Pat Owen, a 2004 Michigan graduate and three-time NCAAqualifier, joined the Harvard staff in June of 2007 and has beenvital to the team's success over the past five seasons. In thattime the Crimson has celebrated a national champion in J.P.O'Connor '10, six All-American's, 14 NCAA qualifiers and 19 EIWAplacewinners.
"I am very excited for Pat to be a part of the Harvard wrestlingfamily," the David G. Bunning Head Coach for HarvardWrestling Jay Weiss said. "Pat brings a wealth ofknowledge and experience to our program. Pat's success on and offthe mat along with his coaching ability will help us reach ourgoals in many ways. He has a great philosophy that has meshedquite well with our already established program's mission."
Owen coached his first national champion in J.P. O'Connorin 2010. O'Connor went unbeaten in his senior year, was athree-time All-American and two-time Ivy League Wrestler of theYear. In 2012, Steven Keith '13 and Walter Peppelman '12-'13 bothreached the podium, marking the seventh consecutive season andfifth with Owen on staff that Harvard had produced at least oneAll-American. Additionally, Peppelman was just the seventhstudent-athlete in Harvard history to reach the podium inback-to-back years while Keith and Peppelman became the firstCrimson teammates to earn a place on the podium at the sametournament since Louis Caputo '09-'10, Max Meltzer '07 and J.P.O'Connor '10 did so in 2007. Harvard now boasts 27 All-Americans inprogram history, including 19 under head coach Jay Weiss.
Owen came to Harvard after a one-year stint at MIT. Prior toarriving in Cambridge, Owen worked at Cliff Keen Athletic andserved as an assistant coach for his alma mater from 2004 to 2006.He helped lead the Wolverines to a second-place finish at the 2005NCAA Championships - the highest finish in program history.
As an undergraduate, Owen succeeded on the mat and in theclassroom. He was a four-time U of M Athletic-Academic AchievementAward winner, a three-time Academic All-American and a three-timeAcademic All-Big Ten recipient. He served as team captain in hisfinal season. As a senior he also received the Big Ten Medal ofHonor, the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award and the Snip NalanScholarship for academic and athletic character. He was also amember of the Student Athlete Advisory Council, the Michigan PeerAdvisors Creating Trust and the Athletic Director's LeadershipForum.
