Tommy Pearce Bowden (; born July 10, 1954) is an American former

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He served as the head coach at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, against whom he coached in games nicknamed the "Bowden Bowl." He is also a brother of Terry Bowden, who served as the head coach of Auburn.

Coaching career

Before coming to Clemson, Bowden was the head coach at

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

, and an assistant at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, East Carolina University and, with his father, at Florida State. His 1998 Tulane squad went 12–0 and achieved a top-10 final ranking in both polls. Despite being one of only two undefeated teams in the regular season, Tulane was not even considered for a bid in a

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a college football post-season selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of America ...

game because it was believed they had not played a difficult schedule. Tommy Bowden-Clemson 2006

Bowden was hired as Clemson's head coach before the 1999 season. Bowden's Clemson teams went to a bowl game every year he coached there, except in 2004, when, after a brawl with rival

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, both teams withdrew from bowl consideration for that season. He resigned on October 13, 2008, after leading the team to a disappointing 3–3 record (1–2 ACC) at the midpoint of a season in which the Tigers had been an almost unanimous preseason pick to win their first ACC title under Bowden and were ranked #9 in the preseason polls. Assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Dabo Swinney was named as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. In ten seasons, Bowden led the Tigers to zero conference championships, finishing only as high as second in the conference twice and second in the Atlantic division three times.

Personal

Bowden attended and played football for West Virginia University from 1972 through 1976. He is married to Linda White and has two children, Ryan and Lauren. He is a son of former Florida State Seminoles head coach, the late Bobby Bowden and has two sisters and three brothers, including Terry, former head coach at Auburn University , and Jeff, who served as an assistant coach on his brother Terry's staff. Bowden is an evangelical Christian.

Head coaching record

*Self-imposed punishment for team fight with South Carolina
^‡ Bowden resigned on October 13, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Tommy 1954 births Living people Auburn Tigers football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Duke Blue Devils football coaches East Carolina Pirates football coaches Florida State Seminoles football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Tulane Green Wave football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football players Morgantown High School alumni Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama Sportspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia Coaches of American football from West Virginia Players of American football from West Virginia