Bowden eager to get started at UNA
FLORENCE, Ala. -- It was late afternoon Monday, still more than a month away from the start of the 2009 college football season.
Yet, Terry Bowden was in a hurry.
The former Auburn coach was cramped between his mother, Ann, and a close family friend in the backseat of a dealer-provided SUV, and a police escort was driving nearly 90 mph down a two-lane highway in rural northwest Alabama.
When the SUV and its police escort finally came to a stop in tiny Russellville, Bowden climbed out of the backseat and back into the spotlight.
Within a few minutes, he was speaking to a crowd of about 150 alumni from the University of North Alabama. He seemed more like a motivational speaker, trying to persuade the crowd to forgo its traditional Saturday trips to Auburn and Alabama for a shorter drive to football games at North Alabama.
"You might love Alabama and Auburn because they're the big-name schools," Bowden told them. "But, dadgumit, North Alabama isn't a second-choice school. It wasn't my second choice."
It has been more than six months since Bowden was named coach at NCAA Division II North Alabama, but he still hasn't found time to slow down. In fact, it's almost as if he's trying to make up for lost time. It has been 10 years since Bowden last coached a college football team, and he has spent the past several months trying to catch up.
Bowden's office on the UNA campus still is sparsely decorated. The walls are mostly bare, and a floral sofa, where he says he has slept many nights, seems out of place. His desk is covered with thick files and legal pads, and the only reminder of his coaching past is the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award draped in purple and gold ties.
Bowden won the Bryant bust as national coach of the year at Auburn in 1993, when he became the first coach in NCAA Division I history to lead his team to an undefeated record in his first season.
A decade ago, it would have been difficult to imagine Bowden, the coach with the sparkling résumé and even more impressive pedigree, coaching at a school like North Alabama.
But there Bowden was Monday, trying to finalize flight plans for his father, legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, and his older brother, former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, who were traveling to Florence for a fundraising gala on the UNA campus.
Instead of worrying about SEC rivals Alabama and LSU, Terry Bowden now is consumed with figuring out how to stop Carson-Newman College's option offense and Valdosta State's high-octane aerial attack.
"You don't know where the process is going to take you," said Bowden, now 53. "At 50, you have a little different perspective than you did at 25. I wanted to coach and see if I can have an impact on a program and win some championships. Other than the money, it doesn't make a bit of a difference. It just seemed like the right thing. I just want to coach."
For a long time, Bowden's career path mirrored that of his father, who enters the 2009 season with 382 career victories, one fewer than Penn State's Joe Paterno in the race for the most victories ever in major college football.
Bowden was a successful coach at Salem College in West Virginia and Samford University in Alabama, where his father once played quarterback and coached. He was named Auburn's coach in 1993 and led the Tigers to an 11-0 record. They couldn't play for the national championship in his first season because they were on NCAA probation for violations committed under former coach Pat Dye.
Auburn won 28 of its first 33 games under Bowden, including a 20-game winning streak, the longest in school history. Once the Tigers were eligible for postseason play, Bowden guided them to three consecutive bowl games from 1995 through 1997. But after a dreadful 1-5 start in his sixth season in 1998, he was unceremoniously fired as Auburn's coach.
Bowden moved to Orlando, Fla., and tried his hand at broadcasting, working as a college football analyst for ABC Sports. He later hosted a sports talk show and wrote an online sports column. He also traveled the country giving motivational speeches, which often focused on dealing with failure.
"I left Auburn and had my mind made up that I was going to do broadcasting," Bowden said. "I tried hard to make a living at it, but I think I was hurt so much at Auburn that I wasn't sure I could coach again. It took about five or six years to flush that one out of my system. I wondered, 'Why did it happen? How did it happen?' I let that one tear at me for too long. I suppressed a real need to coach for a while. I convinced myself that I didn't need to do it."
But when Bowden turned 50 three years ago, he realized he was finally ready to return to the sideline. He met with former NFL coach Dick Vermeil, who returned to coaching in 1997 after spending many of his 15 seasons out of the game working as a TV analyst.
"He went back and won a Super Bowl [with the St. Louis Rams in 1999]," Bowden said. "He told me, 'Terry, believe it or not, you're smarter when you go back. You spend all week studying two coaches and watching film. You know so much more about the game.'"
Before the 2007 season, Bowden moved back in with his parents in Tallahassee, Fla., and spent much time at Florida State's practices. He sat in on coaches' meetings to familiarize himself with strategy and new schemes.
"At first, he didn't miss it," Bobby Bowden said. "Then he started to miss it and had to get back in it."
When Rich Rodriguez abruptly left West Virginia for Michigan after the 2007 season, Terry Bowden thought he'd found his place to return to coaching. He had played running back for the Mountaineers from 1974 through 1978, the first two years on teams coached by his father. Bowden interviewed with West Virginia officials, but the school promoted assistant Bill Stewart after he guided the Mountaineers to a 48-28 upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, 2008.
