Terry Bowden: What Type of Players Will He Recruit?

[Dave in Green]

Since there are so many different things to discuss about Terry Bowden, I thought it might be a good idea to break them down into separate threads. This thread is intended to discuss the type of players Bowden might be recruiting at UA.

A good place to start is at his last stop, UNA. The local newspaper there recently had two separate articles that discussed the pros and cons of Bowden's accomplishments at UNA. The biggest pro is that Bowden maintained UNA's winning record.

One of the big cons focused on the type of players Bowden was recruiting there. Some people associated with UNA were a little disappointed that Bowden didn't build up the team by recruiting local HS players as UNA had done in the past when they won D-II championships, but that Bowden relied more on D-I transfers. Some of the transfers "had past legal issues or had been dismissed from their previous teams for team rules," according to one of the articles.

I don't believe that UA would approve of loading up a Zips team with troubled players. So if it's true that Bowden did that at UNA, he's going to have to recruit a little differently at UA.

I'd be interested in hearing what others think after reading the following articles:

Bowden leaves some work to do

Time for a change

Another item describes the high level of player that Bowden was able to attract to UNA, which sounds awfully tempting to those who want the Zips to improve quickly. But the player mentioned, Janoris Jenkins, was dismissed from the Florida Gators for "misconduct":

"Bowden is presently running the North Alabama Lions, a Division II operation that functions as a safety net for SEC players who can't quite stick around at the top level. Like Florida Gators star cornerback Janoris Jenkins, a likely first-round NFL Draft pick, for instance."

Terry Bowden To Akron Rumors Are A Thing We Must Now Confront

[ZachTheZip]

Bowden was able to load up on D-I transfers at UNA because they didn't have to sit out a year to play. He won't be able to get nearly as many transfers to come in at Akron simply because a lot of them won't want to sit out a year.

[GP1]

Good topic.

Solich has it right. He gets about 6-8 JUCO players on his team (not all starters). We don't need 30 transfers so this isn't really an either/or situation. We do need 6-8 good, mature players right now. Not all will start, but six should easily be able to start with the current talent level in the program. It doesn't take 22 good players to win in the MAC. It takes 6 or 7 and then some average players around them.

The rules in the SEC are different that in a conference like the Big Ten. The SEC is run almost like a professional league and the results on the field show. They are allowed to have an unlimited number of non-renewed scholarships, so a program like UNA can have a lot of those players fall into their lap because the player doesn't have to sit out a year. Less players fall out of the Big Ten because they have limits on the number of non-renewals. Bowden would be better off looking for JUCO players if he wants mature players. Let's not take too many, but let's not panic either if 6-8 show up next year...it will still be less than 10% of the scholarships.

It is going to be fun to watch this play out.

[Dr Z]

Solich has it right. He gets about 6-8 JUCO players on his team (not all starters). We don't need 30 transfers so this isn't really an either/or situation. We do need 6-8 good, mature players right now. Not all will start, but six should easily be able to start with the current talent level in the program. It doesn't take 22 good players to win in the MAC. It takes 6 or 7 and then some average players around them.

+1

Div II recruiting and Div I recruiting are apples and oranges. Glad TB has experience successfully doing the later. It will be fun to see what he can pull off this year.

[Lance1969]

By adding 6-8 JuCo players you mean next year (december 2012) because LOI Day for JuCo players was 2 weeks ago and most of them signed.

[ZachTheZip]

By adding 6-8 JuCo players you mean next year (december 2012) because LOI Day for JuCo players was 2 weeks ago and most of them signed.

Based on the recruiting patterns, Akron appears to be focusing on post-graduate players more than JUCOs. But Coach Bowden might change that philosophy. I am certain he's been in contact with Coach Okruch and the GAs to gather as much recruiting information as possible.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

With the depleted talent level that we're left with in the wake of Ianello (SO glad he's gone) I'd like to see Terry kick start the program with JUCO talent. Turn the program around as quickly as possible on the field and then the better high school kids will take notice.

[LZIp]

The only players I want are winners. Dont care how we get them. I trust TB will find them.

[johnnyzip84]

I think IF there's a chink in Terry Bowden's armor, it COULD BE in D-1 level recruiting. Much has been written about how he lead mostly Pat Dye recruits to that splendid 11-0 season at Auburn years ago. It's also no secret that Tiger fans felt the talent level on their team was dipping in the year or so leading up to his leaving "the Plains".

