Rutgers athletic director Pat Hobbs has sure hit a home run with the hire of Steve Owens as head coach of the baseball team. In fact, Rutgers baseball is on the verge of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade as Owens’ has effectively rebuilt the program.
And now because of that success, Hobbs might face a battle to keep Owens on staff.
In just three seasons, Owens has turned a once middling baseball team into one on the cusp of being nationally ranked. But in the competitive world of collegiate baseball, what Owens has done with the program won’t be lost.
If Owens can turn Rutgers into a team consistently making the NCAA Tournament, then powerhouse programs from the SEC and the ACC will begin looking at him as a viable head coaching candidate. The job he has done with Rutgers has been tremendous.
[lawrence-related id=16030]
Big Ten analyst Michael Huff, a former Major League Baseball player (and college teammate at Northwestern with Joe Girardi), thinks that Owens will soon be attracting the attention of some bigtime programs.
“Yes, I mean, the most recent obvious example of that is Chris Lemonis leaving Indiana and then winning the NCAA national title at Mississippi State. Before that Tracy Smith heading out to Arizona State,” Huff told RutgersWire in a recent interview.
“So yeah, I can see the ACC especially because of Steve’s connections and relationships on the East Coast. I can see the SEC, at some point, you know, two or three years down the road. My hope is that the Big Ten does enough in terms of the Rutgers athletic director, but also then Commissioner [Kevin] Warren helps to promote Big Ten baseball – that there’s enough meat on the bone there that keeps someone in a place that seems to be a really good fit rather than that person thinking ‘I can’t get to the highest level if I’m in the Big Ten.'”
Rutgers is 39-12 on the season and 16-5 in the Big Ten. Huff said that he thinks Rutgers along with No. 17 Maryland are the only locks from the Big Ten for the NCAA Tournament.
The Scarlet Knights last made the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Owens has a young, rebuilt team ready to change all that.
[lawrence-related id=16033]
Facilities will be a major issue for Rutgers with upgrades to Bainton Field very much needed. Some of the recently announced upgrades will be helpful but the Rutgers facilities are bottom-half of the Big Ten.
This could lead Owens to potentially leave the program if he doesn’t see enough being done to upgrade the facilities and invest adequately in the program.
“So I would agree that Steve…three-four years from now, if he continues this, they’ll definitely be calling,” Huff said.
“But hopefully there’s a package…there’s enough success…there’s enough acknowledgment….there’s enough compensation…that he realizes this is a really good situation for himself and his family. The grass won’t always be greener on the other side of the hill, so to speak.”
[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3gzhz7qrm49z6q player_id=none image=https://rutgerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]