THIRD SEASON AT ULM
28TH SEASON OVERALL
The resurgence of the ULM football program began on Dec. 23, 2020, when Terry Bowden became the University’s 16th head coach.
Despite facing the Sun Belt Conference’s fourth-toughest schedule, with its 12 opponents posting a combined record of 75-64 (.540) in 2022, ULM manufactured a 4-8 record for the second season in a row. The Warhawks delivered three signature wins last season:
• In the Sun Belt opener, ULM scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to rally from a 17-7 deficit for a 21-17 victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns, which ended a four-game losing streak in the series and snapped UL Lafayette’s 13-game winning streak in conference play.
• ULM won back-to-back games to open its November schedule for the first time since 2018, posting consecutive victories by a combined four points: 31-30 against Texas State and 31-28 at Georgia State. The Warhawks had lost seven-straight games played in the month of November.
Texas State raced out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter. The Bobcats held a 27-17 lead early in the third quarter, but ULM scored 14 of the next 17 points to secure a 31-30 victory. The Warhawks put together a 10-play, 80-drive in the fourth quarter and took their only lead with 10:20 left in the game.
•ULM scored two non-offensive touchdowns (blocked punt return and interception return) at Georgia State to halt a 19-game road losing streak. It marked the Warhawks’ first road win under Bowden, snapping an 11-game skid.
Upon his arrival, Bowden brought with him a reputation as a program builder from his previous head-coaching tenures at Salem, Samford, Auburn, North Alabama and Akron. He only enhanced that track record after his first season in Monroe, leading the biggest turnaround in the Sun Belt Conference as the Warhawks went from 0-10 in 2020 to 4-8 in 2021, including wins over Jackson State, Troy, Liberty and South Alabama. A 32-point underdog against Liberty, ULM’s 31-28 victory over the Flames ranks among the top five upsets in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision since 2000. The Warhawks, who never led in a game during the 10-game 2020 season, managed to hold a lead in eight of 12 games last fall.
Bowden orchestrated that turnaround against the nation’s 21st-most difficult schedule as ULM’s opponents posted a combined record of 85-57 (.599) in 2021. With those totals, the Warhawks also led the Sun Belt in strength of schedule.
ULM won four of six games during one stretch and stood 4-3, heading into the last week of October, but the Warhawks faltered down the stretch against the demanding schedule, dropping five games in a row with three of those losses coming by eight points or less.
In his first two seasons, Bowden has helped develop four All-Sun Belt Conference selections (2021 Third Team: wide receiver Boogie Knight and placekicker Calum Sutherland; 2022 Second Team: wide receiver Tyrone Howell and punter Devyn McCormick).
Since taking over the ULM program, Bowden has emphasized the importance of playing disciplined football and his teams have taken the message to heart, ranking as the least-penalized team in the Sun Belt and one of the least-penalized teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision each of the last two seasons (2021: 44 total penalties, 3.67 per game, 32.0 yards per game; 2022: 59 total penalties, 4.92 per game).
From his first day on the job, Bowden has pledged his commitment to support ULM student-athletes as they pursue excellence in the classroom, on the playing field and in the community. The ULM football team completed the 2023 spring semester with a cumulative grade-point average of 2.881 – its highest total since at least 2015. In addition, 54 members of the Warhawk football team posted at least a 3.0 GPA during the spring semester, with 11 student-athletes featured on the President’s List (3.9-4.0 semester GPA) and another 12 named to the Dean’s List (3.5-3.89).
Bowden also initiated “The Warhawk Way,” a program geared toward developing first-class men and world-class leaders. The five foundational pillars are professional, spiritual, athletic, service and academic. A series of workshops have been conducted, focused on mental health, job interview skills, professionalism, resume writing and financial literacy.
Bowden has compiled a career record of 183-130-2 (.584) in 27 seasons as a collegiate head coach. His 183 career wins rank eighth among the winningest active NCAA FBS head coaches, trailing only Alabama’s Nick Saban (280), North Carolina’s Mack Brown (274), LSU’s Brian Kelly (273), Sam Houston’s K.C. Keeler (259), Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (198), Tulane’s Willie Fritz (197) and Eastern Michigan’s Chris Creighton (185).
He came to ULM following two seasons as a graduate assistant/offensive analyst on Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. The Tigers reached the College Football Playoff in each season, including a 10-2 record and ACC Championship in 2020. The Tigers ranked third in FBS in scoring offense (43.5 points per game) and 10th in total offense (502.3 yards per game). Clemson claimed the ACC crown and reached the College Football Playoff Championship in 2019 while ranking fourth in FBS in scoring offense (43.9 ppg.) and fifth in total offense (528.7 ypg.).
