Photo by: Steve Hockstein
Offseason Q&A: Head Coach Steve Owens
Dec 17 | Baseball
Scarlet Knights closing out 2021, looking forward to 2022
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Coming off the best Big Ten season in program history, Rutgers baseball looks to continue to make strides heading into 2022. The Scarlet Knights return 19 players who saw action last season, while welcoming 15 newcomers to the program.
RU wrapped up fall practice in November, with numerous intrasquad scrimmages throughout. The individual workouts recently finished, as final exams are coming up to end the semester.
ScarletKnights.com caught up with head coach Steve Owens to hear about the fall and look ahead to the season…
Thoughts on the fall?
Coach Owens: "Very solid body of work. I like the team, enjoyed going out there every day. There was good effort, good focus. A nice mix of returning players, freshmen and transfers. I was very pleased overall with what we showed, with our commitment level and the effort and energy that they brought to the field every day. I was pleased with how they interacted with each other. I was pleased with the minimal amount of issues that we had to deal with. That is always an important thing to be able to take care of yourself both on and off the field. And, again, just excited for them to finish up this semester strong academically and get going with our season."
Reflections from Alumni Weekend?
Coach Owens: "That was a great weekend with the football game, honoring Glen, seeing alumni back on campus and then the golf outing. We spent half the weekend looking at the radar. Fortunately, it was very well attended from many of our former players, friends, coaches, umpires, people from different departments that worked with Glen and other people involved with him. It was nice that we were able to have a private breakfast the morning of with a smaller group of people. And then we were able to get through at least the actual ceremony and the speeches prior to it starting to rain for the rest of the day.
"Overall, just a really, really nice weekend. I thought it was well done and well received. I was excited for Glen and for all the people that came back. A lot of people did a lot of work to behind the scenes to help us. Peter Barron did a great job organizing.
"Then we were looking at the radar again, and the temperatures, for our golf outing. Our golf committee did a wonderful job with that, and I thought that we had a good day there. So in general, it was really nice weekend for all those involved with our team. I feel like Glen enjoyed it, and I think it was an important acknowledgement of all of his effort and how many people he positively impacted throughout the years."
How do you feel about the leadership on this team?
Coach Owens: "As a coaching staff this year, we instituted a leadership committee. And it's not captains. It's different people that we're using to communicate our thoughts to interact with our team so that they can share it with the team, player to player. My coaching staff is also meeting weekly with each player, we're paying a lot of attention to little things. I feel like we have leadership that comes from a lot of different people, not true captains, but experienced players that are motivated, new players that are motivated. I think there's a lot of excitement about what happened last year, and we're looking forward and everyone's on the same page and committed. I feel good about the team leadership, I feel good about the talent and I feel good about the potential results. We're excited. We're hoping for good things to happen and come our way."
How optimistic are you about this season?
Coach Owens: "I'm optimistic about every season. We get to play in the spring, so we have to practice for half a year, but I look forward to every season. I love practice, but I love competing in the games even more. We're really stressing competition and trying to hammer that in. A full year of competition, a full normal regular season. That's a cool thing too. Hopefully we get to play a regular 56-game season, midweek games, out of conference, Big Ten and in a tournament, and hopefully beyond. There's a lot of excitement about that. I think that last year's success, along with the amount of returning players that we have from that team, put us in a good position."
What's the focus of the program right now to finish out the offseason?
Coach Owens: "We just finished our last day of individuals and our meetings. That all was positive. And the players clearly understand that the elite players and the good teams, they continue to work. You take time to be with your family and your friends for the holidays, but they continue to do their work and make good decisions and be prepared for the rigors of the game preparation when mid-January rolls around.
"I feel like our players are in a good spot. I think they've done a good job in the weight room with Kevin (Backus) and Ryan (Pelle) has worked hard to keep guys healthy and recover. The core players will make the right commitment to be healthy, in shape and game ready when they get back here because you don't have time. Last year we had until March. This year, we have until mid-February. There's only a few weeks of real prep. The players have to use this time right now. If you want to win a championship, if you want to be a good team, you have to use this time right now to maintain and even increase your game prep levels."
