Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in a series of stories highlighting the new members of the Brownwood coaching staff for the 2020-21 school year.

Another Brownwood Lion is coming home to begin his career in coaching.

Kory Owen, a member of the Class of 2016 who went on to play baseball at Howard Payne, is one of three new members of the boys coaching staff at Brownwood Middle School.

For Owen, coaching wasn’t his original plan after leaving high school.

“I started off as a criminal justice major and then I realized at some point my baseball career is going to end and I could be away from sports, so I decided to go into coaching and teaching,” Owen said. “Both my parents are in the teaching field so I figured it would be a great fit.”

Owen racked up several accolades for his achievements in football and baseball at Brownwood High. He was an academic all-district selection in both sports multiple times and also won the U.S. Marine Distinguished Athlete Award in 2016. He was first-team all-district and an all-Big Country football selection while receiving the Lion Heart Award as well.

His best season at Howard Payne came in 2019 where he posted a 4-1 record with 14 strikeouts in 17 innings. He was also an academic all-conference selection that year.

As for returning to his roots at Brownwood Middle School, Owen said, “It feels awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve been here but everything pretty much looks the same and I’m excited to be back.

“I honestly never saw myself starting at Brownwood, I thought I’d go off and maybe finish my career here or come back in the middle, something like that. I’m really glad Coach (Sammy) Burnett gave me the chance to coach here and teach here. It’s just a great experience to be back, I know a lot of people here and I think that really pushed me to come back and start here. I know a bunch of teachers, a bunch of people in the community, so it’s real nice to start teaching where you started.”

Owen recalled his playing days at Brownwood High and the Little Lions youth program. Many of the youngsters who looked up to he and his teammates a few short years ago will now be coached by Owen.

“I may know a couple of them and I think it’d be great to get in there and actually coach them and better their skill set,” Owen said.

Regarding his coaching philosophy, Owen said, “I would say it’s to better every player. Every kid has potential, just better their skill set and teach them to work hard and learn the importance of organized sports. It’s not only about creating players on the field, but creating great players in the community and great young men, hard-working young men. Every kid has potential, you just have to pull it out of them.”

Though Owen is only beginning his time in the coaching ranks, he has given plenty of thought to his long-term career goals.

“I’d either like to become a principal one day or I’d like to move toward being in an offensive coordinator position and then work toward an athletic director position,” Owen said. “I’ve thought a little bit about going to the college side of it and working my way up that way, but that’ll come later. You have to go to more school for that and I’m done with going to class for now.”