The Citadel Athletics

Lamar Owens joined The Citadel football coaching staff in Spring 2023, initially serving as the cornerbacks coach. Ahead of the 2024 campaign, Owens took over as Offensive Coordinator for the Bulldogs.

In 2025, Owens coordinated one of the nation’s most efficient and explosive offensive attacks. The Citadel finished first in the Southern Conference and ninth nationally in rushing yards per game, as well leading the league with 80 explosive runs (10-plus yards). The Bulldogs closed out the year first in the Southern Conference and sixth nationally in passing yards per completion, as well as being the 14th most efficient passing attack across all of FCS.

In his first season running the offense, the unit saw significant improvement, more than doubling points per game from the year prior -- 21.5 in 2024 from 10.0 in 2023 -- while graduate transfer QB Johnathan Bennett earned second-team All-Southern Conference honors.

Additionally, the Bulldogs concluded the season ranked first within the SoCon for turnovers lost (16), second in rushing yards per game (175) and time of possession per game (31:11) and third in third-down conversion rate (.379).

Owens spent the 2023 season as the cornerbacks coach at The Citadel, working to develop Bradlee Jones as a top freshman performer in the Southern Conference. Owens also directed the punt unit, which finished 43rd in the country for net punting, off the efforts of punter James Platte, who ranked second league-wide with an average punt of 43.1 yards.
 
Owens came to the Lowcountry after most recently serving as the wide receivers coach at Georgia Southern in 2019.
 
Prior to his time in Statesboro, Owens spent 11 seasons on staff at Georgia Tech under Paul Johnson. Owens spent the last nine years coaching the A-Backs. He added the title of special teams coordinator prior to the 2016 season and was tabbed as the program’s recruiting coordinator in 2017.
 
During his time with the Yellow Jackets, Owens helped develop players such as Roddy Jones, Orwin Smith, Robert Godhigh and Clinton Lynch. Godhigh led the Yellow Jackets in touchdown receptions in 2012 and 2013 and became the only player in Tech history with 100 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in the same game when he totaled 126 yards on the ground and 105 yards through the air against Clemson on Nov. 14, 2012. Smith set an ACC record with a career average of 9.3 yards per rush from 2009-12 (Godhigh’s 9.1-yard career average ranks second in ACC history among rushers with at least 1,000 career yards).
 
In his first season as the special teams coordinator, the Jackets led the ACC in field goal percentage and PAT percentage behind kicker Harrison Butker, who was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft. In 2017, true freshman Pressley Harvin III was named a freshman All-American and third-team all-conference honoree after leading all NCAA Division I FBS true freshmen and ranking 16th overall nationally in punting with a 44.1-yard average.
 
Owens arrived on The Flats in 2008 and served two seasons as a staff assistant before moving into his role as an assistant coach.
 
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Maryland in 2008 after completing his football playing career as a quarterback at the U.S. Naval Academy under head coach Paul Johnson.
 
In 2005, Owens directed a Navy offense that averaged 34.2 points and an FBS-best 319.3 rushing yards per game. He racked up 2,109 yards of total offense (1,229 passing, 880 rushing — both team highs) and accounted for 17 touchdowns (11 rushing, six passing) en route to being named to the ECAC all-East team.
 
Behind Owens, who broke four school records for total offense, passing yards per attempt and passing yards per completion, the Midshipmen went 8-4 in 2005, won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and beat Colorado State, 51-30, in the Poinsettia Bowl. The triumph over CSU gave Navy consecutive bowl wins for the first time in program history.
 
In 2018, Owens was invited to participate in the American Football Coaches Association’s 35 Under 35 Coaches’ Leadership Institute and the National Football League’s prestigious Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. As part of the Walsh Fellowship, he was immersed with the San Francisco 49ers’ coaching staff for two weeks during offseason training activities and mandatory minicamp.
 
Owens is a native of Savannah, Ga., and currently resides in Charleston, S.C.