Austen Rowland (born July 30, 1981) is an American retired professional basketball player. His 15-year career spanned from 2004 to 2019 with stops in Austria, Finland, France, and Germany. In college, Rowland was an honorable mention

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and the 2004 Patriot League Player of the Year as a senior at Lehigh. Rowland has also been an assistant coach, first at Lehigh for the 2016–17 season and then with the German professional team

Hamburg Towers Hamburg Towers, for sponsorship reasons named Veolia Towers Hamburg, is a professional basketball team, based in Hamburg, Germany. After promotion from the ProA in 2019, the Towers are currently playing in the Basketball Bundesliga, the top tier ...

in 2019–20. In his post-basketball life he is a licensed real estate professional in the

Bowie, Maryland Bowie () is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County; i ...

area.

Playing career

College

Delaware (1999–2002)

A native of

Hyattsville, Maryland Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is an urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper Anacostia ...

, Rowland began his college career at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

in 1999. He played three seasons for the Fightin' Blue Hens, averaging 4.1, 11.6, and 9.8 points per game, respectively. While Delaware had success during his tenure, Rowland made the decision to transfer to Lehigh after his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

year in 2001–02. He had to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

the 2002–03 season, and then became eligible to play his final collegiate season in 2003–04.

Lehigh (2003–2004)

Rowland made an immense impact in his lone season at Lehigh. He averaged 15.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.9 steals per game while leading the Mountain Hawks to their first-ever

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

regular season and conference tournament championships. He led the league in games played (31), field goals made (167) and attempted (413), points per game, and total points (480). Rowland also finished in the top five in 14 other statistical categories. He was named the 2004 Patriot League tournament's Most Valuable Player after leading Lehigh to an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. They would go on to the lose the 16-seed

play-in game A play-in game ...

Florida A&M Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

. For his outstanding personal season, Rowland was named to the All-Patriot League first team and was its

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

, the first from Lehigh to earn that honor. He earned an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

honorable mention nod as an

. In 2015, he was selected to be on the Patriot League's 25th Anniversary Team as one of the greatest 25 players in league history to that point.

Professional

Rowland went undrafted in the ensuing

2004 NBA draft The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm ( EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur colle ...

. He instead emabarked upon a professional career that spanned 15 seasons and took him to numerous countries around the world. His professional single game career highs were 31 points (three times), 18 assists (April 21, 2007), and 6 steals (two times). After the 2018–19 season Rowland retired from playing professional basketball.

Coaching career and post-basketball

On two occasions Rowland served as an assistant basketball coach. The first came in 2016–17 when he returned to his ''alma mater'' to assist head coach

Brett Reed Brett Reed (born July 12, 1972) is an American musician, best known as the original drummer for the punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960 ...

at Lehigh. He had felt he was done with his playing career at that time but wanted to stay with the game he loved. After just season, Rowland left and returned to a professional playing career. His second stint in coaching came just after his official retirement in 2019. He joined Germany's

for the 2019–20 season in which they finished 3–17 and in 17th place in the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

. Rowland left basketball after that and has since become a licensed real estate professional back in his home state of Maryland.

References

External links

College statistics
@ sports-reference.com
Professional statistics
@ proballers.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Austen 1981 births Living people ALM Évreux Basket players American expatriate basketball people in Austria American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Maryland BC Orchies players BSC Fürstenfeld Panthers players Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens men's basketball players ESSM Le Portel players Étoile Charleville-Mézières players Giessen 46ers players Hamburg Towers coaches Kobrat players Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's basketball coaches Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's basketball players Sportspeople from Hyattsville, Maryland Basketball players from Prince George's County, Maryland Point guards Ratiopharm Ulm players Science City Jena players SOMB Boulogne-sur-Mer players