Memphis Roar

Terry Bowden always knew he wanted to be a football coach and never had any doubts about it.  He was a good football and baseball player up through high school, but knew he was too small to ever fulfill his dream of being a collegiate All-American.  So he changed his goal to be an Academic All-American.  “I was always a better student than football player,” Coach Bowden joked.

After lettering two years at running back for West Virginia University and graduating magna cum laude with a degree in finance, Bowden went on to study at Oxford and earn a law degree from Florida State University.  “I wanted to be a head football coach, so I wanted a degree that was a little more, so I said I’ll get a law degree.  All the education, the finance degree, the masters, and the law degree were all to be a football coach.  Over the years as a coach, it has always served as a good example to the players.”

At the age of 26, Bowden became the youngest head coach in the nation when he took the reigns at Salem College in West Virginia.  He would move on to Samford University just three seasons later after compiling a record of 19-13 with two 8-3 seasons at Salem.  Coach Bowden spent six seasons at Samford, going 47-17-1 while also overseeing the team’s promotion from Division III to Division I-AA.  He also guided the team to the Division I-AA semifinals in 1991.

In 1993, Coach Bowden replaced the legendary Pat Dye at Auburn University.  He proceeded to become the first Division I-A coach to go undefeated and untied in his first season.  He won the Walter Camp, Scripps National, Football News, Toyota, and the prestigious Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Awards that same season.  Bowden followed up that season by going a combined 35-12-1 over the next four years.  But then Auburn started 1-5 in 1998, partially because of injuries and some off the field incidents that resulted in player suspensions.  He resigned his position the day before the seventh game of the season after winning an incredible 73% of his games in the Southeastern Conference.

Burned out on coaching, Bowden turned down several head coaching jobs and accepted a broadcasting job with ABC Sports.  He spent the next ten seasons as a broadcaster, writer for Yahoo Sports, a radio show host, and a motivational speaker.  “At fifty, I realized I was born to coach.  I’ve put this off long enough.  That’s when I decided to go back into coaching and really began to get that fire back.”

University of North Alabama

Bowden now finds himself at the University of North Alabama, a Division II powerhouse.  He inherited a 12-2 team that lost an incredible 21 seniors, most of which were starters.  He also inherited some high expectations, with UNA making the Division II playoffs four times in the last six seasons.  “North Alabama is the toughest job I’ve ever taken because you have to win 10 just to get in the hunt for a good season.  There’s no such thing as 8 or 7 or 5.”

The most important task for Coach Bowden coming in was to replace some of the exiting 21 players.  “Whatever you do, you look at your schedule.  Make sure you don’t have less talent than the people you’re playing.  I’ve got to out recruit the people I got to play.”

He signed 22 freshmen, 21 of which were from the state of Alabama.  Then he worked his connections with coaches at other universities and brought in 15 transfers from schools including Ole Miss, Florida State University, West Virginia University, and the University of Texas.  With this infusion of talent, the Lions started a perfect 10-0 and rose to a number one national ranking before falling to West Alabama in four overtimes in the final game of the regular season.  The team finished with 17 All Gulf Coast Conference performers, the Defensive Player of the Year, and the Co-Coach of the Year.

Now ranked number five, UNA begins their Division II playoff run against Arkansas Tech, a team they beat 42-17 during the regular season.  This Arkansas Tech is not the same Arkansas Tech they faced earlier in the season though.  The Golden Suns have reeled off six straight wins by an average margin of 22.6 points.  Coach Bowden knows the difficulties of facing the same team twice in a season, especially one as hot as Arkansas Tech.

“It is difficult to play the same team twice.  We are coming off a loss with four turnovers, so we aren’t thinking we are so tough.  We went back to work. We now know we have to play to win.  We got brought back down to Earth in that last game.  Arkansas Tech is not the same team either.  They haven’t lost since we beat them.  So they are flying high.  It is not easy to beat the same team twice.”

When the Lions face the Golden Suns Saturday, they do so with two sets of twins from Memphis on their roster.  Defensive lineman Montrell Craft, offensive lineman/tight end Marcell Craft, and linebacker Nicholas Walker will all play large roles in the team’s gameplan.  Nigelas Walker, Nicholas’ twin, is also on the roster but is ineligible for this season.  Coach Bowden remarked about the high level of talent in the Memphis area.

