re: Why dosen't anyone want Terry Bowden?

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Was he supposedly messing aroung with (main AU money booster) Bobby Lowder's daughter?

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That was a rumor that went around. The same rumor said that Lowder's daughter was Bowden's secretary. I really doubt either part of that rumor. I especially doubt that Lowder (not only a main big money booster but president of the AU board of trustees and head of the Colonial Bank Group) would allow his daughter to be a football secretary. I would think she would be a VP in one of the family companies.

I feel like I'm airing dirty laundy, but this is what I understand happened.

Bowden recruited poorly, that is a known fact. He brought in kids that his dad couldn't get to FSU and most had attitude and discipline problems. He also recruited almost exclusively towards stretching the field with a passing attack - there wasn't a single SEC caliber running back at AU when Tuberville took over.

Bowden thought that as football coach, he should have the sayso over a lot of issues that were actually controlled by the athletics department. He wanted to change the football uniform supplier to Nike, even though Russell (based in Alex City, AL) had contracts to suppy unis to all athletic teams. He also wanted to replace certain trainers, managers, etc. that had been hired by (and were technically employees of) the athletic department. I think the fact that he pretty much demanded the AD fire them left a bad feeling between the admins and Bowden.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the fact that in the middle of the 1998 season, Bowden asked for an assurance that he would be back as coach in 1999. Auburn does not discuss contracts during the season - they always wait until the season is over and review everything before offering an extension, keeping things the same or dismissing the coach. I can't say for certain that Bowden would have been asked back in 1999, but the admins were not going to discuss it in the middle of the season. Bowden didn't like it, he wanted to be told yes or no right then and there. When AU refused to talk about it with him, he resigned.