Jeff Bowden () is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach. He served as the special teams coordinator and the outside wide receivers coach at Akron. Before that he served as the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

for the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

under his father and head coach Bobby Bowden. He resigned from that position on November 14, 2006, following a shutout loss to Wake Forest three days earlier. He has also been a wide receivers coach and coached at Salem College,

Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United Sta ...

and Southern Miss. Bowden played wide receiver at Florida State from 1981 until 1982.

Coaching career

Bowden started to coach immediately after he graduated when he was hired as the wide receivers coach at Salem College (now known as Salem International University) in 1983, where his brother Terry Bowden was the head coach. After two years, he was promoted to the position of offensive coordinator. He then returned to FSU, his alma mater, for a season as a graduate assistant coach. In 1987, he began a four-year stint as offensive coordinator at Samford University, again under big brother and head coach Terry Bowden. Bowden then moved up to the Division I-A level as wide receivers coach at Southern Mississippi for three years before being hired by his father at Florida State in 1994 as wide receivers coach. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2001 when Mark Richt departed for the head coaching position at Georgia. Jeff Bowden's choice as offensive coordinator was often criticized as

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

(Bowden has worked for his father or brother in 31 of his 34 years as a football coach). The offense struggled during the younger Bowden's career and after years of frustration the Seminoles were shut out at home by Wake Forest. Days later, a deal was struck for Jeff Bowden to step down. As a part of Jeff Bowden's agreement with Florida State and Seminole Boosters, Inc. (the Florida State athletic booster organization), he received an $107,500 annually, or $537,000 total, through August 2012 from the Booster club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Jeff Living people American football wide receivers Akron Zips football coaches Florida State Seminoles football coaches Florida State Seminoles football players North Alabama Lions football coaches Salem Tigers football coaches Samford Bulldogs football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches Sportspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia 1959 births