Bowden helped revitalize an Akron program that was 2-22 over the two seasons prior to his arrival. In 2015, Bowden led the Zips to an 8-5 record and a second-place finish in the MAC East as the program recorded its first winning season and bowl appearance since 2005. The Zips knocked off Utah State 23-21 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to claim the program’s first bowl victory as an FBS member, dating back to 1987. The eight wins were the most for Akron since joining the FBS.
In 2017, Bowden led Akron to its first MAC Championship game appearance since 2005 and just the second appearance in program history as the Zips appeared in their second bowl game in three seasons and just the third in program history.
Thirty players earned All-MAC honors over his seven seasons at Akron.
Prior to Akron, Bowden spent three seasons at North Alabama, where he led the Lions to a 29-9 record and three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. He was named 2009 Gulf South Conference Co-Coach of the Year after his squad posted an 11-2 record, won the GSC championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
During his time away from coaching, Bowden spent 10 years as a studio analyst and color commentator with ABC Sports’ college football coverage, working in studio in Times Square. He was an analyst for the College Football National Game of the Week on Westwood One radio, co-hosted “The Coaches Show” on Sirius Satellite Radio with Jack Arute and was the exclusive college football columnist for Yahoo! Sports.
Bowden was named head coach at Auburn on Dec. 17, 1992, and found immediate success with the Tigers. In 1993, Auburn tallied a perfect 11-0 record and Bowden swept nearly every National Coach of the Year award, including Walter Camp, Scripps Howard, Football News, Toyota and the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, presented by the Football Writers Association. He was the first coach in Division I-A (now FBS) history to go 11-0 in his inaugural season. He won the first 20 consecutive games of his tenure.
Bowden was once again a coach of the year finalist after his second season on The Plains after the Tigers had rattled off 20-straight wins, which still stands as an Auburn record, and finished 9-1-1.
Bowden finished his stint at Auburn is a 47-17-1 record, which is the best opening five-year run in school history. While at Auburn, he became the first collegiate coach in 50 years to win his 100th career game before his 40th birthday.
Before heading to Auburn, Bowden spent six years at Samford, helping the Bulldogs transition from NCAA Division III to Division I-AA (now FCS). He inherited a program that had won just six games over the previous three seasons. In his first season in 1987, Bowden led Samford to a 9-1 record, tying the best record in school history. The 1987 team led the nation in total offense (523 yards per game), scoring offense (51.7 points per game) and passing touchdowns (40), which set national Division III records.
His 1989 Bulldog squad faced a full I-AA schedule with just one freshman class on scholarship, but by 1991, the team was in contention for the national championship, with a school-record 12-2 season and reached the I-AA national semifinals.
Bowden was the nation’s youngest head coach at age 26 when he accepted his first head coaching job, at Salem (W. Va.) College in 1983. He took over a team that finished 0-9-1 the season prior to his arrival, and promptly guided the program to two conference championships in three seasons.
Bowden is a member of one of the most well-known and successful college football coaching families. His late father, Bobby Bowden, transformed Florida State into a national championship program and earned 377 collegiate victories, ranking second in Division I history. His brother Tommy was 18-4 in two seasons as head coach at Tulane before going 72-45 over 10 seasons as head coach at Clemson, leading the Tigers to eight bowl appearances. His brother Jeff has 30 years of collegiate coaching experience at Salem, Samford, Southern Miss, Florida State, North Alabama and Akron.
Collectively, the Bowdens rank as the winningest family in NCAA Division I football history as Bobby (377), Terry (183) and Tommy (90) have combined for 650 wins. The Bowden coaching family reached the 650 milestone with ULM’s 31-28 win at Georgia State on Nov. 12, 2022. Bobby and Terry became the first father-son combo to serve as head coaches at the NCAA Division I level at the same time while Bobby and Tommy became the first father-son combo ever to coach against each other as head coaches. In a feat likely never to be duplicated, all three Bowden coaches went undefeated and were named National Coach of the Year in the same decade (1990s: Terry, Auburn, 1993; Tommy, Tulane, 1998; and Bobby, Florida State, 1999).
Bowden played collegiately at West Virginia, lettering two years as a running back (1977-78) and led the team with a 3.65 grade-point average in accounting 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. Bowden added a master’s degree in athletic leadership from Clemson in May 2021.
COACHING HISTORY
2021-present: ULM
Head Coach
2019-20: Clemson
Graduate Assistant/Offensive Analyst
2012-18: Akron
Head Coach
2009-11: North Alabama
Head Coach
1993-98: Auburn
Head Coach
1987-92: Samford
Head Coach
1986: Akron
Quarterbacks Coach
1983-85: Salem (W. Va.)
Head Coach
1982: Florida State
Graduate Assistant
