Lenoir-Rhyne University Men's Basketball

Brent Owen was named the the Head Men' Basketball Coach at Lenoir-Rhyne prior to the 2024-25 season and has led the Bears to the most successful two-year stretch in program history. During his two seasons at the helm he has a record of 55-15, a SAC Tournament Championship, an NCAA Southeast Regional Championship, and five NCAA Tournament wins. During the 2025-26 season coach Owen led the Bears to a 26-9 (17-5 SAC) record and their second consecutive NCAA Regional Championship game appearance. They finished second in the South Atlantic Conference regular season and defeated North Georgia and Young Harris in the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds before falling to Lander in the regional championship. His team set single-season program records for points, rebounding margin, and free throws made. They ranked top ten in Division II in free throws mad per game (20.1), three point percentage (39.8), effective field goal percentage (57.4), field goal percentage (50.2), and scoring offense (89.5).  In his first year at the helm in 2024-25 Owen and the Bears finished with a 29-6 record, making it the most wins in a single season in school history. They won the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Tournament Championship, the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship, and advanced the the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana. It marked the first time in men's basketball history LR has won an NCAA Division II Regional Championship. For his efforts, Owen was named the 2025 SAC Coach of the Year, and was also tabbed Co-Coach of the Year for the NCAA Division II Southeast Region. Coach Owen signed a new three-year contract extension in April 2025 to remain as head men's basketball coach through April 2028.  Lenoir-Rhyne Student-Athlete Accolades Under Brent Owen 2024-25 Ziare Wells - SAC Tournament MVP, SAC Newcomer of the Year, Second Team All-Region, First Team All-Conference Conrad Luczynski - Southeast Regional Tournament MVP, Third Team All-Conference Hantz Louis-Jeune - Second Team All-Conference 2025-26 Conrad Luczynski - First Team All-Conference, Second Team All-Region (D2CCA) Akili Evans - SAC Newcomer of the Year, Second Team All-Conference Julian Dozier - Third Team All-Conference Coach Owen came to Lenoir-Rhyne after four years at the helm of Eastern New Mexico. In only his third season of competition at ENMU, Owen led the program to a Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship for the first time in 31 years and the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years. When Owen took over the ranks at ENMU, he initiated a full rebuild for the program that included recruiting the LSC Freshman of the Year in the 2021-22 season. In his second year, Owen led the program to a 17-win season in 2022-23, the most victories the program had seen in 19 years. In addition, the Greyhounds earned their first postseason berth in six years and achieved a 13-game home winning streak, the longest for ENMU since 1967. Owen went 46-39 during his three years at ENMU, including a 39-22 mark during his final two seasons. Before Eastern New Mexico, Owen served as an assistant coach at the University of Southern Indiana for six years. During Owen's time with the Screaming Eagles, the program achieved an overall record of 131-53. In each of his last four seasons at Southern Indiana, the program manufactured four-straight 20-win seasons, which included a 2018-19 campaign that saw the program reach the national semifinals and win the Midwest Regional. He was responsible for recruiting 2017 Division II All-American Jeril Taylor, who was also the GLVC Player of the Year, along with the 2018 and 2019 Division II All-American Alex Stein, who is the all-time leading scorer in program history.  Owen's head coach experience began when he led the Tell City High School program. Located in Tell City, Indiana, Owen hired all new coaches at the youth and high school levels in addition to designing and implementing a basketball fundraising organization, the "Three-Point Club." He also started the Fellowship of Christian Athletes huddle that now has more than 100 members.  Before his six seasons with Southern Indiana as an assistant coach, Owen got his start with the program as a graduate assistant back in 2009. During his two years as a graduate assistant and one as a volunteer assistant, the Screaming Eagles posted a 72-16 record, including two appearances in the NCAA Tournament and a 2012 GLVC Championship. Over the duration of Owen's combined nine-year tenure at Southern Indiana, the program averaged an impressive 23 wins per season and was ranked in the top 25 NABC national rankings in seven different seasons.  Owen is a two-time graduate of University of Southern Indiana, where he earned a master's in public administration in 2011, a Bachelor of Science in teaching K-12 physical education with a minor in health and human safety in 2009. Owen resides in Hickory with his wife Ashley, their two sons Kruze and Benham, and their newborn daughter Emmarie. Brent Owen Profile 2024-Present: Lenoir-Rhyne University - Head Coach 2020-2024: Eastern New Mexico University - Head Coach 2014-2020: University of Southern Indiana - Assistant Coach 2012-2014: Tell City High School - Head Coach 2011-2012: University of Southern Indiana - Volunteer Assistant 2009-2011: University of Southern Indiana - Graduate Assistant 2006-2009: University of Southern Indiana - Student-Athlete

Tyrone Grady joined the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball coaching staff in the Spring of 2024 as an assistant coach. The first-year assistant coach comes by way of Eastern New Mexico, where he served as an assistant coach for one season under current Lenoir-Rhyne Head Coach Brent Owen. In Grady’s first and only season of coaching at ENMU, Grady help ENMU finish with a 22-9 record, the most successful season in more than three decades. Grady also help lead the program to a Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship for the first time in 31 years and the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years. Competing in one of the premier conferences across Division II.  Grady is no stranger to South Atlantic Conference as he spent a season at Coker University. While with the Cobras, he coached two conference honorees (Jordan Jones – second team; Mahmoud Bangura – all-freshman) and helped the team improve its season win total by seven games.  Prior to Coker, he was at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas as the associate head coach. His duties included him serving as interim head coach for the 2021 season. During his time on staff, SCCC won four NJCAA Region VI and KJCCC West Conference championships in a row. Grady helped coach ten academic All-Americans, a top-five NJCAA academic team and two Phi Theta Kappa members. The minimum GPA standard for Phi Theta Kappa honorees is 3.5.  Grady also holds extensive experience at the high school level where he coached varsity boys' basketball (2015-18) and girls' basketball (2012-15) at Wichita West High School in Wichita, Kansas. Grady also spent time with the Next Level Hoops Academy AAU on the Under Armour circuit. He founded Right Fit Hoops out of Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H. after coaching at McCool Junction High School in Nebraska following a brief professional playing career.   Grady played collegiate basketball at York University in York, Nebraska from 1997-01, where he was a three-time all-conference selection, a two-time all-region selection, and an All-American. During his time with the Panthers, he became the program leader in three statistical categories scoring 1,531 points, dishing out 715 assists, and snagging 189 steals.  In 2015, York added him to the athletic department’s Hall of Fame.   Grady comes to Hickory with wife Shawnta and son Shaun-Carson. He finished a bachelor’s in education from York University in 2002.

César Luján-Flores joined the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball coaching staff in the Spring of 2024 as an assistant coach.   The first-year assistant coach comes by way of Eastern New Mexico, where he served as an assistant coach for one season under current Lenoir-Rhyne Head Coach Brent Owen. In his lone season at Eastern New Mexico, the Greyhounds finished with a 22-10 Record, won the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship for the first time in 31 years, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years.  Lujan-Flores arrived at Eastern New Mexico after a stint as an assistant coach with the Wichita Skykings in the TBL, where he helped with scouting and game preparation. Other duties included film and stat coordination, travel planning, and recruiting. Luján-Flores holds a strong resume in the Land of Enchantment as he was the head student manager for New Mexico State for three seasons. He led a group of eight managers while assisting with film editing, practice, and statistics. While with the Aggies, the team won two regular season conference titles and a tournament title. The 2021-22 squad advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He earned a bachelor’s in kinesiology from New Mexico State in 2022.