Vic Rowen

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Vic Rowen

Title Former Head Coach
College San Francisco State University
Sport Football
Place of birth Brooklyn, New York
Career highlights
Playing career
1940s Long Island University
Position Tight End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1961-90 San Francisco State

Vic Rowen was the head coach of the Division II San Francisco State University Golden Gators of the CCAA and the Far Western Conference from 1961 to 1990. He coached the Gators for 29 years and is known for having trained a number of players and assistants who went on to successful professional careers.

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[edit] Early years

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rowen was got his start as a coach at Ohio’s Defiance College in 1951. Rowen played his college ball at Long Island University, and later went on to earn a doctorate in physical education from Columbia University. He joined San Francisco State as an assistant coach in 1954 under Joe Verducci, until becoming head coach in 1961.

[edit] As San Francisco State Coach

In Rowen’s early years, San Francisco State was a west-coast small college football powerhouse, winning eight Far Western Conference titles before 1967. This early success lead his team to attract a great deal of football talent to the university and San Francisco State was well known for its football during this time. All of that changed during the student strike of 1968, which crippled football at SFSU.

[edit] Decent and Fall of SFSU football

San Francisco State did not have a winning season between 1973 and when the program was cancelled in 1995. While noted for producing outstanding players and coaches who would go on to win with other programs, San Francisco State football under Rowen’s later years was not as successful as other Division II college football teams.

Some claim that the San Francisco State football program was impacted by Title IX, a 37-word United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Since the advent of Title IX, schools have been increasingly threatened with discrimination lawsuits. Title IX has caused much controversy, with some groups claiming that it has caused some schools to spend less money on 'minor' or 'non-money-making' men's sports programs such as wrestling, cross country, swimming, gymnastics, fencing and volleyball This means that it is harder for men to get into large, division 1 schools for small sports due to their over emphasis on football and other money making sports.

Supporters of Title IX point to statistics (from a GAO study that indicate male collegiate sport participation has increased since the inception of Title IX, and that so-called "non-revenue" sports were being eliminated even before Title IX.

However, the same GAO study shows that, while male participation in sports rose 5% between 1981 and 1998, male enrollment during those years rose almost 19%. The number of men's sports teams available per male student has declined 21% over that time. Teams such as tennis, track and field, and swimming have decreased for men, while women's teams have increased. Although there are now more teams available to women than to men, the total number of male participants still significantly outnumber women; in 1998-99 there were 232,000 males participating in college athletics and 163,000 females.

[edit] Coaching Legacy

Rowen has had two of his assistant coaches go on to latter lead their teams as head coach in Super Bowls; Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles and Mike Holmgren with both the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.

Gil Haskell, now Offensive Coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, also was an assistant coach to Rowen. Bob Toledo, now head coach at Tulane University, played Quarterback at San Francisco State under Rowen; Floyd Peters, former defensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders, was a defensive lineman under Rowen.

Vic Rowen was also the president of the American Football Coaches Association in 1986.

[edit] Trivia

  • Mike Holmgren, coach of the Seattle Seahawks, was a teacher of American history at Oakgrove High School in San Jose in 1981 when Rowen offered him his first collegiate coaching position.
  • Vic Rowen coached for over half of the length of time college football was played at San Francisco State
Preceded by
Joe Verducci		 San Francisco State University Head Football Coach
1961–present		 Succeeded by
Dick Mannini