Rutgers opens the season Feb. 18 at Houston Baptist.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@RutgersBaseball), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball) and Facebook (/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Scarlet Knights App via the app store or play store.
RU wrapped up fall practice in November, with numerous intrasquad scrimmages throughout. The individual workouts recently finished, as final exams are coming up to end the semester.
ScarletKnights.com caught up with head coach Steve Owens to hear about the fall and look ahead to the season…
Thoughts on the fall?
Coach Owens: "Very solid body of work. I like the team, enjoyed going out there every day. There was good effort, good focus. A nice mix of returning players, freshmen and transfers. I was very pleased overall with what we showed, with our commitment level and the effort and energy that they brought to the field every day. I was pleased with how they interacted with each other. I was pleased with the minimal amount of issues that we had to deal with. That is always an important thing to be able to take care of yourself both on and off the field. And, again, just excited for them to finish up this semester strong academically and get going with our season."
Reflections from Alumni Weekend?
Coach Owens: "That was a great weekend with the football game, honoring Glen, seeing alumni back on campus and then the golf outing. We spent half the weekend looking at the radar. Fortunately, it was very well attended from many of our former players, friends, coaches, umpires, people from different departments that worked with Glen and other people involved with him. It was nice that we were able to have a private breakfast the morning of with a smaller group of people. And then we were able to get through at least the actual ceremony and the speeches prior to it starting to rain for the rest of the day.
"Overall, just a really, really nice weekend. I thought it was well done and well received. I was excited for Glen and for all the people that came back. A lot of people did a lot of work to behind the scenes to help us. Peter Barron did a great job organizing.
"Then we were looking at the radar again, and the temperatures, for our golf outing. Our golf committee did a wonderful job with that, and I thought that we had a good day there. So in general, it was really nice weekend for all those involved with our team. I feel like Glen enjoyed it, and I think it was an important acknowledgement of all of his effort and how many people he positively impacted throughout the years."
How do you feel about the leadership on this team?
Coach Owens: "As a coaching staff this year, we instituted a leadership committee. And it's not captains. It's different people that we're using to communicate our thoughts to interact with our team so that they can share it with the team, player to player. My coaching staff is also meeting weekly with each player, we're paying a lot of attention to little things. I feel like we have leadership that comes from a lot of different people, not true captains, but experienced players that are motivated, new players that are motivated. I think there's a lot of excitement about what happened last year, and we're looking forward and everyone's on the same page and committed. I feel good about the team leadership, I feel good about the talent and I feel good about the potential results. We're excited. We're hoping for good things to happen and come our way."
How optimistic are you about this season?
Coach Owens: "I'm optimistic about every season. We get to play in the spring, so we have to practice for half a year, but I look forward to every season. I love practice, but I love competing in the games even more. We're really stressing competition and trying to hammer that in. A full year of competition, a full normal regular season. That's a cool thing too. Hopefully we get to play a regular 56-game season, midweek games, out of conference, Big Ten and in a tournament, and hopefully beyond. There's a lot of excitement about that. I think that last year's success, along with the amount of returning players that we have from that team, put us in a good position."
What's the focus of the program right now to finish out the offseason?
Coach Owens: "We just finished our last day of individuals and our meetings. That all was positive. And the players clearly understand that the elite players and the good teams, they continue to work. You take time to be with your family and your friends for the holidays, but they continue to do their work and make good decisions and be prepared for the rigors of the game preparation when mid-January rolls around.
"I feel like our players are in a good spot. I think they've done a good job in the weight room with Kevin (Backus) and Ryan (Pelle) has worked hard to keep guys healthy and recover. The core players will make the right commitment to be healthy, in shape and game ready when they get back here because you don't have time. Last year we had until March. This year, we have until mid-February. There's only a few weeks of real prep. The players have to use this time right now. If you want to win a championship, if you want to be a good team, you have to use this time right now to maintain and even increase your game prep levels."
Rutgers opens the season Feb. 18 at Houston Baptist.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@RutgersBaseball), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball) and Facebook (/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Scarlet Knights App via the app store or play store.
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