ULM names Terry Bowden its next head football coach

MONROE, La.- Terry Bowden, who has compiled a career record of 175-114-2 (.605) in 25 seasons as a collegiate head coach, has been named head football coach at ULM, according to an announcement made Wednesday, Dec. 23 by Athletics Director Scott McDonald.

Details of the contract are still being finalized, and Bowden’s hiring is pending approval by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System.

Bowden has spent the last two seasons as an offensive analyst on Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. The Tigers have reached the College Football Playoff in each season, including a 10-1 record and ACC Championship in 2020. The Tigers rank fourth in FBS in scoring offense (44.9 points per game) and 11th in total offense (507.6 yards per game). Clemson claimed the ACC crown and reached the College Football Playoff Championship in 2019 while ranking fourth in FBS in scoring offense (43.9 ppg.) and fifth in total offense (528.7 ypg.).

“We’re extremely excited to welcome Terry Bowden to our Warhawk family as head football coach,” McDonald said. “He brings a winning pedigree to our program. He has won at all levels of college football, beginning as the youngest head coach in the country in his first job at Salem College and continued that through his tenure at Samford and Auburn, where he consistently competed for SEC Championships. He followed with success at North Alabama and at Akron, where he led the Zips to their first bowl victory in school history.”

Bowden helped revitalize an Akron program that was 2-22 over the two seasons prior to his arrival. In 2015, Bowden led the Zips to an 8-5 record and a second-place finish in the MAC East as the program recorded its first winning season and bowl appearance since 2005. The Zips knocked off Utah State 23-21 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to claim the program’s first bowl victory as an FBS member, dating back to 1987. The eight wins were the most for Akron since joining the FBS.