At Samford and at UNA he could rely considerably on D-1 transfers. A few Lion fans have chimed in on ZNO to voice their displeasure of his reliance on them while at UNA.

So Akron is the first FBS/D1-A stop of Terry's where he will need to build (sorry GP1) the program primarily on his recruits without the benefit of having D-1 transfers coming in to play right away. I'm not saying he can't be successful. You'd think his name, coupled with the excellent facilities, should account for something on the recruiting trail. I'm merely pointing out that this represents a different challenge for him.

I think if he gets the players to come here, he'll succeed greatly. Can he get enough players to come here?

[xu9697]

I think IF there's a chink in Terry Bowden's armor, it COULD BE in D-1 level recruiting. Much has been written about how he lead mostly Pat Dye recruits to that splendid 11-0 season at Auburn years ago. It's also no secret that Tiger fans felt the talent level on their team was dipping in the year or so leading up to his leaving "the Plains".

At Samford and at UNA he could rely considerably on D-1 transfers. A few Lion fans have chimed in on ZNO to voice their displeasure of his reliance on them while at UNA.

So Akron is the first FBS/D1-A stop of Terry's where he will need to build (sorry GP1) the program primarily on his recruits without the benefit of having D-1 transfers coming in to play right away. I'm not saying he can't be successful. You'd think his name, coupled with the excellent facilities, should account for something on the recruiting trail. I'm merely pointing out that this represents a different challenge for him.

I think if he gets the players to come here, he'll succeed greatly. Can he get enough players to come here?

The Bowden name, the facilities, and some young, aggresive assistants are key. I'm hopeful this staff will not be FULL of older, looking-to-retire type assistants/ assistants who have spent a great deal of time at the bigger programs and are now "settling in" at UA. Sure, he needs 1-2 trusted vets. But what we need to balance the staff is young up and comers on the staff.

[Dave in Green]

@johnnyzip84, I think you really nailed it with your observation that UA presents a completely new and different challenge for Bowden. He may very well be up for this kind of challenge. But there's really no direct comparison to the current UA situation in his history of success.

I think that we Zips football fans are just so darned tired of losing that we wanted the next coach to be a guaranteed winner. Unfortunately, none of them come with a guarantee. But I do like Bowden's chances. I think a lot will ride on who he's able to bring in as assistants, and how much magic his name will carry with recruits. Bowden is old enough and his family's D-I success so far back that he's likely to connect more with the fathers of recruits, and that might be good enough to influence enough of them to start primimg the pump.

The first season is going to be critical. We need to see signs of progress early to start building interest from the next recruiting class.

[g-mann17]

I think IF there's a chink in Terry Bowden's armor, it COULD BE in D-1 level recruiting. Much has been written about how he lead mostly Pat Dye recruits to that splendid 11-0 season at Auburn years ago. It's also no secret that Tiger fans felt the talent level on their team was dipping in the year or so leading up to his leaving "the Plains".

At Samford and at UNA he could rely considerably on D-1 transfers. A few Lion fans have chimed in on ZNO to voice their displeasure of his reliance on them while at UNA.

So Akron is the first FBS/D1-A stop of Terry's where he will need to build (sorry GP1) the program primarily on his recruits without the benefit of having D-1 transfers coming in to play right away. I'm not saying he can't be successful. You'd think his name, coupled with the excellent facilities, should account for something on the recruiting trail. I'm merely pointing out that this represents a different challenge for him.

I think if he gets the players to come here, he'll succeed greatly. Can he get enough players to come here?

Please understand the full story at Auburn.

Terry was there 5 and 1/2 seasons: 93,94,95,96,97, and 98. By 95 Terry was playing with mostly his guys. 95, 96, 97 were all bowl seasons going 8-4, 8-4, and 10-3 losing to Peyton Manning in the SEC championship game. Each of his 5 full seasons the team finished ranked, and he won 2 of the 3 bowls the team was allowed to play in. Additionally many of the players left when the sanctions came down, meaning he had to recruit and recruit well and play his guys even earlier (so probably 94 he was playing with mostly his recruits).

What happened to Terry is that he distanced the program from the boosters. Not accidentally. He did this on purpose. He came into a very corrupt program. The boosters there were not happy with their lack of access to the program. So these boosters wanted him out and bought several key players and created scandal that ruined his career. It had nothing to do with bad recruiting, or inability to recruit. But even outside of all the conspiracy theory stuff, just look at his records and you can see that he did just fine recruiting talent to his program.