Terry Bowden works his magic in Akron

[Cuyahoga Falls Eers]

Bobby Bowden's son has the Akron Zips bowl eligible for the first time in 10 years!

It's only 6-5, but it is Akron.

Terry's predecessor, Rob Ianello, was 2-22!

J.D. Brookhart, who got Akron to its last bowl, a loss to Memphis in 2005, was 30-42.

Before Brookhart, Lee Owens was 40-61.

Former Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust was 1-10 in his final season as Zips coach and had only 2 winning seasons in nine years.

Terry Bowden went from 1-11 to 5-7 to 5-7 to today's 6-5. A miracle worker in a 30,000-seat stadium that averages about one-third capacity.

 

[Low Mountains Drifter]

Magic? Maybe on the level of pulling a quarter out of a three year old's ear.

Now, if Beatty at Kansas has them in a bowl in a bowl, any bowl, by year 4, I'll be impressed. Kansas, however has to play Big 12 schools not other MAC schools that also struggle to draw in small stadiums.

Bowden's team beat 4-6 ULL, 1-9 Savannah St., 1-10 EMU, 2-9 UMass, 3-9 Miami, and, drum roll, please, 5-6 Buffalo.

 

[Cuyahoga Falls Eers]

Magic? Maybe on the level of pulling a quarter out of a three year old's ear.

Now, if Beatty at Kansas has them in a bowl in a bowl, any bowl, by year 4, I'll be impressed. Kansas, however has to play Big 12 schools not other MAC schools that also struggle to draw in small stadiums.

Bowden's team beat 4-6 ULL, 1-9 Savannah St., 1-10 EMU, 2-9 UMass, 3-9 Miami, and, drum roll, please, 5-6 Buffalo.

You conveniently overlook the obvious: First time in 10 years, against the SAME competition, that Akron qualifies for a bowl. That IS a miracle worker.

If Dana inherited a team that went 2-22 and WVU had a 6-5 season you would be doing joyous somersaults over it. Give Terry credit. That's a tremendous turnaround. The Bowden touch still works.

 

[Low Mountains Drifter]

If he did that the first year or won the championship by the 4th you might argue that is a "miracle worker" (if you set a very low threshold for miracles), but taking 4 years to post a winning record in the MAC (assuming they beat KSU) is more along the lines of, "OK maybe we don't need to get another coach," than "we have a great coach."

 

[older gold]

Terry has done a great job with that program.

 

[fprio]

Great Job Terry.

 

[WESTBGVA]

Terry has done a great job with that program.

yes he has...Saban coaches exactly the same way he did @ Mich St when his first four years were 6-5-1, 6-6-, 7-5, and 6-6 with three straight bowl losses..he didn't get any smarter when he aged..he was just blessed with getting jobs where he could land some of the best talent in the country..

 

[1156jack]

Akron is a graveyard for college coaches. having a winning season there qualifies for a miracle...

 

[Phil1972]

Good for him, but that's all I need to hear about Terry Bowden.

 

[VaultHunter]

Bowden deserve the praise for sure. If you looked up dumpster fire in the football dictionary there would be a picture of Akron's stadium. Anyone trying to discredit the job Bowden has done at Akron knows absolutely nothing about college football.

 

[KeatonsCorner]

not sure why this is posted on a WVU forum............ of course, that goes for about 90% of what the OP "reports"

 

[GoWVU]

I'm just as happy for Bowden as I am for Frank Solich, who also has found a nice second act to his career in the MAC.

However, if Terry was at all responsible for getting rid of Akron's outstanding kangaroo helmets then he needs to be kicked to the curb.

 

[43rd Parallel]

A long time ago, when I covered sports for the Morgantown newspapers, I watched Terry play running back at Morgantown High and West Virginia. He was as tough as they come. I knew his sister, Robyn, pretty well -- she was a cheerleader at both MHS and WVU -- and one of my brothers and Terry were buddies.

Terry was a likable guy, and quite intelligent. All of the Bowden kids were bright, but Terry just might have been the smartest of the bunch.

In fact, when it comes to smarts, Terry was on par with Bob Huggins, who was two or three years ahead of him. (Coach Huggins and Tommy Bowden were contemporaries at WVU.)

 

[Low Mountains Drifter]

Akron has a very nice, nearly new, football stadium. It opened in 2009 and seats 30,000. Now, they can't come close to filling it but the structure itself is excellent for that level. (I'd say it's much nicer than Marshall's stadium although a bit smaller.)

 

[GoWVU]

not sure why this is posted on a WVU forum............ of course, that goes for about 90% of what the OP "reports"

Some fans find it interesting to hear occasional updates on guys who gave their all and represented us at WVU...whether that's Terry Bowden or Chris Gray perishing on 9/11 or Grant Wiley's acting career or Da'Sean Butler playing in Europe or how Clint Trickett's coaching career is going down south.

Besides...even IF 90% of what Cuyahoga posts has nothing more than "where are they now" value then he has you beat by a mile, because at least he's not a condescending jerk in 100% of his posts.

Hurry up and prove me right.