UMD Names Bowen As Head Mens Basketball Coach

May 4, 2012

Northland Sports Online

Matt Bowen, the reigning Northern Sun Intercollegiate Coach of the Year, has been named the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Head Men’s Basketball Coach. The 40-year old Bowen becomes the 16th head coach in the 82-year history of the Bulldog program and just the third since the 1984-85 season.

He succeeds Gary Holquist, who stepped down last month after 14 seasons to take over as UMD’s Athletic Development Director.Bowen signed a four-year contract with an annual base salary of $78,000.

“This is a great opportunity for me at this point in my career,” said Bowen. “I am taking over an established program, one that is rich in tradition and success and my hope is to take it to even greater heights. I’m looking forward to that challenge.”

Bowen completed his sixth — and most productive year at the Bemidji State University head coaching helm this past winter. He guided the 2011-12 Beavers to a 22-9 overall record (setting a school record for wins in a season), the NSIC regular season championship (after they were predicted to finish seventh in the NSIC preseason coaches poll) and their second NCAA II playoff berth in the team’s 91-year history.

In addition to receiving votes in the NABC Coaches Poll for the first team ever and attaining its highest regional ranking, Bowen’s Beavers also produced the 2011-12 NSIC and NCAA Division II Player of the Year in James Ellisor.

Bowen, who was 64-102 with the Beavers, took over a Bemidji State program that had gone through three head coaches in the six-year span before his arrival in 2006. After winning just five games in his inaugural season, the Beavers increased their win total in all but one year after that — culminating with the historic 2011-12 campaign.

Prior to his appointment in Bemidji, Bowen spent 15 years on the staffs of three NCAA I institutions, working under the likes of Homer Drew (Valparaiso University), Gene Bartow (University of Alabama-Birmingham) and Bob Knight (Indiana University).

He served a four-year stint as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Valparaiso from 2002-06 and helped the Crusaders to two Mid-Continent Conference titles and one berth each in the NCAA (2004) and NIT (2003) tournaments.

Bowen spent the previous seven years (1995-2002) in an assistant coaching role at Alabama-Birmingham, where the Blazers secured a pair of berths in the NIT tournament, one Conference USA National Division championship and one NCAA Tournament appearance.

As an undergraduate, Bowen attended Indiana University and was employed for five seasons as the men’s basketball team manager. He was part of two Big Ten championship clubs and four NCAA Tournament qualifiers (including the 1992 Hoosiers,

who advanced to the Final Four).

A native of River Falls, Wis., Bowen graduated from Indiana University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in health, physical education and recreation and earned a Master’s degree in health education from Alabama-Birmingham four years later. His father, Rick, was the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls from 1986-2006 and retired as that school’s athletic director in 2010.

He and his wife, Ashli, have two daughters – McKenzi (9) and Addison (4).

“We are extremely excited to have Matt joining us,” said UMD Athletic Director Bob Nielson. “He has been mentored by some of the top collegiate coaches in the country and has a strong knowledge of the NCAA Division II and NSIC landscapes. He’s also demonstrated the ability to build and lead a nationally-competitive basketball program.”

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