With all the current shenanigans going on at Auburn University these days it reminds me of a previous coaching administration and a blast from the past! 

If there was ever a first family of college football the Bowden Clan could stake a very strong argument for the title.  Bobby Bowden, head coach of FSU and currently the winningest coach in college football, had 6 children of which four were boys.  Out of those four boys three of them ended up coaching college football.  Actually when you consider the exploits of the Bowden boys all four would make for the subject of an interesting book.  Whether it be Jeff Bowden and his tumultous reign as offensive coordinator at Florida State and his ensuing exile, Tommy Bowden and all the Jeckle and Hyde teams he has produced in his tenure at Clemson, Steve Bowden who wrote a best-selling book about his father and later swindled him for 1.6 million in a fraudulent securities scam and of course the bowden boy we will focus on here: coaching pariah and current TV/Radio analyst Terry Bowden.
 
For those who don’t remember Terry Bowden’s career, Terry began his career coaching at tiny Salem College in West Virginia where he coached current FSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher (who later followed Terry to Samford).  After leaving Salem to coach Samford, Terry coached the Bulldogs for 6 years accruing at 45-23-1 record and earned enough recognition to finally land a high level college coaching gig at the University of Auburn.  At the time Auburn University was in a state of panic as claims of illegal benefits being paid to players had reached the press.  The King of Auburn football, Bobby Lowder, finally decided it was time for Coach Pat Dye to resign before the Eric Ramsey allegations exposed further wrongdoing.  What better way to right the ship and steer press coverage away from scandal than to hire the “innovative” and “up and coming” son of Legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden?
 
THE KING
 
While it is not known who first recommended Terry for the job, his hiring couldn’t have happened with Lowder’s consent because NO ONE does anything at Auburn without the approval of the dictatorial power broker and Auburn Trustee, Bobby Lowder.  Lowder is one of the few remaining old school figures that once ruled college football.  A remnant of the day when deals and decisions were made behind closed doors where cigar smoke and the laughter of grey haired gentlemen filled athletic department board rooms.  Lowder is a man who has used his financial empire (banking) to literally buy control of Auburn University and cast it in his own image.  His political allegiences and ties have made him a dangerous figure to anger while virtually untouchable to reformists and opponents alike.
Lowder recently reached his pinnacle in the national spotlight when he arranged for Auburn officials to meet with Bobby Petrino for secret talks regarding the Tigers coaching position.  Had all gone to plan current coach Tommy Tuberville would have been replaced at the end of the season by then Louisville head coach Petrino.  Unfortunately for Lowder the cloak and dagger behavior so effective in the cold war era is much less effective in the era of the internet.  The cover was blown on the attempted coaching coup and the public outcry regarding the manner with which it was undertaken eventually cost the jobs of both the school’s president and athletic director.  To further stem the bloodletting Mr. Lowder decided to donate $4.2 million to the school to reaffirm his long-term influence over the University.
 
What Terry Bowden walked into at Auburn was no less than an figurative ambush.  Terry wasn’t used to having to conform to the rules of others.  Being raised under the umbrella of his father he was used to a head coach who called all the shots and had virtually unlimited power.  Instead he found himself working under the Jerry Jones of college football in an established football culture that may have fired it’s previous coach for Public Relations purposes but had no real intention of changing how it did business.  Shortly after arriving at Auburn Terry Bowden (according to later taped interviews) stated that AU boosters were funnelling large amounts of cash to recruits.  Bowden also alleged that the “pay for play” system was orchestrated by Lowder and his Trustee cronies and carried out by assistant coach Wayne Hall.
 
Wayne Hall was indeed a trustworthy subordinate in the Lowder army.  Not only did Hall handle the logistics of the team’s illegal benefits but he also arranged for Lowder’s daughter Catherine to be hired at Samford (under Terry Bowden) with Papa Lowder paying her salary with a school “contribution” (apparently unbeknownst to Catherine).  Tommy Bowden, an assistant under head coach Pat Dye, told his brother Terry that Hall was the main mover and shaker on the staff if anything needed getting done.  When Athletic Director Mike Lude told Terry he couldn’t retain Hall it only took a quick call from Mr. Lowder to reverse that position.  In Lowder’s kingdom on the Plains if you wouldn’t do what Lowder wanted you could always be replaced with someone who would.  Catherine Lowder followed Terry to Auburn, something that would become important for other reasons later on.
 
