Under Owens' leadership, the Chapman football program is alive and well. In 2007-08, the Panthers put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1994-96. And in 2012 - the Panthers' first as a member of the SCIAC - Owens guided the Panthers to a 6-3 mark tying the team's best overall mark since 1996.

In fact, 2012 was a banner year for the Panthers, who ranked in the top-10 in Division III in total offense (499 yds/g) and rushing (282 yds/g). Chapman was also one win away from the SCIAC title in 2012 before falling to Cal Lutheran 38-28 in the regular season finale. The Panthers also went undefeated at home (4-0) for the first time since 1995.

In seven seasons, Chapman has had seven players named to All-West Region teams. Owens has also stressed strong academics, already coaching 11 Capital One Academic All-District VIII selections in seven years and a few dozen more who have been named NFF College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athletes. Several former Panthers have signed professional contracts to play football in Europe and in the Arena Football League.

Prior to coming to Chapman, Owens served as offensive coordinator at Humboldt State (most recently). He was also the head coach at Division III-rival Whittier College, where he led the Poets to two SCIAC championships (1997-98).

Owens has 30 years of college coaching experience, including stops at Fresno State, Utah State and Oregon. He served as the wide receivers coach for Nevada on its Big West championship team in 1995 and helped lead the Sacramento Surge to a World League title as its running backs coach in 1992.

His niche as a coach has been the passing game. A proponent of the "West Coast Offense", he ranked in the top-15 in NCAA Division II in passing offense at Humboldt State and helped the Lumberjacks to a second place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2004 - the school's best finish in five years.

A graduate of the University of La Verne, where he earned a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1970, Owens went on to earn his master's in curriculum and instruction from the University of Oregon in 1974. He served as a professor of African-American sociology at Whittier (1996-2002) and at Chico State (1993-95), as well as a professor of African-American history at Oregon (1972-74). He and his wife, Debby, currently reside in Whittier.