“Memphis has always had great talent.  When I was at Auburn, Alabama always got the kids out of Memphis.  We were able to go into Atlanta.  But now that I am at UNA, we are only two and a half hours from Memphis.  With the number of quality athletes, we do feel like we can get in there and get some of the quality kids that maybe weren’t tall enough for Division I schools or maybe were not exactly what the Division I schools were looking for.  We also do a lot of junior college recruiting in Mississippi and there are a lot of junior college kids from Memphis there.”

Memphians on the UNA Roster

Montrell Craft, Defensive Lineman

Montrell Craft is a three year starter who was recently named to the All Gulf Coast Conference First Team for the second consecutive year.  Earlier this year, Montrell was named the UNA All-Decade Team and received a Promising Alumni Award.  On the season, he has 55 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 blocked kick and 1 forced fumble. 

Montrell is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated.  He is majoring in physical education and is scheduled to graduate in May.  He hopes to continue his playing career at the next level.  It that does not pan out, Montrell will pursue teaching and coaching.  In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and playing video games.  He played for Bolton High School.

Coach Bowden on Montrell:

“Montrell is a leader on this football.  He is the one I can go to if I need to check the pulse of this football team.  He plays hard on every down.”

Marcell Craft, Offensive Lineman/Tight End

Marcell Craft is a team player in the truest since.  He has repeatedly changed positions to help his team win.  Craft began his career as a defensive lineman.  He has now switched to alternating between offensive lineman and tight end.  Marcell is a criminal justice major and has already accepted an offer to work for the Florence Alabama Police Department at the end of the season when he will graduate.  His is also a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated.  In his free time he enjoys hanging out with his fiance and playing video games.

Along with his twin brother Marcell, Montrell came to UNA from Bolton High School.  Marcell and Montrell are the sons of former Tiger football player, Ray Craft. 

Coach Bowden on Marcell:

“Marcell has been a big part of our ball team.  We’ve played him every single ball game.  He’s a big part of our offensive, switching him back forth from offensive lineman to tight end.”

Memphians Montrell (Left) and Marcell (Right) Craft pose for a picture during UNA's Fan Day. Both are graduates of Bolton High School.

Nicholas Walker, Linebacker

Nicholas Walker is a heavy hitting senior linebacker.  He was also named to the All Gulf Coast Conference First Team.  On the season, Nicholas has 54 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 1 interception, and 2 recovered fumbles.  Nicholas and his twin brother Nigelas both played at Fraley High School, before coming to UNA by way of Coahoma Community College.  Nigelas is ineligible this season, but is expected to contribute to the Lions next season.

Coach Bowden on Nicholas:

“Nicholas is 6’1”, 250 pound linebacker.  He packs a punch.  He brings us toughness.  He brings a blue-collar effort to this team.”

Fraley High School's Nick Walker (#44) is big hitter who packs a punch.

Extras:  Coach Bowden on Recruiting and Facilities

Coach Bowden on recruiting against larger schools:

“It’s all relative.  I got to out recruit the people I got to play.  When we compare our facilities and budget, we compare to Delta State or Valdosta.  You’ve got to look at your facilities compared to other people that you are playing.  If you are going to recruit, you don’t have to be better than Southern Cal.  You don’t have to be better than Tennessee.”

Coach Bowden on the importance of facilities for recruiting:

“I got to make sure I have the facilities, when those kids take an official visit to my opponents, they have got to see mine as being as good or better.”

“Look at Miami.  If you have ever been to the University of Miami, they don’t have any facilities.  Relative to other people, it is just not the same.  Over the years it has not been.  They did not have the size of weight room, the size of locker room, they didn’t have the hall of fame for their players that was big.  Those players went there because they won.  They are in a good recruiting area, so they were able to get recruits.  It is the question of what comes first the horse or the cart.  I think at some point you have to win, and the winning is what creates the facilities.”

“My dad didn’t have anything at FSU.  They averaged 17,000 people per game when he got there.  But somehow, they went out and found a way to win and as they won they began to build facilities.  When you take over at a place that doesn’t win as much, you’ve got to go out there and excite the people and win.”

UNA vs. Arkansas Tech Game Information

Live Stream:  http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=ncaa&media=154033