12, 2017.
Owen comes to SAU from Seward County Community College (Liberal, Kan.) where he was into his third season as head men’s and women’s tennis coach. In his two full years at Seward, Owen guided the men’s and women’s tennis programs to new heights.
In just his first season at Seward, Owen led the Saints and Lady Saints to their best-ever finishes at the NJCAA National Tournaments with the men’s team finishing sixth and the women’s team seventh, respectively. That year, Owen posted a 33-11 (.750) combined record while his men’s team also captured their second-straight NJCAA Region VI Championship.
This past season, Owen’s Saints and Lady Saints teams improved two places nationally from his first season as the men finished the year fourth at the NJCAA National Tournament, while the women claimed a fifth-place finish. Collectively, both his men’s and women’s programs combined to go 31-11 (.738).
As he did in his first season, Owen’s guided his men’s tennis team to the NJCAA Region VI Championship once more, making it three-straight for the program. Owen also made history for his women’s team that year as they captured their first-ever NJCAA Region VI Championship.
Over his time at Seward, Owen coached several highly-ranked singles and doubles competitors among both teams. In his first season, both his men’s and women’s teams had two individuals ranked in that year’s final ITA Top-25 ranking, while both squads also had a pair of doubles teams ranked within the ITA Top-25 as well.
Last season, Owen had one men’s and one women’s individual player end the year ranked within the ITA Top-10, while a total of eight across both teams finished ranked in the ITA Top-50. In doubles play, Owen’s once more had a pair of doubles competitors on both his men’s and women’s teams finish the season ranked within the Top-20. Highlighted among that feat was the 2016 ITA Doubles National Championship won by the duo of Carlos Anez Diaz and Ondrej Nice.
Through his time at Seward this year, Owen had eight total individuals rank in the ITA Top-50 and four doubles teams rank in the ITA Top-25. Additionally, Owen had three individuals earn ITA All-America with two doing so as singles competitors.
Prior to his time at Seward, Owen was the head tennis coach at Midlothian High School (Midlothian, Texas) for six years from 2009-2015.
A native of Henryetta, Okla., Owen played collegiately for a season at Seminole State College (Seminole, Okla.) and then his final three seasons at GAC-rival Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant, Okla.).
Owen is married to his wife of 12 years, Carisa, and the couple have three children, Anna (9), Claire (7), and Joey (4). Owen and his family will reside in Magnolia.
