Terry Bowden returns to college coaching for the first time since 1998 to the University of North Alabama.
Bowden becomes the eighth head coach in UNA’s modern football history. He inherits a UNA program that has enjoyed four straight seasons with 10-plus wins, and has made four straight NCAA Division II playoff appearances. The Lions were 12-2 in 2008 and reached the semifinals of the Division II playoffs. A perennial Gulf South Conference and Division II power, North Alabama has made 14 playoff appearances since 1980 and the Lions’ 26 post-season wins are the most by any current Division II institution.
Bowden brings a 111-53-2 record and 68 percent winning percentage in 15 seasons as a head coach to North Alabama. As head coach of the Auburn Tigers from 1993-98, he won 73 percent of his games and posted the best opening five-year run of any head football coach in school history. Also during his time at Auburn, Bowden became the first college coach in 50 years to win his 100th career game by his 40th birthday.
During his time away from coaching, Bowden first served as a studio analyst and color commentator with ABC Sports’ college football coverage. He is currently an expert analyst for Westwood One Radio’s College Football National Game of Week, co-hosts “The Coaches Show” on Sirius Satellite Radio with Jack Arute, and has been the exclusive college football columnist for Yahoo! Sports. He has also worked several times a month as a motivational speaker.
Prior to becoming head football coach at Auburn, Bowden built two programs from the ground up as head coach at Salem College (W.V.) and Samford University (Ala.). As the nation’s youngest head coach at age 26, Bowden inherited a football program that had gone 0-9-1 the year before he arrived. He quickly turned Salem into a winner as the school won the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Championship, just its second in 80 years, in Bowden’s second season. It was the first of two straight championships for Bowden and Salem. He won 19 of his last 25 games, led the nation in offense both years and played in the NAIA national playoffs both years.
Bowden was an assistant coach at Akron for former Notre Dame head coach Gerry Faust in 1986 before taking the helm at Samford in 1987.
Inheriting a Samford program which had won just six games in three years prior to his arrival, Bowden led the Bulldogs to a 9-1 record his first year, tying the record for the best season in school history. The Bulldogs led the nation in total offense (523 yards per game) and scoring offense (51.7 points per game), both national Division III records. The team’s 40 touchdown passes were also a national single-season record.
Bowden then engineered and directed Samford’s move from non-scholarship Division III football to Division I-AA scholarship football. With only one freshman class on scholarship, the Bulldogs went to a full Division I-AA schedule in 1989. By 1991, Samford was competing for the national championship. His 1991 Samford team had the best record in school history at 12-2, and reached the Division I-AA national semifinals.
Bowden was named head coach at Auburn on Dec. 17, 1992, and in less than a year he had accomplished a feat that no other Division IA coach had ever accomplished - he had gone undefeated and untied in his first year as a Division IA head coach. Auburn had a perfect 11-0 record and Bowden swept virtually every national coach of the year award in his rookie season, including Walter Camp, Scripps Howard, Football News, Toyota and the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award presented by the Football Writers Association.
Bowden was again a finalist for coach of the year following his second season at Auburn as the Tigers had reeled off 20 straight wins, an Auburn record, and finished 9-1-1. He posted a 47-17-1 record at Auburn and led the Tigers to three Bowl games.
While at Salem and Samford, Bowden coached quarterback Jimbo Fisher to a NCAA Division III National Player of the Year award. Fisher later became quarterbacks coach for Bowden at Auburn, and after much success as the offensive coordinator for LSU, is now the offensive coordinator at FSU for Bobby Bowden.
Another quarterback from Bowden’s time at Auburn, Patrick Nix is the current offensive coordinator at Miami (Fla.).
As a student-athlete at West Virginia University, Bowden lettered two years as a running back (1977-78), held a 3.65 GPA in accounting, the highest GPA on the football team, and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
He did post graduate work at Oxford University in England, and earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the Florida State University School of Law in 1982 while a graduate assistant coach at FSU.
He was born into the most famous and successful college football coaching family. His father, Bobby Bowden, turned Florida State into a national champion and his 382 collegiate wins ranks second in Division 1A history.
His brother Tommy had an 18-4 record in two seasons as head coach at Tulane and a 72-45 record in 10 seasons as head coach at Clemson University, taking the Tigers to eight bowl games. His brother Jeff was also a collegiate coach from 1983-2006, working at Salem, Samford, Southern Mississippi and Florida State.
During the decade of the 1990’s, Terry, Tommy and Bobby all led their teams to undefeated seasons - a feat that will likely never be repeated.
Terry Bowden and his wife Shyrl have five daughters (Tera, Jordan, Erin, Cori and Jamie) and one son (Terry, Jr.)
Terry Bowden, head football coach at the University of North Alabama, is available through IMG Speakers Bureau for speaking engagements. Terry Bowden is also available for meet and greets, celebrity appearances, corporate hospitality events and much more. Please contact IMG Speakers at 212-774-6735 or speakers@imgworld.com for more information on booking Terry Bowden.
