Jeffrey Jon Bower (born May 28, 1953) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

for 18 seasons, from 1990 to 2007, compiling a record of 119–83–1. Bower assumed the role of head coach at Southern Miss on December 2, 1990 and announced his retirement on November 26, 2007, effective after the 2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl, which was played on December 22. The

Golden Eagles The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds ...

had a winning record in Bowers' final 14 seasons and played in a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

in 10 of his last 11 seasons.

Early life and playing career

Bower grew up in Roswell, Georgia, where he attended Roswell High School. He led the football team to two state championships and became a prep All-American, one of the school's first. He also started for two state champion

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

teams and one state champion

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

squad. He was named Class A Player of the year and played in the state All-Star game. Bower started his

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 ...

career at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

before transferring to Southern Miss. He started as

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in 1973. His career records from 1973 to 1975 are still in the top five for many of the school's passing statistics, including third all-time in passing percentage.

Coaching career

Bower spent 29 years at the University of Southern Mississippi as a quarterback, assistant coach and head coach. He was named "Coach of the Decade" by

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

in 2004.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bower, Jeff 1953 births Living people American football quarterbacks Georgia Bulldogs football players Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches SMU Mustangs football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football players Wake Forest Demon Deacons football coaches People from Roswell, Georgia Sportspeople from Fulton County, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) College Football Playoff Selection Committee members