Staff Directory

Ben Howarth

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:

Howarth comes to Lowell with more than a decade of coaching experience across NCAA Division I, international and high-level European club field hockey. Most recently, he served as an assistant coach at Brown University, where he worked primarily with the team’s attack, pressing systems and individual player development.

At Brown, Howarth helped the Bears advance to the first Ivy League Tournament in program history and achieve the program’s highest-ever RPI ranking. In addition to his on-field responsibilities, he designed and implemented individual development plans, conducted long-term tactical and statistical analysis and served as the staff liaison to sports performance and facilities.

Before returning to the United States, Howarth spent three seasons as the men’s head coach at Nürnberg HTC, competing in Germany’s top two Bundesliga divisions. Charged with rebuilding the program following significant personnel changes, he developed the team’s tactical approach and player-development structure. During his tenure, Nürnberg increased its average goals per game from 0.3 to 1.2, improved its average circle entries from 11.4 to 14.7 and doubled its penalty-corner production.

Howarth previously held several coaching and technical-development positions in the Netherlands. He served as the technical manager for top hockey at HC Rotterdam, where he oversaw the development of the club’s leading youth teams. He also worked as an assistant coach with the Zwart-Wit men’s first team and held coaching, training and analytical roles with HC Bloemendaal, Groningen HHC and Almere HC.

His international experience includes serving as an assistant coach, video analyst and goalkeeper coach for the United States Men’s National Team. In that role, Howarth contributed to game preparation, scouting, training design and player development, while overseeing the team’s attacking and defensive penalty-corner units. He helped the United States earn a bronze medal at the Pan American Games for the first time in 25 years and finish fourth at the 2019 Hockey Series Finals in India.

Howarth also worked with the Belgium U18 Boys National Team, focusing on video analysis, opponent scouting and individual player preparation. Additionally, he served as the head coach of the United States U21 Men’s Team for its 2015 tour of Canada.

Earlier in his career, Howarth was the club head coach and women’s first-team trainer and coach at KHC Brugge in Belgium. He helped establish the club’s long-term performance plan, managed a staff of 10 trainers and oversaw the development pathway for the club’s performance teams. In his first season leading the women’s team, Brugge won the Belgian National 1 championship and earned promotion to the country’s highest division.

Howarth’s collegiate coaching experience also includes a previous stint as an assistant coach at Northeastern University. During his time with the Huskies, the program earned a regular-season conference championship and advanced to the conference tournament final.

A native of England, Howarth earned a bachelor’s degree in sport from Durham University and a master’s degree in sports physiology from Liverpool John Moores University. He holds Level 1 and Level 2 coaching certifications from both England Hockey and USA Field Hockey and has attended the International Hockey Federation’s Level 3 coaching course.