After failing to land the coaching job at his alma mater, Bowden wasn't sure he'd get a chance to coach again.
"I was a square peg in a round hole," Bowden said. "When is the last time an athletics director hired a guy who sat for 10 years? You just don't fit into the hiring process. You're not a hot, young coordinator. It didn't surprise me, but I said, 'Dang!'"
Then, while working as a radio analyst at an Arizona State game in 2008, Bowden received advice from Sun Devils coach Dennis Erickson that he said changed his plan to return to coaching. Erickson won national championships at Miami in 1989 and '91, and was highly successful at Oregon State. But after struggling in two seasons with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers in 2003 and 2004, Erickson found it hard to return to the college game. He was hired at Idaho in 2006 before moving to Arizona State the next season.
"He told me, 'Terry, be prepared to go back,'" Bowden said.
Bowden's break finally came on Dec. 13. He was working as a radio analyst at the Division II national championship game between Minnesota-Duluth and Northwest Missouri State at North Alabama's Braly Municipal Stadium. During that game, North Alabama coach Mark Hudspeth resigned to become an assistant coach at Mississippi State. Someone passed Bowden a note during the game and asked him whether he'd be interested in coaching the Lions.
Bowden interviewed in Florence on New Year's Eve and was introduced as UNA's coach the next day.
"The concern we had -- if it can be described as a concern -- was that we wanted to be convinced Terry wanted to get back into coaching at a school like North Alabama," UNA president William Cale said. "But we met with him and quickly found out this was exactly what he wanted. He's been analyzing college football for a decade, so we figured he'd be a great coach."
North Alabama fans expect Bowden to be great immediately. The Lions long have been one of the country's best Division II teams, winning three consecutive national titles from 1993 through 1995. Hudspeth led UNA to 10 victories or more and NCAA playoff appearances in each of the past four seasons. The Lions finished 12-2 and advanced to the NCAA semifinals in 2008.
North Alabama's football tradition is rich. The Harlon Hill Trophy, which is the Division II equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, is named after former Lions end Harlon Hill, who was named NFL rookie of the year and NFL MVP with the Chicago Bears. North Alabama is the only school in the country with two live lion mascots living on campus. Leo III and Una live in a 12,000-square-foot habitat.
"I think Terry was fortunate to get the North Alabama job because it's always been successful," Bobby Bowden said. "It's going to be interesting because every job he ever had was down. He's going to have to sustain this job."
Terry Bowden has spent much time trying to temper expectations for this coming season. The Lions lost 10 of 11 starters on offense and five on defense. Quarterback A.J. Milwee, a three-year starter and runner-up for the Harlon Hill Trophy in 2008, departed, as did the team's top four receivers and top two running backs.
Bowden has tried to supplement UNA's returning players with several Division I transfers. (They don't have to sit out a season under NCAA transfer rules.) Former FSU receiver Preston Parker, who was the team's offensive MVP in 2007, is expected to transfer to North Alabama. He was dismissed from FSU after a DUI arrest in February. Mico McSwain, who set a freshman rushing record at Ole Miss in 2005, already has enrolled in classes at UNA. Bowden expects to add 10 to 15 Division I transfers by the time preseason practice starts.
"Because of my name and background, and the fact they went 12-2 last year, the expectations are even higher," Bowden said.
Bowden kept all of Hudspeth's coaching staff and was able to keep most of the Lions' recruiting class intact. He hired his brother Jeff Bowden as the team's wide receivers coach. Because Jeff, a former Florida State offensive coordinator, still is being paid by FSU's booster organization, he's working as a volunteer coach. Former Seminoles tight end Pat Carter, who played 10 seasons in the NFL and worked last season as a Detroit Lions assistant, also is working as a volunteer coach.
“The goal is to win a national championship. We went 11-0 at Auburn and couldn't win one because we were on probation. I don't have one. My dad has won one, and I want one. That's the goal.
” -- North Alabama coach Terry Bowden
Jeff hasn't coached since he resigned as FSU's offensive coordinator in 2006.
"I knew if I was going to get back in it this quickly, it was going to be with Terry," Jeff said. "I'm the youngest of four boys, and I've obviously looked up to my brothers. I worked well with Terry and understand my role with him. It was an easy move and an easy decision for me."
After six months on the job, Terry Bowden isn't regretting his decision to return to college football, either.
"The goal was to get back to coaching and find some kind of job satisfaction that I wasn't getting where I was," Bowden said. "The goal is to win a national championship. We went 11-0 at Auburn and couldn't win one because we were on probation. I don't have one. My dad has won one, and I want one. That's the goal."
Mark Schlabach covers college football and men's college basketball for ESPN.com. You can contact him at schlabachma@yahoo.com.
- Rumors: Kelly, Meyer odds leaders for Irish job
- Feldman: A Week 12 wrap-up
- Tools: Game Predictor | PickCenter
- Draft: Mel's Big Board (11/18) | NFL draft blog
