Terry Bowden

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Terry Bowden is a college football analyst/commentator and former college football coach. Bowden is the son of Florida State head football coach Bobby Bowden. His siblings include Tommy Bowden, the head football coach at Clemson and Jeff Bowden, former offensive coordinator at Florida State. Bowden currently serves as the color commentator for the Westwood One radio network's national NCAA game of the week, and as a college football writer for Yahoo! sports.^[1]

As a college football coach, Bowden compiled a 111-53-2 record with head coaching stints at Auburn University, Samford University, and Salem College.

In his first season at Auburn in 1993, he led the Tigers to a perfect 11-0 season (the team was ineligible for post-season play because of infractions by the previous staff). Bowden's Tigers would run the string of undefeated games until the final game of the 1994 season against arch-rival Alabama and finish his first two seasons with a 20-1-1 record. The win-streak is still the longest in AU football history. Having no place to go but down, subsequent seasons were less successful and finally, after a string of injuries at the center position and disastrous start, Bowden resigned in the middle of the 1998 season the night before Auburn was to play Louisiana Tech. Bowden was given no assurances he would have a chance to remedy the situation for the next season and believed his firing was imminent due to the influence of powerful board member Bobby Lowder (who, five years later, played a controversial behind-the-scenes role^[2] in a botched attempt to remove Bowden's successor Tommy Tuberville^[3]).

While at Auburn, Bowden also came under fire from certain alumni and fans for a variety of reasons ranging from his line of Bowden Gear-branded sportwear to his attendance of a James Taylor concert in Birmingham during the August pre-season practice period, as well as player arrests and recruiting difficulties.

[edit] Education

Bowden attended West Virginia University where he played running back on the football team (1977-78), was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in accounting. In addition to his post-grad work at Oxford University in England, he also received his Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University School of Law.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Aside from his analyst duties, Bowden also hosts The Terry Bowden Show on ESPN Florida Radio and is a college football writer for Yahoo! Sports.

Preceded by	Salem College Head Football Coach 1983–1985	Succeeded by
Preceded by Kim Alsop	Samford University Head Football Coach 1987–1992	Succeeded by Chan Gailey
Preceded by Pat Dye	Auburn University Head Football Coach 1993–1998	Succeeded by Bill Oliver (interim); Tommy Tuberville
Preceded by Gene Stallings	Paul "Bear" Bryant Award 1993	Succeeded by Rich Brooks

[edit] References

CNN/SI - College Football - Terry Bowden's Record - Saturday October 24, 1998 09:21 AM. Retrieved on 2005-12-02.
Samford University 2005 Football Media Guide. Retrieved on 2005-12-02.

^ Sessa, Peter (2006-08-10). Westwood One Announces Terry Bowden And Kevin Kugler As NCAA Football Broadcast Team. Westwood One. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
^ Fish, Mike (2006-01-13). A Tiger of a trustee. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-17.
^ Tuberville goes from pink slip to perfection. Associated Press (2004-12-31). Retrieved on 2006-09-17.

Auburn Tigers Head Football Coaches
Petrie • Balliet • Harvey • Hall • Heisman • Watkins • Kent • Bates • Donahue • Keinholz • Pitts • Morey • Bohler • Floyd • Wynne • Meagher • Voyles • Brown • Jordan • Barfield • Dye • Bowden • Oliver • Tuberville