College football’s recent transition to spread offenses was not difficult for Akron’s head football coach.
Zips coach Terry Bowden was at the forefront of using the system after primarily running the I-formation during his six-year stint at Auburn beginning in 1993.
The now 59-year-old Bowden left the program in 1998 and took an extended absence from coaching while fast-paced, no-huddle offenses slowly became the norm for teams across the country.
“The changes that happened in the 10 years I was gone had already started, so we were already doing it,” Bowden said in a Monday teleconference. “We were kind-of on the front end of the no-huddle before Leach and those guys. The game got a lot faster.”
The son of Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden, Terry was exposed to more than just spread offenses in his time at Auburn.
Bowden encountered the Florida Gators annually in the mid-1990s as a part of the team's SEC slate, and coaching the Gators' defense was a young coordinator on the brink of his head coaching break.
Before "Big Game Bob" was "Big Game Bob," OU coach Bob Stoops was at the helm of Florida's defense for three seasons. Following his arrival in Gainesville, Florida, the Auburn Tigers couldn't find a way to stop the Gators.
"We never beat them after (Stoops' arrival)," Bowden said. "Steve Spurrier never changed; he was always good. He got a lot better with Bob Stoops as his defensive coordinator. It was a thing that took Florida over the top."
As a defensive coordinator, Stoops helped Florida to the program's first national championship in 1996. The Gators beat Bobby Bowden's Florida State Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl, 52-20.
Four years later, Stoops beat Bowden again.
Stoops replaced John Blake as Oklahoma's head coach in 1999. In his second season in Norman, he led OU to its seventh national title with a win over Bowden's Seminoles to cap off an undefeated season.
Terry Bowden attended OU and Florida State's Orange Bowl game to decide the 2000 national champion, but not as a fan or coach.
Terry Bowden accepted a job with ABC as an analyst after leaving head coaching and the first national championship he covered was the same year his father's Florida State team lost to Bob Stoops and the Sooners.
Bowden eventually found his way back to coaching. He accepted a job at North Alabama before taking over Akron's program in 2012.
While he's no longer the head coach of a perennial SEC power, Bowden said he's having a ball.
"We’ve got a chance at Akron to go places this university has never gone," he said. "This really was a great opportunity. I have a lot of friends up here. I want to finish my career doing what I started."
Terry Bowden will face Stoops on Sept. 5 for the first time in almost two decades.
Bowden resigned from his position at Auburn the week following a 24-3 loss to Spurrier and Stoops' Florida Gators.
Their paths meet once more, however, and Oklahoma will look to kick off the Baker Mayfield era with a win over Terry Bowden's Zips.
