INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Tommy Working Magic at Tulane
by Ivan Maisel
Posted: Wed September 23, 1998
When the Green Wave went 7-4 last season, the powers that be at
Tulane were thrilled, a reaction second-year coach Tommy Bowden
finds funny. "Most places I've coached, 7-4 will get you fired,"
he says. "Here it got me a raise."
With the Green Wave 2-0 this year—its best start since
1975—Bowden has plenty more to smile about. Tommy, the
44-year-old son of Florida State coach Bobby and older brother of
renowned Auburn coach Terry, has earned temporary family bragging
rights: He's the only Bowden who's undefeated this season.
While Terry has been constantly compared with Bobby since taking
over as Tigers coach in 1993, at age 37, Tommy is the Bowden son
most like his folksy father in temperament. When Tommy heard the
Seminoles had suffered a stunning 24-7 loss to North Carolina
State two weeks ago, he whipped out his cellular phone and called
his father. "Fat man!" he teased. "What happened?"
The three Bowdens phone each other every Saturday night during
the season. On Monday morning they send their game videotapes to
each other. On Tuesday morning they watch those tapes, critique
the games and pilfer ideas from them. "After our Virginia game,
Dad was calling with answers," Terry said last Thursday of
Auburn's 19-0 shutout loss to the Cavaliers on Sept. 3. "After
the North Carolina State loss, he was calling with questions."
Tommy is looking for answers, too, but to questions any coach
would love to have. On Sept. 5 Tulane jumped to a 52-14 lead
against Cincinnati and held on for a 52-34 victory. A week later
the Green Wave led SMU 31-0 before sweating out a 31-21 win. "You
know what, Terry?" Tommy said to his brother last week. "I'm
having a problem learning what to do when I'm way ahead."
Under Tommy's predecessor, Buddy Teevens, Tulane won 11 games in
five seasons. The Green Wave's fast rise is a result of Bowden's
offensive scheme, which spreads the field and allows undermanned
Tulane to be effective both in the air and on the ground. Last
season the Green Wave finished 33rd in the nation in passing
(2,598 yards) and 30th in rushing (2,012 yards).
Tulane is winning with players passed over by powers like Auburn
and Florida State. Before getting the job in New Orleans, Tommy
had been tutored by two of the best passing minds of the last 30
years: his father, for whom he was an assistant for three seasons
at Florida State, and Homer Smith, with whom he worked at Alabama
a decade ago, when Smith was the Crimson Tide's offensive
coordinator. "This spring I brought Homer in," Tommy says. "He
looked at our guys work out and said, 'You really don't have a
very good-looking team.'"
In this era of 260-pound tailbacks and 300-pound linemen, many of
Tulane's players sound as if they belong on a 1968 roster. "I've
got a wideout [senior P.J. Franklin] who's 5'10", 164," Tommy
says. "I've got a wide receiver [sophomore John Wilson] who's
5'5", 170. I start a 250-pound true freshman [Corey Sewell] at
offensive tackle. Who is he going to knock off the ball? So we
take that 5'5" guy and get him the ball out in the open and let a
linebacker try to tackle him."
There's more to it, of course. At quarterback Bowden has Shaun
King, a four-year starter who's smart, mobile and accurate. Last
season King threw for 2,567 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed
for 511 yards and five touchdowns. This year he's first in the
nation in passing efficiency (37-58, 630 yards, six touchdowns,
no interceptions). "Everybody thinks we rear back and throw it 55
or 60 times a game," King says. "We run the ball as often as we
throw it."
Tulane strikes quickly. The Green Wave shocked the Bearcats and
the Mustangs with what Tommy has labeled his Indy (as in 500)
offense, in which the Green Wave doesn't huddle. "When the
referee steps away from the ball," Bowden says, "there's going to
be a hike." At least once against Cincinnati, King snapped the
ball before the Bearcats were lined up. The pace leaves defenses
little chance to make situational substitutions and to change
schemes. Against SMU, King was 12 of 17 for 259 yards and one
touchdown—in the first quarter.
Like his father and brother, Tommy is a ferocious competitor.
When Tommy coached wide receivers at Auburn under Terry, several
SEC coaches complained that Tigers wideouts took cheap shots at
their players. Houston coach Kim Helton and Syracuse coach Paul
Pasqualoni made similar complaints after playing Tulane last
year. Tommy says that he likes the chop block, or cut block, in
which a player hits a defender below the knees, and that the
Green Wave will continue to use it. "Some people perceive the
chop block as dirty," he says. "Our philosophy is to play on the
edge. We tell our guys to hit through the whistle. If the guys
I've got don't play hard, we'll get killed."
Tommy's success and high-profile name make him a hot prospect to
move up the coaching ranks. Arkansas made repeated offers to him
last December, but Bowden turned the Hogs down because he likes
his situation at Tulane. The late-blooming Tommy doesn't mind
that it took him 20 years to become a head coach. "The objective
isn't to become the youngest head coach," he says. "It's to
become the oldest."
Issue date: September 28, 1998
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