RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech Director of Athletics, Abby Davis, has announced the hiring of Lowell Stephens as the next head men's and women's golf coach. Lowell officially begins his appointment on July 1.
"We are very excited to have Lowell, his wife Vanessa and young son, Warner, join our athletic family here at Tech and for him to lead our golf programs," said Davis. "Lowell quickly stood out to us from his recent work at Hesston where he began his head coaching career, but also from his experience around national championship-caliber programs at the University of Indianapolis. We are confident that Lowell will provide the stability and consistency needed for both our programs to return to the regional and national prominence that they had built to over the last decade."
Lowell Stephens Coaching_2Stephens comes to Tech after spending the last three seasons as the head men's golf coach at Hesston College. Prior to that, Stephens had two seasons as a graduate assistant with the nationally-prominent University of Indianapolis men's golf program.
"I'm extremely honored to be a part of the family at Arkansas Tech," remarked Stephens. "My family and I are very excited for the opportunity to mentor the student-athletes on both the men's and women's golf teams at Tech and help prepare them for unparalleled success on and off the course. My goal is to have a lot for them to be proud of in the years to come."
In his first collegiate head coaching role, Stephens was instrumental in the rapid improvement of the Hesston men's program. In just his first year, Stephens and his team were recipients of the 2022 Mark Laesch Award as the program with the most improved score from one year to the next. The total stroke improvement under Stephens that year was 26.63.
Lowell Stephens Coaching_1Year two under Stephens saw Hesston become nationally-ranked and narrowly miss out on qualifying for the national championship tournament as a team. Stephens did, however, have an individual qualify for nationals and finish T30 out of a field of 119 golfers. At the conclusion of that season, Stephens and the program were once more recipients of the Mark Laesch Award, this time dropping another 21.45 strokes from their team average as the finished year with a 308.59 stroke average.
This past year, Stephens continued to build up the Hesston program as they once more improved their team stroke average and ended with a 303.5 stroke average. His team also broke through to the first national championship appearance in program history.
At nationals, Stephens' men's team finished eighth out of 22 teams and set a new program record for lowest round with a 293 (+5) in the second round. Stephens would have two players be earn All-American honors with Bradin Stahl being a second team honoree and Mason White garnering first team recognition.
Lowell Stephens Coaching_3In his time at UIndy, Stephens was under the guidance of legendary head coach Brent Nicoson, who as the coach of both the Greyhound men's and women's golf programs won a combined 15 GLVC Coach of the Year honors, 16 conference titles, 10 regional crowns and three national championships.
The first season at UIndy for Stephens was in the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season. Assisting with the men's program, Stephens helped guide the Greyhounds to a pair of tournament wins and a runner-up finish before the abrupt end to the season.
The following season saw Stephens help lead the Greyhounds to a dominating season in which the men won four tournaments overall and did not finish lower than third in any of the nine tournaments played. In postseason play, Stephens and the Greyhounds finished runner-up in the GLVC and region tournaments before finishing first in stroke play at the National Championships. Stephens also had a hand in mentoring the national champion individual medalist, Keegan Bronnenberg, throughout that tournament that year
The Greyhounds would go on to advance to the semifinals of medal match play, but had their run unceremoniously ended via the second medal match tiebreaker. Coincidentally, had UIndy been on the other side of that tiebreaker, Stephens and the Greyhounds would have squared off with Arkansas Tech, who went on to win the 2021 DII National Championship.
Before he got into the coaching ranks, Stephens was a four-year letterman at Central Christian College of Kansas in McPherson, Kan. A four-year member of the program, Stephens served as team captain his senior season. Competing in every tournament during his time at CCCK, Stephens was individual medalist at a tournament in 2017 and would qualify to participate in the 2018 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Championship Tournament.
A native of Arlington, Texas, Stephens is married to the former Vanessa Warner. The couple have a five-month-old son, Warner.
