Board of Directors

Carol Owens

Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach
University of Notre Dame

One of the nation’s premier coaches, Carol Owens is in her 20th year on the Notre Dame women’s basketball coaching staff for the 2019-20 season, and her 11th as associate head coach for the Fighting Irish, having originally been elevated to that position by head coach Muffet McGraw prior to the 2002-03 season (holding that role through the 2004-05 campaign), and then again in the summer of 2012.

Throughout her tenure at Notre Dame, Owens has focused on working with the Fighting Irish post players, while also assisting with the program’s nationally-ranked recruiting efforts.

During her tenure, the Fighting Irish have won two national titles, with the first coming in 2001, followed by the second in 2018. In addition, Notre Dame has appeared in seven NCAA title games and have reached the Final Four nine times (1997, 2001, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019).

Owens also has consistently appeared on lists of the nation’s top assistant coaches. Most recently she was named the 2019 WBCA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year, and in 2014, she was named an inaugural recipient of the A Step Up Assistant Coach of the Year Award.

Between her lengthy coaching runs at Notre Dame, Owens spent five seasons (2005-10) as head coach at her alma mater, Northern Illinois University. She also has been involved as an assistant coach with USA Basketball.

For many years, Owens has been an important contributor within the coaching community. She currently serves as member of the Board of Directors for WeCOACH, and in the past has served on the Boards for both the Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA) and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

In 1995, Owens was inducted into the Northern Illinois University Athletic Hall of Fame and followed up that honor with her induction into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Illinois High School Hall of Fame in 2014.