Terry Bowden

Terry Bowden, son of legendary college football coach Bobby Bowden, coached in the SEC for six seasons with the Auburn Tigers from 1993-1998. Bowden took over the program at the start of a two-year postseason ban it incurred under former head coach Pat Dye, but still won at least eight games and reached the final Associated Press rankings in each of his first five seasons.

Auburn finished a perfect 11-0 in Bowden’s first season in 1993 but could not compete for a national championship due to the postseason ban. Nevertheless, Bowden received SEC Coach of the Year honors, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year honors and the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award following the undefeated ’93 season. The team ended the year ranked No. 4 in the final AP poll.

In 1994 Bowden led the Tigers through another stellar season, finishing 9-1-1 and ranked in the top-10 in the polls. Unfortunately, the postseason ban once again kept Auburn from playing in a bowl game. From 1995-1997 Bowden’s Tigers were 26-11 and 2-1 in bowl games. His 1997 squad won the SEC West crown before losing to Peyton Manning’s Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC championship game.

Things soured between Bowden and Auburn’s administration prior to the 1998 season, and after starting the season 1-5 Bowden resigned as head coach of the Tigers with an overall record of 47-17-1 (30-14-1 in SEC play).