ASHLAND — Before Lee Owens was a highly-successful head football coach at Ashland University for nearly two decades, he was a highly-successful Ohio high school head football coach.
For that reason, Owens will be inducted as part of the 2024 class of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. It will be the OHSFCA’s 55th Hall of Fame class.
Owens, who is listed as going in as a head coach at Massillon Washington but was 89-32-2 with a state championship at four prep stops, will go into the OHSFCA Hall along with Dan McSurley (Clinton Massie), Andy Olds (Kings), John Livengood (Norwalk St. Paul), Bob Jacoby (Columbus DeSales), and Ron Berdis (Youngstown Chaney).
“As an Ohio football coach my entire career,” Owens said, “every win, every championship was because of great Ohio high school football players and coaches. This makes the OHSFCA Hall of Fame recognition special.
“I am truly honored.”
In 1985, Owens guided Galion High School to an Ohio state title. He was 14-5-1 at nearby Ashland Crestview (1981-82), 33-11-1 at Galion (1983-86), 7-3 at Lancaster (1987) and 35-13 at Washington (1988-91).
Coaching icon Lee Owens steps down at Ashland University
During his 19-year tenure leading the Eagles (2004-22), Owens ushered in a new era of winning football – a 137-61 overall record (.692 winning percentage), six NCAA Division II playoff appearances, the program’s first three D-II postseason wins (all at home), and four conference championships, three in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and a 2022 Great Midwest Athletic Conference title.
He was hired as an offensive line coach under John Cooper at Ohio State and recruited Orlando Pace to pair with tackle Korey Stringer on the 1994 Buckeyes’ offensive line. Owens later went on to be head coach, where he guided Willard graduate and future Cleveland Browns’ starter Charlie Frye.
Owens is the only Ashland head football coach to lead his team to multiple NCAA postseason appearances, as well as the only one to win an NCAA playoff game.
He was a three-time American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Region 3 Coach of the Year (2012, 2015, 2017), and a five-time conference Coach of the Year (GLIAC in 2005, 2012, 2015 and 2017; Great Midwest in 2022) while at Ashland.
Owens, a Madison graduate, announced his retirement in December 2022, bringing an end to a wildly-successful 45-year coaching career that began shortly after his graduation from Bluffton College in 1977.
