(12-23-2020 10:39 AM)Arrowhead Wrote:  At least I think this signals that our new President will take athletics seriously and out to bed rumors we are dropping football or going it the SLC after the first of the year.

One could view this as a last-ditch effort to avert just this very thing. That, if this doesn't work, then you have only one other option which you've mentioned.

IDK, I'm not in the ULM loop just an outsider's POV. I hope it works for you guys

(12-23-2020 01:59 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  

(12-23-2020 01:07 PM)pilot172000 Wrote:  Terry Bowden took Akron to 2 bowl games and won a Division title in his seven years at Akron. His record was 33-52 there and they did fire him after a 4-8 season. However if you told a majority of ULM fans that they would make two bowls and win a division within the next seven years they would sign up for it in a heartbeat. I get he is outside the common age demographic of most G5 coaches, but it may be the spark that ULM needs to raise the talent level and energize the base. Unconventional hires are sometimes a positive thing.

He has a good point.

Look at Skip Holtz. He's almost 57 years old. Did pretty well at ECU, then fell flat at USF, now he's back to winning at La Tech.

I could see Terry Bowden being the same way. The fact he won a division title with Akron and went to two bowl games is something special.

He also beat two P5's (Pittsburgh and Northwestern), smacked Marshall, beat Utah State in a bowl game, and gave #11 Michigan a huge scare in 2013... Akron was up on them 24-21 with only 3 minutes remaining before Michigan came back and won.

This could turn out great for ULM.

I mentioned this in a CUSA thread a minute ago about Skip. He has brought stability to a underfunded program and had a pretty good bowl streak going, but we won't compete with the higher end G5 schools for a NY6 bid anytime soon. ULM needs positive stability and TB could bring that. I don't fault ULM for going this route especially when they can only improve from here. A young coaching hire wouldn't make any noise until he had a breakout season and by the time the fans started getting into it he would be gone. I expect ULM to make a good run at many kids Tech has been depending on the last few years.

Congrats to the folks at ULM. Hope it works out well for you. It's time you guys caught a break.

(12-23-2020 02:57 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Congrats to the folks at ULM. Hope it works out well for you. It's time you guys caught a break.

Very, very fair comments. For us I think it was a home run. Thanks for the congrats guys. I actually have hope.

I hope it works out for the War Hawks, except when they play the Cajuns.

My first thoughts were, this is disappointing. I was hoping for some new blood-----youth, colour, the ability to relate to today's athlete.....

After some thought, maybe Bowden can relate to the current athlete. His name will recruit on its own, donors may be willing to get on board, tickets sales should increase.

If he's using this as his last stepping stone, who cares. If he is able to use ULM as a last shot at the Big Time and he leaves for a bigger school, it will mean that he will have been successful in bringing some glory back to Malone and hopefully getting us back to where we belong......perhaps with a steady ship, a new youthful coach can take over at that point and keep the ship steady.

Too many years of disappointments, so let's hope this works.

I have Army in 2022 circled on the calendar as that's as close as the Warhawks have ever been to me, although I did get down to the Memphis game in Monroe last year.

Here's to hoping, again........

(12-24-2020 08:37 AM)Spiritof93 Wrote:  My first thoughts were, this is disappointing. I was hoping for some new blood-----youth, colour, the ability to relate to today's athlete.....

After some thought, maybe Bowden can relate to the current athlete. His name will recruit on its own, donors may be willing to get on board, tickets sales should increase.

If he's using this as his last stepping stone, who cares. If he is able to use ULM as a last shot at the Big Time and he leaves for a bigger school, it will mean that he will have been successful in bringing some glory back to Malone and hopefully getting us back to where we belong......perhaps with a steady ship, a new youthful coach can take over at that point and keep the ship steady.

Too many years of disappointments, so let's hope this works.

I have Army in 2022 circled on the calendar as that's as close as the Warhawks have ever been to me, although I did get down to the Memphis game in Monroe last year.

Here's to hoping, again........

Several people have questioned his age and motive. I think that if he is willing to be an unpaid grad-assistant at Clemson, then his fire is still there. Also its not like he has been away from the game, he was directly involved with the student athletes on a daily basis there. He must be able to relate to them or he still wouldn't be around. Coach Bowden is going to have the ability to go into recruits houses and wow both the kids and their parents with one the most colorful resumes a ULM coach has ever had. I guarantee you ULM's recruiting is going to improve right off the bat and the culture around the program will get better and better. This was the right hire and I am excited for the ULM faithful who haven't had much to cheer for over the last few years.

Thanks pilot. I ageee with you 100%. Are you sure you really are a Tech fan? ?

I could see him be HC for a year, then taking over as HC and AD for a couple years, after year 3 being AD and hiring a new HC. I think AD is his goal. He should really help with fundraising and that is what you guys need most. May not see results on the field the first couple years, but at least you will be on the field. Then year 3, after some things have been built, results begin to show. Hiring a young coach for year 4 with some new facilities and money in the program is a real possibility.

That’s how I see this playing out for ULM.

The more I think about it the more this hire makes sense and in like it for ULM

I think Bowden will be good for ULM...congrats warhawks.

(12-24-2020 10:35 AM)JSinLR Wrote:  I think Bowden will be good for ULM...congrats warhawks.

Thought I would share this an Akron fan shared on our board:

Greetings, Warhawks fans. One of my family members was a player under Bowden at Akron.

Akron was a complete disaster when Bowden arrived. Ranked worst in the nation. Year one, came too late for any recruiting but he was able to start bring in graduate transfers and by year two, although the wins were still sparse but the losses were closer and a signature upset at the end of the season let fans know things were changing.

Under Bowden, the Zips made and won their first bowl appearance, had their best record as a 1A team, won a division title, and won their rivalry game (Wagon Wheel) every year he coached, after the first season.

