End of an era: Ashland University football coach Lee Owens retires after 19 seasons

ASHLAND — It's the end of an era.

Ashland University football coach Lee Owens announced Friday his retirement after leading the Eagles for the past 19 seasons.

Owens spoke at a press conference in the VIP Room in the Robert Troop Center on the Ashland University campus.

He was surrounded by family members, athletes, coaches, AU officials, alumni and many friends.

Owens reflected back on those people he had worked with at AU for nearly two decades, possibly none as important as when he first got his start by then-AU athletics director Bill Goldring.

He had just been let go by the University of Akron.

"In a lot of ways, I was a little bitter when I left Akron. It was the first time I was really humbled in my coaching career because I was able to be recruited from every other school I'd been at to go to the next job," Owens said. "Thank goodness, Bill Goldring literally recruited me, sold me, and convinced me this was a good place. We would do good things together, build a stadium together, and we would take the program together where it needed to go.

"I'll be forever grateful for Bill doing that because I don't know what would have happened or where i would have gone but this was the perfect fit and the right place to be, I know that will all my heart now."

And what a fit it has been.

The Ashland University football team just ended one of its best seasons to date, capturing the Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship and the program's eighth D-II playoff appearance, forging a 10-2 overall season.

AU won its opening-round NCAA Division II playoff game 20-13 over Notre Dame College.

The No. 12-ranked Eagles moved on to the second round of the postseason on Nov. 26 at Indiana, Pa., losing 19-13 to No. 15 Indiana, Pa., at Frank Cignetti Field at George P. Miller Stadium.

In 19 seasons at AU, Owens led the program to a 139-61 record (.692 winning percentage).

He also had a number of other outstanding seasons at the helm of the Eagles.

In 2017, Ashland closed out at 11-2 overall and captured the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a spotless 9-0 mark. Also that season, AU won its first NCAA Division II playoff game at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field at the Dwight Schar Athletic Complex with a 21-18 victory over Northwest Missouri State, the two-time defending national champions, and were 10th in the final American Football Coaches Association poll.

At the conclusion of the season, Owens was named the AFCA Division II Region 3 Coach of the Year and the GLIAC Coach of the Year.

He is the only football coach in school history to direct more than one team to the NCAA playoffs (2007, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2022).

His 2012 Eagles squad completed the regular season unbeaten at 11-0, with AU winning its first GLIAC football championship in school history, and ended the season ranked fourth in the nation.

He helped guide Ashland High School graduate Taylor Housewright that season as the former AU quarterback was a first-team All-American, and was named GLIAC Player of the Year.

This past season, Owens, who had contemplated retiring several years ago but had to deal with Covid-19 and injuries among his players. He felt committed to returning this season, partly due to fifth-year senior Austin Brenner coming back to quarterback the Eagles.

Like Brenner, Owens said the reason you coach has everything to do with the players you work with.

"When you reflect back, it's not what level you coach at, it's not how big the job is or what the job is all about, it's where you're at, and what you can get done where you're at," Owens said. "We've been able to do a lot here.

"When Dr. (Fred) Finks was president here, when he led the charge and got everyone in line to build the stadium, it was because we made a commitment, so we're going to build a stadium. He said I'm going to live up to that promise and that commitment, which was a really big deal when that happened.

"It was a real turning point in our program as you can imagine."

Now with the Niss Athletic Center also being a game-changer when it comes to recruiting, Owens said the football program and other athletic programs at AU also are primed for future success.

"You look what we've been able to do with that facility, Jack Miller was the same guy who led the actual charge over the stadium and the indoor facility, and those are the ones who really turned things," Owens said. "I was a benefactor and, more importantly, the players, so folks out there were the generous big hearts, with the opportunity to step forward to be able to build facilities to have a top program so our players could win championships, and compete at the highest level.

"That's awesome we were able to get those kinds of things done at AU."

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland University football coach Lee Owens retires after 19 seasons