Former Kansas coach Ted Owens is headed to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Kansas announced the honor in a release, saying Owens will be inducted later this year in October in Kansas City, Missouri. Owens is 96 and spent 19 seasons leading the Jayhawks, a run that stretched from the mid 1960s into the early 1980s.
His Kansas teams piled up conference championships and reached the NCAA tournament multiple times, including Final Four appearances in 1971 and 1974. Owens finished his KU career with a 348-182 record, a total that still ranks fourth in program history behind Bill Self, Phog Allen and Roy Williams.
Self praised the longtime coach in the release, saying, “We’re all so happy for Coach to receive this honor,” and adding, “In my opinion, it’s been overdue. Considering not only what he did for his respective employers, what he has done for the game overall has been terrific.
I have become very close friends with Coach and he’s one of the most unselfish leaders I’ve ever been around. I don’t know that I’ve ever met a coach who is as proud of his past players as Coach is.
I am so happy for him, and I can’t wait to celebrate with him and his family.”
The release also listed the rest of the Class of 2026: Jay Wright, former head coach at Villanova and Hofstra; Tubby Smith, former head coach at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Memphis and High Point; Glen Rice, former player at Michigan; Danny Ainge, former player at BYU; and Walt Hazzard, former player and coach at UCLA.
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