A number of Zips players under Bowden went on to NFL stints, including Jatavis Brown (retured, Chargers), Justin March (Dallas Cowboys), Ulysses Gilbert III (Steelers), Jojo Natson, and (Clevleand.)

Bowden was very effective at bringing in graduate transfers and other transfers. He also brought in other transfer students who had issues at their former programs with little to known problems while at Akron.

You will find his press conferences to be more interesting than many coaches as he gives a lot more detail than most coaches and treats the media very well.

Overall, Bowden was liked at Akron. Like any program, a coach will have a few who don't care for them and think they are a terrible hire, and disgruntled parents who think their kid should play more, but he was well liked by players, families, and coaches.

Bowden had a good relationship with both the academics and the marching band while at Akron and helped to raise money for the band to travel to the bowl game in Boise.

You will find Bowden to be of high character and treat the players respectfully. He doesn't scream and yell at the kids and tries to build a culture of care and respect.

I wish him and you all the best with your program rebuild.

(12-23-2020 10:47 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I'd hardly expect him to do much better record-wise at ULM than at Akron. This reeks of the kind of hire wealthy boosters who think they're the smartest people in the room would make.

Not trying to troll, JMHO. Obviously the opinions of ULM fans are the only ones that really matter.

Two years before Bowden, Akron went 2-22, he went 6-18 his first two years, his last two seasons went 11-15, two years after 1-17.

In 2015 he went 8-5 the most wins since joining FBS in 1987. 2017 won their division for the first time since 2005 and third time ever. First outright division title. Took them to two of their three bowl games and got their only bowl win.

He’s not a miracle worker but he certainly produced better results than the norm at Akron.

I don’t know what the internal situation is at ULM but from outside they look like a turtle on its back.

It’s no secret money is an issue. Two lucrative games were cancelled this year and COVID is causing economic havoc between lost revenue and testing costs everywhere, not just in Monroe.

With money tight and no coach posting a winning career in I-A/FBS top prospects aren’t knocking on the door. Why hire a young guy who looks like a meh hire when you can hire a guy who has had experience at under-funded programs and has a contact list no other candidate would have that can help him find hidden gems for assistant positions. AState is hiring his OC at Akron who he had brought in initially as a position coach from juco and became a quality control guy at Alabama

He can get guys to come to the staff others likely could not.

Hiring is always a crapshoot because success at School A doesn’t guarantee success at B.

Bowden is the safest hire the Warhawks could make and I think they need safe to get past this crunch and have a guy who can instill faith and pride in the program.

(12-28-2020 12:30 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  I don’t know what the internal situation is at ULM but from outside they look like a turtle on its back.

It’s no secret money is an issue. Two lucrative games were cancelled this year and COVID is causing economic havoc between lost revenue and testing costs everywhere, not just in Monroe.

With money tight and no coach posting a winning career in I-A/FBS top prospects aren’t knocking on the door. Why hire a young guy who looks like a meh hire when you can hire a guy who has had experience at under-funded programs and has a contact list no other candidate would have that can help him find hidden gems for assistant positions. AState is hiring his OC at Akron who he had brought in initially as a position coach from juco and became a quality control guy at Alabama

He can get guys to come to the staff others likely could not.

Hiring is always a crapshoot because success at School A doesn’t guarantee success at B.

Bowden is the safest hire the Warhawks could make and I think they need safe to get past this crunch and have a guy who can instill faith and pride in the program.

You hit the nail on the head. I don’t care how promising a young up and comer we could have hired, it wouldn’t have been a splash hire to the fan base that is left or community like Bowden and to be honest, in my opinion, we don’t have time for a young guy to prove himself. Bowden has already said he is going to go exactly what you said and bring in young analysts and GA’s that are at Clemson for coaching positions that in his words, are future stars that we couldn’t afford in 5 years. He also will be able to fundraise right now like no other and should be able to pull really good transfers and JUCOS. He isn’t probably the best fit at another SBC program that can afford to take chances, but I think he is the perfect hire for ULM.

I never cared for the Bowden’s when they were coaches, didn’t like FSU, and not an Auburn fan. But I will say this, I have had the opportunity to meet both Bobby and Terry, at different times,never met Tommy, but those two dudes were probably the best coaches I have ever meet. After spending a few minutes with each of them, I saw why guys go play for them, they just have something about them that draws you to them. Even in a room full of people, they both made you feel like you were the most important person while talking to you.

I think this hire can be an amazing boost to the ULM program, if nothing else, eyes will be on that program to see how it goes.

I fully expect ULM to start pulling in some P5 transfers. That's one reason Akron was able to be competitive under Bowden.

I still remember when Troy played Akron in 2017, and Akron had a RB transfer from Ohio State named Warren Ball. That dude was a beast until he got injured.

I'm hoping it works out. I never want to see our institutions fail.

But having said that, I believe this is ULM's last chance. Their new president must get behind athletics and help to raise money along with the AD. Bowden might be able to help with that as well. I have friends in N LA who believed the program wouldn't survive, but they are still standing.

But this is it. And, it's a lot more about $$$ than who you hire as a football coach.

Has he hired any staff yet?

(12-28-2020 10:49 AM)stAteNation Wrote:  Has he hired any staff yet?

He has not yet. A lot of his staff most likely will come from Clemson and he is still coaching at Clemson till after the playoffs. Bird of Paradise I also agree with you that this is our last good chance and the money commitment to the program will make kr break the hire. I do think Bowden will have a lot of pull with the new President and can get things done. His intro presser is on YouTube if anyone wants to watch. It is very impressive. The guy is the energizer bunny. Bobby will be at a lot of games as long as he is in good health. That will be cool too.