Lowes led the Nipawin Hawks to the 1990 ANAVET Cup championship, before being a head coach in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for 12 seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings, and the Regina Pats.
Lowes also coached the Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team, and later became director of amateur scouting for the Ottawa Senators.
[3][4] Lowes served as captain of the Pats for the 1983–84 WHL season, in which his team lost in the seventh game of the President's Cup final.
[3] Lowes was recruited by Wayne Fleming to playing university hockey, and join the Manitoba Bisons program.
[7][10] The Hawks played the Portage Terriers, champions of Manitoba for the ANAVET Cup, winning the series four games to two.
[8] Lowes was named a co-coach along with Ted Nolan, of the combined WHL and Ontario Hockey League team in the 1993 CHL All–Star Challenge.
[13] Notable players coached by Lowes on the Wheat Kings include, Johnathan Aitken, Milan Bartovic, Sven Butenschoen, Ryan Craig, Chris Dingman, Eric Fehr, Burke Henry, Mark Kolesar, Justin Kurtz, Kirby Law, Mike Leclerc, Mike Maneluk, Rob McVicar, Marty Murray, Wade Redden, Peter Schaefer, Jordin Tootoo, and Nolan Yonkman.
[15] He returned as an assistant coach for the under-18 team at the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships in Slovakia, where Canada placed sixth.
[15] He was named head coach of the under-18 team for the 2003 U-18 Junior World Cup in Slovakia, with Dave Cameron and Pascal Vincent as assistants.
[17] Notable players drafted by Ottawa during his tenure as chief scout include Logan Brown, Thomas Chabot, Jared Cowen, Nick Foligno, Gabriel Gagne, Erik Karlsson, Curtis Lazar, Robin Lehner, Jakob Silfverberg, Mark Stone, Colin White, and Mika Zibanejad.
[18][19][20] Lowes was hired by the Vegas Golden Knights September 30, 2016,[18] to be the assistant director of player personnel under Vaughn Karpan.