An Owl since birth

Keene State College athletics has had the luxury of being able to keep their coaches around for long careers. This point is proven by the six current coaches who have been coaching at KSC for 20 plus years. One of those six is baseball head coach Ken Howe who has coached at KSC for 24 years.

While 24 years is a lengthy amount of time, it’s not even an accurate account of how much time he has actually been involved with KSC. In fact, Howe’s roots may be deeper than any coach around. “I was actually born at Keene State College,” Howe said. “I was born in the Elliot Center, which was then called Elliot Hospital.”

Upon graduating from high school, Howe attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando to play baseball. Howe admits it was more about baseball than academics.

He played baseball there for two years before tearing a hamstring, ending his playing career. From there, Howe transferred to KSC to finish his degree. He graduated in January of 1986. Lucky for Howe, he was in the right place at the right time after he graduated.

When KSC brought back the baseball program after a hiatus from 1978-86, Howe’s friend, John Scheinman, now the men’s head basketball coach at Plymouth State University, was offered the job. Scheinman said he’d only take the job under one condition. “[Scheinman] said that he would take on the responsibility of coaching the team only if I would share it with him,” Howe said.

From there, history wrote itself as Howe would go on to win over 400 games in his career. Howe is still going strong, but it’s not always about the wins and losses for him. “From the classroom to the ball field is a very similar experience. It’s a teaching environment, not only about baseball but also about life,” Howe said. “Seeing kids coming in as young kids and watch them grow as people.

The wins and loses are fun but when you have the opportunity to make a difference in a young persons life it’s a great experience.” Howe is known around campus for being the skipper in the baseball team’s dugout but he does more around campus than just coaching. “Each of our coaches has another responsibility in addition to the coaching their coaching,” KSC Athletic Director John Ratliff said.

“His responsibilities are coordinating all the game management of all 18 sports. It’s a real workload.” Howe has a crew of 20-25 students who work for him and help set up everything from the sound systems used to announce game stats to the people who chase down balls when they’re knocked out of play at a game. “The toughest part about this job is the hiring process. The games start right away so I need to be ready,” Howe said Howe said he received 150 applications for these positions and had to narrow them down to the number he has now.

From there, he and his workers have to train the new employees on the fly to make sure they are ready to conduct a KSC event. In addition to coordinating the games, Howe was asked to serve on committees to help make KSC a better place. He has been on the Drug and Alcohol Committee and even helped hire the new grounds keeper at KSC. It doesn’t get too much more “Keene State” than Howe.

For all he does around the school it’s easy to see how passionate Howe is about KSC. So passionate in fact, the school shouldn’t expect him to go anywhere soon. “There’s no doubt we’re going to do our best to keep him at KSC,” Ratliff said. “I don’t see anyone else coaching but him.”

“I hope to die here. Might as well be born and die here,” Howe said. “We’re doing something special here and I hope to continue it.” As of April 5, the Owls are 10-8 overall and 1-1 in the Little East Conference. KSC will travel to Eastern Connecticut State University on April 10 to play a double header.

Chris Thelin can be contacted at cthelin@keeneequinox.com