2 015 F O O T BA LL M E DI A GUI DE
COACHING STAFF | TERRY BOWDEN
THE TERRY BOWDEN FILE
Bowden then engineered and directed Samford’s move from non-scholarship Division III football to Division I-AA (now FCS) 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, 59 (born Feb. 25, 1956), was an assistant coach at Akron in 1986 under then Zips’ head coach Gerry Faust. During his time away from coaching, Bowden first served as a studio analyst and color commentator with ABC Sports’ college football coverage. He was also an analyst for Westwood One Radio’s College Football National Game of the Week, co-hosted “The Coaches Show” on Sirius Satellite Radio with Jack Arute, and was the exclusive college football columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Bowden is a member of one of the most famous and successful college football coaching families. His father, Bobby Bowden, turned Florida State into a national champion and his 389 collegiate wins rank second in Division I history. His brother Tommy had an 18-4 record in two seasons as head coach at Tulane and a 7245 record in 10 seasons as head coach at Clemson, taking the Tigers to eight bowl games. His brother Jeff also has 25 years of collegiate coaching experience, working at Salem, Samford, Southern Mississippi, Florida State, North Alabama, and at Akron with Terry. During the decade of the 1990s, Terry, Tommy, and Bobby all led their teams to undefeated seasons. All three were named National Coach of the Year. Bobby and Terry were the first father-son combo in NCAA history to serve as head coaches at the same time. Bobby and Tommy were the first father-son combo to coach against each other. As a student-athlete at West Virginia, Bowden lettered two years as a running back (1977-78), held a 3.65 grade-point average 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 from the Florida State School of Law in 1982, while a graduate assistant coach with the Seminoles.
COACHING HONORS 1993 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year Walter Camp Coach of the Year Scripps Howard Coach of the Year Football News Coach of the Year Toyota Coach of the Year Paul “Bear” Bryant Award (Football Writers Association) 2009 Gulf South Conference Co-Coach of the Year COLLEGIATE PLAYING CAREER 1977-78 Football (West Virginia)
CAREER WINS AMONG ACTIVE DIVISION I COACHES (Minimum five years as FBS head coach; record at four-year colleges only)
AMONG MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE COACHES
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
Frank Beamer, Va. Tech.............. 273 Steve Spurrier, South Carolina.. 226 Brian Kelly, Notre Dame............ 216 Dennis Franchione, Texas St...... 210 Bill Snyder, Kansas State........... 187 Gary Pinkel, Missouri................ 186 Nick Saban, Alabama................ 177 Bob Stoops, Oklahoma............. 168 Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech...... 165 Jerry Kill, Minnesota................. 152 TERRY BOWDEN, AKRON.....151
TERRY BOWDEN, AKRON .....151 Chris Creighton, EMU............... 141 Frank Solich, Ohio..................... 130 Mark Whipple, UMass............... 124 Lance Leipold, Buffalo............... 109 Pete Lembo, Ball State.............. 109 Chuck Martin, Miami.................. 76 Dino Babers, BGSU..................... 27 Matt Campbell, Toledo................ 26 Rod Carey, NIU............................ 23 P.J. Fleck, WMU............................. 9 Paul Haynes, Kent State................ 6 John Bonamego, CMU.................. 0 [First Season]
Bowden has five daughters (Tera, Jordan, Erin, Cori and Jamie) and one son (Terry, Jr.). He is one of 59 coaches at FBS schools that vote in the USA Today Top 25 poll. #ZipsGameday
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AKRON FOOTBALL
arrival, Bowden led the Bulldogs to a 9-1 record his first year, tying the record for the best season in school history. The squad 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.
COLLEGIATE HEAD COACHING RECORD Year School Record Notable 1983 Salem 3-7 1984 Salem 8-3 • .WVIAC Champions 1983 Salem 8-3 • .WVIAC Champions Salem Totals (three seasons) 19-13-0 1987 Samford 9-1 1988 Samford 5-6 • .Transition to I-AA 1989 Samford 4-7 1990 Samford 6-4-1 1991 Samford 12-2 • .Division I-AA Playoffs-Semifinals 1992 Samford 9-3 • .Division I-AA Playoffs-First Rd. Samford Totals (six seasons) 45-23-1 1993 Auburn 11-0 • .National Champions (NCF) 1994 Auburn 9-1-1 • .No. 9 AP Final Ranking 1995 Auburn 8-4 • .Outback Bowl Appearance 1996 Auburn 8-4 • .Independence Bowl Win 1997 Auburn 10-3 • .Peach Bowl Win 1998 Auburn 1-5 Auburn Totals (six seasons) 47-17-1 2009 North Alabama 11-2 • .Division II Playoffs-Quarterfinals 2010 North Alabama 9-4 • .Division II Playoffs-Second Rd. 2011 North Alabama 9-3 • .Division II Playoffs-Second Rd. UNA Totals (three seasons) 29-9 2012 Akron 1-11 2013 Akron 5-7 • .4-4 in MAC play 2014 Akron 5-7 • .3-5 in MAC play Akron Totals (three season) 11-25.(.306) Career Totals (21 seasons) 151-87-2 (.633)