THE KINGDOM
 
In Terry’s first year at Auburn (1993) the team went undefeated (11-0) and finished first in the SEC West.  Unfortunately for Terry, Auburn’s NCAA sanctions meant the team was ineligible for postseason play which also meant they were unable to play in the SEC Championship Game since the winner would represent the Conference in the Sugar Bowl (Florida defeated Alabama in the SECCG for the title).  In fact Terry Bowden would not taste defeat in his first two seasons at Auburn until the last game of his second year, a hard fought loss to bitter arch-rival Alabama.  According to Terry, during these years he told Wayne Hall to continue paying players already “contracted” (no doubt to ensure their silence) but to halt the practice of paying for recruits.
 
Following this early success came two 8-4 seasons where Auburn split two close games with Alabama but were swept by LSU and Florida.  Bowden also went 1 and 1 in bowl games which included a 14-43 drubbing by Penn State in 1995 and a 32-29 win over Army in 1996.  Over the years a noticeable drop in the teams overall talent was becoming apparent.  Auburn’s ability to rush the football declined each season from 221 yards per game in 1993 to 73 yards per game in 1997.  Faced with this ineffective rushing attack, Bowden managed to compensate by riding the arm of quarterback Dameyune Craig to an SEC West title and 10-3 overall record in 1997.  A season which included a victory over Alabama and a win over Clemson in the Peach Bowl.
 
But the seeds of Bowdens destruction had already been planted.  By 1996 assistant coaches, including Jimbo Fisher and Rick Tricket (both current coaches for Terry’s father Bobby), let Terry know that Wayne Hall was spending a great deal of time on the phone with Lowder.  Terry decided to let Hall go.  Later he relieved Rodney Gardner, another coach who had strong ties to Trustees, from coaching duties.  Bowden said he was worried both coaches were reverting back to the old Auburn tradition of paying players under the influence of Lowder and others.  One of the main influences identified in this was Jimmy Rane, familiar to many football fans from his Great Southern Wood commercials, a longtime Auburn booster and Trustee.  Terry once called Rane a jock sniffer who, closely allied with Lowder, wanted to be involved in all aspects of the program and even accused Jimmy’s son Danny Rane (a walk-on) of giving practice tapes to Mississippi State. 
 
THE SIEGE
 
It was during this period (95-97) where Gardner and Hall were forced out of the program that Auburn hired new Athletic Director David Housel.  Housel, later one of the main culprits implicated in the Petrino-Tubberville affair, was considered nothing more than an extention of Bobby Lowder.  There are rumors that Tommy Tubberville was offered the job in 1997 if Auburn had lost to Alabama.  Not only did a last second winning field goal against the Tide send the Tigers to the SEC Championship Game but it probably delayed the arrival of Tommy Tuberville to Auburn for a year.  Things had quickly fallen apart inside the Tiger program where internal politics and outside influences had emasculated the coach.  Numerous individual factors began to snowball into an avalanche which would permanently bury Coach Terry Bowden the following year.
 
The 1998 season started out in a most auspicious fashion.  Bowden’s relations with the Trustees, namely Bobby Lowder the self-appointed King of Auburn, had gone sour during the past 4 seasons.  Secret talks had likely begun with at least one other coach for the position currently occupied by Terry Bowden.  All-American linebacker Takeo Spikes had decided to bolt to the NFL despite all indications that he would remain in school.  Starting safety Martavius Houston was booted from the team for an undisclosed violation of team rules.  Two other players were accused of taking part in a theft at an Auburn residence.  Star playmaker Robert Baker, expected back to the team from a one year suspension, was arrested and charged with cocaine trafficing.  Injuries cost the Tigers FIVE centers, their starting fullback, backup tailback and forced Auburn to start a freshman quarterback for the second half of the season.
 
Given those dynamics it’s no surprise that the 1998 season quickly became a disaster.  Facing a difficult schedule Auburn started the season with only one win in its first six games.  Lowder leaked to the press that the Trustees had lost confidence in the coach while athletic department officials relayed to Bowden that he was done as coach no matter how the rest of the season played out.  Defensive Coordinator Bill Oliver, reportedly promised the head coaching job after Bowden, took to taping meetings presumably to try and catch Bowden lying to the team which clould later be used as a premise for firing him.  Bowden admits he told the team that he had talked to Lowder (something that did not occur) and was assured the stories in the press were untrue although he states he only lied to try and salvage the team’s slipping morale. 
 
