 Head
Coach
Matthew Bowen (Indiana, 1995)
•Fourth season at Bemidji State
•19-63 (.232) overall - Three Seasons
[mbowen@bemidjistate.edu]
Phone #: (218) 755-2774
Matt Bowen became the 19th head men’s basketball coach at Bemidji State University June 30, 2006. He enters his fourth season as head coach at Bemidji State after spending 15 years as an assistant coach at the Division I level. The River Falls, Wis. native has improved the Beavers’ record in each season. Last season, BSU went 8-19 overall and 6-14 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, finishing tied for 10th. Bowen guided his team to a 6-21 overall record and a 3-15 record in the NSIC for a ninth place finish in 2007-08 and was 5-23 overall and 5-13 in the NSIC in 2006-07. Bowen and his staff are still in the rebuilding stages as he was met with the challenge of repairing a team that went 15-13 overall and 9-5 in the NSIC that was dismantled at the conclusion of the 2005-06 season. Bowen inherited a team that carried over just three players from the 2005-06 squad. In the process of rebuilding there are bumps along the road, but the Beavers are making strides in the right direction, defeating back-to-back nationally ranked opponents during a four-game winning streak last season (Jan. 6-16). BSU beat No. 24 St. Cloud State University at home, 69-66, and then traveled to No. 11 Northern State University and won a two overtime thriller 100-93. In the process of rebuilding, Bowen and his staff have recruited and brought in some of the best talent from around the state of Minnesota to help put the pieces of the BSU men’s basketball program back together.
Bowen comes to BSU after spending the past 15 years molding his coaching style after some of NCAA Division I men’s basketball’s greatest coaching legends. He was a student manager for Bob Knight at Indiana University and served as an assistant coach under both Gene Bartow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and most recently, Homer Drew at Valparaiso University. Bowen’s trio of mentors have combined for nearly 2,100 career wins and 105 years of head coaching experience.
Although the BSU head coaching assignment is the first of its kind for Bowen, he welcomes the opportunity to take the reigns and guide a program for himself.
During his four years under Drew at Valpo, Bowen helped to lead the Crusaders to an overall record of 70-52 (.574) with a 41-21 (.661) mark versus Mid-Continent Conference competition. In 2003, his first season at the university, the team was 20-11 overall and 12-2 in the league as it grabbed the front end of back-to-back conference titles. The Valpo men capped the year off with a trip to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The following season, the Crusaders went 18-13 overall with an 11-5 mark versus the league to earn their second league crown and a berth into the NCAA Tournament.
In addition to game day and practice duties, Bowen was responsible for organizing all recruiting efforts, summer youth camps, game preparation and scouting and being the team’s academic coordinator.
As a recruiter, Bowen was responsible for signing the No. 1 incoming class in the Mid-Continent Conference and one of the Top-100 nationally according to last spring’s HoopScoop and Dave Telep recruiting publications. Bowen’s ties to the Midwest, specifically Minnesota, were evident in the class as it was headlined by Mr. Basketball Minnesota Finalist and Tartan High School graduate Urule Igbavboa.
Bowen began his collegiate coaching ventures in 1995 when he was hired as an assistant coach at Alabama-Birmingham. In seven seasons at UAB, the Blazers captured a Conference USA National Division Championship (1999), went to the NCAA Tournament (1999) and were twice invited to participate in the NIT (1997, 1998).
The River Falls, Wis. native and son of long-time NCAA Division III head men’s basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Bowen has been around basketball all of his life. But he first acquired a taste of his own for collegiate basketball as the student manager for Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers (1990-1995). While serving under coach Knight, Bowen was a part of two Big Ten titles (1991, 1993) and four NCAA Tournament appearances, twice advancing to the Elite Eight (1992-1993) and earning a spot in the Final Four in 1992.
He joins a long list of former Indiana managers who have gone on to make a name for themselves in coaching, most notably New Jersey Nets Head Coach Lawrence Frank, a manager at IU from 1989 to 1992. While at Indiana, Bowen also worked directly with George David, now the Director of Scouting for the Detroit Pistons and Ryan Carr, a scout for the Indiana Pacers. In addition, Bowen’s father, Rick, got his feet wet as a Hoosier student manager under Branch McCracken in the 1960s.
Bowen is a 1995 graduate of Indiana with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER). He picked up a Master of Arts degree in education during his time at UAB, graduating in 1999.
Bowen and his wife Ashli have a seven-year-old daughter McKenzi and a two-year-old daughter Addison.
Matt Bowen - COACHING RESUME
1990-1995 - Student Manager Indiana University
1995-2002 - Assistant Coach - University of Alabama at Birmingham
2002-2006 - Assistant Coach - Valparaiso University
2006-SA - Head Coach - Bemidji State University
|
