Rich Rodriguez named interim head coach at ULM

(Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)

On Friday, the ULM Warhawks announced that Rich Rodriguez is taking over head coaching duties for Terry Bowden as he tends to his sick father.

Bobby Bowden, of course, was the legendary head coach at Florida State that turned the Seminoles into a national powerhouse. The Alabama native spent 34 years on the sidelines at Doak Campbell Stadium where he brought home two national championships and 14 consecutive top-five finishes in the AP Poll from 1987-2000. Bobby Bowden called it quits after the 2009 season, but at age 91, the college football legend is fighting for his life.

“There’s a spiritual side of me that thanks God for all the good times I’ve had with my father,” Terry Bowden said. “We’ve known for a couple weeks that it was terminal. As it gets closer, we’re thankful that it hasn’t been a difficult or painful process for him.”

In his first year as a head coach at the Sun Belt program, Terry Bowden brings plenty of experience to the Warhawks. The former Auburn head coach ran the table with the Tigers in 1993 before resigning in the middle of the 1998 season after going 47-17-1 on the Plains with five top 25 finishes. From there, Terry Bowden would spend some time on television before returning to the college coaching ranks a decade later. After three years coaching Division II North Alabama, Terry Bowden ran the program at Akron from 2012-18 leading the Zips to the MAC Championship Game in 2017. Now he is attempting another rebuild in Monroe for a team coming off a winless season.

While tending to his father, ULM will have an experienced coach running the program. Rich Rodriguez has been a head coach at West Virginia, Michigan, and Arizona. Most recently, Rodriguez was the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2019. Rodriguez called plays for Tommy Bowden at Tulane in 1998 when the Green Wave finished the season undefeated and ranked in the top-10 with quarterback Shaun King leading the way. At Tulane, Rodriguez unveiled his spread option offense that took the college football world by storm with Pat White and Steve Slaton at West Virginia. The Mountaineers were 32-5 under Rodriguez from 2005-07 and would’ve played in the national championship that final year if not for an upset loss to Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez famously turned down the Alabama job before making the jump to Michigan. This forced the Crimson Tide to raise the ante and pluck Nick Saban from the Miami Dolphins. Meanwhile, Rodriguez bombed in three years at Michigan. Following six successful seasons in the Pac-12 at Arizona from 2012-17, Rodriguez was fired after a university-wide investigation into a sexual harassment claim made by a former administrative assistant.

Kentucky will open up the season with ULM on Sept. 4 and are currently 29-point favorites per Caesars Sportsbook. KSR’s thoughts and prayers go out to the Bowdens at this time.