Returning for his third season in 2021 is assistant coach and defensive coordinator Mike Owen. Owen, a Harvard grad, came to the RedHawks from UIC, where he had spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach.
Owen assists with the Miami defense and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2020-21.
In 2019, the RedHawks held opponents to a .181 attack percentage on the season and a .153 attack percentage in Mid-American Conference play to lead the conference. Last season, the RedHawks ranked among MAC leaders in fewest opponent kills and assists per set, which is credit to Owen's defensive tactics. He also helped mentor libero Abigail Huser, one of the top defenders in the MAC, who became the most-recent member of Miami's 1,000 dig club during the 2020 season.
At his previous position at UIC, the Flames saw significant improvement with Owen’s help. They were 35-26 and in 2018 earned their first Horizon League Tournament victory since 2012. Owen was responsible for team defense, passing, blocking as well as coaching the middle blockers. He helped mentor Kiera James, who went on to earn Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors in 2018.
Prior to his time with UIC, Owen had three seasons of experience coaching for Big Ten schools. He was a graduate student manager for Nebraska from 2014-15 and a volunteer assistant coach for Michigan State in 2016.
With the Spartans, he coached the middle hitters and helped develop team blocking schemes. Under his watch All-America Second Team honoree Alyssa Garvelink averaged 1.40 blocks per set overall and increased that to 1.6 per set in Big Ten play.
While Owen was with Nebraska, the Huskers won 55 matches in 2014 and 2015, culminating in a 2015 NCAA National Championship. As a graduate student manager, Owen assisted in all aspects of scouting including shot charts, rotation analysis, and creation of scouting reports. He obtained a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Nebraska in May 2016.
Owen starred collegiately at Harvard from 2011-14. A force in the middle, the Middleton, Wis., native ranked seventh on Harvard's all-time block assist list with 131 and 10th on the all-time total block list with 141 when he graduated. He showed his versatility by starting at several different positions for the Crimson over four years, including: opposite, middle blocker, outside hitter and setter. Owen obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in May 2014.
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