By: Mark Wasik
RSVP (For Inductees and Past Inductees) | Football vs Furman Tickets
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Department of Athletics is proud to announce the upcoming induction of two national championship teams for the Hall of Fame Class of 2023. Inducted this September will be the NCAA Division II National Champion 2003 KSU women's soccer team and the 2003-04 KSU men's basketball squad.
"We are very honored to recognize these two outstanding and elite national championship teams in our school's history," said Director of Athletics Milton Overton. "Their amazing accomplishments will always be a huge part of what Kennesaw State Athletics is, and we can think of no better way to honor them than with their induction this year into our Hall of Fame. We cannot wait to celebrate them with the rest of our Owl family this fall."
The ceremony will take place the evening of Friday, Sept. 15 inside the KSU Convocation Center, and the class will be introduced during the Saturday, Sept. 16 football game against Furman.
The 2003-04 Kennesaw State men's basketball team was coached by the late Tony Ingle, a 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee. After starting the season with two straight losses, the Owls won nine of the next 10 contests. A loss at Lenoir-Rhyne on Jan. 2, 2004, would be the final setback of the season for KSU, as the Owls proceeded on a school-record 26-game win streak.
Included in the run was the team's first-ever Peach Belt Conference Tournament title. Playing in Columbus, Ga. against the defending league champions Columbus State, the Owls found themselves down six points with two minutes left and by a point in the final seconds, before eventual All-American Terrance Hill drained the game-winning jumper for a 72-70 victory. Next in the NCAA South Atlantic Regional, held on campus in the Spec Landrum Center, KSU knocked off Catawba (78-63), a fourth victory during the season over Columbus State (70-55), and Francis Marion (82-73) to reach the NCAA Elite Eight. With three games to go to the title in Bakersfield, Calif., the Owls played their best basketball season at the right time, claiming wins over Pfeiffer (86-79), Humboldt State (81-67), and Southern Indiana (84-59) in one of the largest win margins in NCAA DII championship game history.
KSU finished with a program-record 35-4 mark, the only 30-win season in school history, and also claimed the Peach Belt regular season title with a perfect 16-0 record. Following the season, Terrence Hill was named the National Player of the Year (Atlanta Tip-off Club Naismith Award) while Ingle was named National Coach of the Year by the NABC.
Rob King was the first head coach in KSU women's soccer history and led the Owls to the 2003 Division II national championship with a 25-1 record. He posted a record of 168-80-21 in his KSU career from 2002-2015. His Owls won a pair of PBC regular season and tournament championships, and Southeast Regional titles in 2002 and 2003. He was the Southeast Region Coach of the Year both seasons and earned the 2003 National Coach of the Year. King led the Owls during KSU's Division 1 transition. In 2005, their first Division 1 season, KSU finished second in the ASUN Conference regular season with an 8-2 record and 13-4-1 record overall. The Owls won the ASUN Tournament and went to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2009, while winning ASUN regular season titles in 2006, 2007, and 2009.
It would be hard to find a program that had a more impressive first two seasons than the Owls did under King. In its inaugural season, KSU posted an 18-0-1 mark, with the lone tie coming in the first round of the Division II Tournament where KSU played North Florida to a 1-1 draw, but saw the Ospreys advance after winning the PK shootout 5-4. It would be a season of redemption in 2003, with KSU posting a stellar 25-1 mark, for a 43-1-1 record over its two years.
There was no doubt from the start the Owls would be a dominate team, claiming their first eight games by a 43-3 margin. After its lone loss of the season, 2-1 to Christian Brothers, KSU would not falter again, ending the season on a 17-game win streak. That included an amazing nine-game shutout streak, as the Owls did not allow a goal over the final five weeks of the season.
After claiming the Peach Belt Conference regular season title with a 7-0 mark, the Owls cruised through the PBC tournament. On its home field, KSU claimed shutout wins over USC Aiken (8-0), Francis Marion (4-0) and USC Spartanburg (3-0) for its second-straight conference tournament title. The Owls then hosted three straight games in the NCAA Tournament, taking down Presbyterian, Tusculum, and Barry to reach the Final Four in Virginia Beach, Va.
After holding on for a 1-0 win over 2002 national runner-up Nebraska-Omaha in the national semifinals, the Owls met seventh-seed Franklin Pierce in the title game. Freshman forward Laura Tucker scored both goals in the game to claim Tournament MVP honors, while the Owls became the first team in NCAA D2 Tournament history to not allow a single goal. King would finish the year being named National Coach of the Year, while Jessie Fream earned third-team All-American honors.
The event will start at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour before moving onto the dinner at 7 p.m. and the ceremony at 7:45 p.m. Inductees and past inductees can fill out an RSVP form
here.
Members of both teams will be recognized at halftime of the football game against Furman on Sept. 16, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. Tickets for the football game can be purchased
here.