THE AFTERMATH
 
Knowing his days were numbered and many of his coaches were already conspiring behind his back Bowden decided to resign.  Bowden and his attorney went to Athletic Director David Housel and worked out a settlement agreement.  In the settlement Bowden received a $620,000 payment, a lakeside home valued at $825,000 and two cars.  But as part of the agreement Terry signed a confidentiality agreement that forbids him from making “negative or derogatory” comments “toward Auburn, the Auburn Athletic department or its employees, or the AUBURN BOARD OF TRUSTEES”.  Bill Oliver was named the interim coach, although despite what he was told there was no intention of naming him the next head coach.  All of this was done without Auburn President William Muse having any knowledge of the situation.  Oliver would later to be jettisoned in favor of Tommy Tuberville, former coach at Mississippi and ironically coach of the one team Terry managed to beat in his last season.
 
Olliver eventually removed himself from consideration for the head coaching position after being told he would not be the next head coach of the Tigers.  Bill Oliiver later sued Lowder, David Housel and the University stating that he only accepted the “interim position” because he was guaranteed he would be named the permanent head coach.  The suit basically accused Lowder and Housel of fraud made even more despicable as it turns out Tuberville was first approached in 1997 (similar to claims made by Terry Bowden) long before Bill Olliver was told he would be the next head coach.  Auburn University settled the lawsuit with a payment of $210,000 to Coach Olliver.  Other coaches that Lowder has arranged settlement agreements with include Wayne Hall (to reward his loyalty or ensure his silence?) and Tubberville (the buyout from the Mississippi coaching contract that Tommy broke to come to Auburn).
 
Five years later Tuberville would find himself on the wrong side of Lowder’s favor sparking a series of events culminating in the Petrino incident which would somewhat curtail Lowders absolute power at Auburn.  However anyone who honestly believes Bobby Lowder has been dethroned as monarch of Auburn University is either woefully naive or sadly ignorant.  In fact since the Terry Bowden era, Auburn University has even been put on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools due to an investigation into the management of the university (namely the role of the Board of Trustees) and has been involved in a series of lawsuits against the board regarding its violation of the state’s sunshine laws and other issues since 2000.  2000 being the year Alabama voters changed the state constitution with regard to how Auburn Trustees are elected.  Still Lowder and his clan have yet to capitulate to public pressure and in 2008 Bobby Lowder is still the most important voice on campus.
 
When Terry Bowden was fired many trustees were not even notified.  It wasn’t necessary considering Lowder’s de-facto majority control of the board.  When the board was expanded by two seats and a selection committee set up which included two alumni, Lowder and his allies attempt to take control of the Auburn Alumni Association by electing their own slate of directors by proxy (later a circuit court judge threw out the votes and ordered a new election).  Before being ousted David Housel even threatened local Auburn clubs with losing athletic department participation if they continued to criticize the Auburn Board of Trustees.  Once when a political opponent was elected governer and refused to rename Mr. Lowder to the board he summoned his political might to block any other appointment and sued to remain in his position because “a replacement could not be confirmed by the state senate”.
 
RETROSPECTIVE

Most people would concede that the talent level did indeed lapse from the Pat Dye era during Terry Bowden’s time at Auburn.  On the other hand the quality of coaching increased.  It is hard to imagine that Pat Dye could beat Steve Spurrier in two consecutive years with a less talented team.  Could the decline of talent be related to Bowden’s unwillingness to pay recruits or could it have been affected by the internal power struggle within the program.  Bowden’s recruiting class rankings started very well but decreased every year of his tenure to the point where his final team lacked anything near the athleticism of the squad he inherited his first year.  Rumors later erupted that Terry Bowden was fired because of a tryst between he and Catherine Lowder.  While this cannot be ruled out as a factor, it was commonly declared at the time that Catherine was much closer to Shyrl Bowden (Terry’s wife) than Terry.  It would benefit Bobby Lowder if such a rumor was believed even at the expense of his daughter’s reputation.  Firing Terry because he had low morals seems much more acceptable than to say he tried to keep the Trustees from exerting their control over the football program and was wary of giving illegal benefits to recruits and players.
 
I can’t help but wonder that if the Petrino deal hadn’t been discovered when it was Catherine Lowder would have been later implicated in a “relationship” with Tommy Tuberville too.  Perhaps another “personal indescretion” would have been leaked about Tommy to the public.  How dare these coaches expect to control their own football programs against the wishes of powerful boosters!!!  It goes against all that is established tradition at the University of Auburn.  Or perhaps we should more accurately refer to it as the University of Lowder at Auburn Alabama.  The Terry Bowden saga is a cautionary tale about all that is wrong with the traditional college football.  The saddest part is that even though the school’s alumni are aware of the situation they seem powerless to stop it when faced with the enormous resources of Mr. Lowder.  If anyone wonders why Auburn is considered a second tier academic institution it need look no further than the Board of Trustees.  It all starts at the top.