Bruce Hires new Assistant Coach!

[GwillMac6 20,607]

WAR EAGLE Coach Bowman! Welcome to AU.

[jared52 4,354]

I like having a guy from the NE. More new territory. Just hope the kids that come from there don’t get homesick too fast. 

[GwillMac6 20,607]

 

[corchjay 5,311]

Congrats to Coach Bowman.  However, I know absolutely nothing about him.  

[augolf1716 21,096]

He does have some connections in Atl as well

[gr82be 14,402]

Does anyone know if this was the "front-runner" mentioned in the other thread that would create a buzz? I haven't heard of him but I don't follow the NBA until the playoffs. 

[augolf1716 21,096]

4 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Does anyone know if this was the "front-runner" mentioned in the other thread that would create a buzz? I haven't heard of him but I don't follow the NBA until the playoffs. 

My guess would be no but I could be incorrect. I'm thinking he was #2 on the list. Maybe someone else knows for sure

[abw0004 10,108]

1 minute ago, augolf1716 said:

My guess would be no but I could be incorrect. I'm thinking he was #2 on the list. Maybe someone else knows for sure

Paging Mr. @ellitor

[NoALtiger 3,849]

Well okay then, I trust Bruce. 

[ellitor 33,062]

15 hours ago, jared52 said:

More new territory.

Not really. Adler recruited the area.

[ellitor 33,062]

14 hours ago, gr82be said:

Does anyone know if this was the "front-runner" mentioned in the other thread that would create a buzz? I haven't heard of him but I don't follow the NBA until the playoffs. 

He was the front runner. The other name I heard was just a wild guess.

[ellitor 33,062]

 

Quote

 

Pearl adds Bowman to staff

 

Bryan Matthews • AuburnSports.com

AUBURN | Fresh off helping Penn to an Ivy League championship, assistant coach Ira Bowman will join Bruce Pearl's staff at Auburn.

AuburnSports.com's Jay G. Tate first identified Bowman as Auburn's top target on June 30.

“When you’re hiring a staff, it’s all about surrounding yourself with people better than you,” said Pearl in a press release. “Who can help these kids realize their full potential on and off the court? Who do I want to walk into a living room with and say to a parent that these are the men I want to surround your son with?

“Ira Bowman is a former Ivy League Player of the Year, a self-made NBA player, a great father and a true role model. Even though he is from the east, I think he fits the profile of an Auburn man to a T.”

 

Bowman comes to Auburn after six years at Penn.

University of Pennsylvania

Bowman, a former Penn and NBA player, has spent the past six years as an assistant with the Quakers. Penn won the Ivy League regular season and tournament titles, and made the NCAA Tournament this past season for the first time in 11 years.

Bowman is considered a top-notch recruiter with ties throughout the Northeast. He was instrumental in the recruitment of team’s top players and in the on-court development of the Quakers’ perimeter players.

“I’m excited to be a part of Auburn basketball,” Bowman said. “It has a great future and I’m blessed that Coach Pearl has chosen me to be a part of that. Coming off last season’s SEC Championship, I know the guys coming back have a lot to prove. This is a great, resilient bunch and I’m just fortunate to be a part of it.

“I’m also looking forward to working under Director of Athletics Allen Greene, who is going to spearhead Auburn basketball into the future.”

The Quakers finished 24-9 overall and 12-2 in the conference this past season, losing to top-seeded Kansas 76-60 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Bowman replaces assistant coach Harris Adler, who left Auburn in May to work in his family’s business as a licensed pharmacist.

Before joining the Quakers, Bowman spent four years as an assistant at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also spent four years as director of the Assist by Knight Foundation.

The Newark, N.J., native played two years at Penn from 1994-96 after transferring from Providence College. He was second-team All-Ivy as a junior and Ivy League Player of the Year and first-team All-Philadelphia Big 5 as a senior. Following his Penn career, Bowman had professional stints with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks. He also played overseas, in Italy and Australia, as well as in the Continental Basketball Association.

Bowman played his high school career at Seton Hall Preparatory School where he is still the school’s all-time leading scorer. He scored 1,488 points in his career, including 19.6 per game during his senior season when he led the team to a 31-1 record.

Bowman and his wife, Rayna, have one son, Jeremiah

 

 

[ellitor 33,062]

A couple nuggets here. Even though the above article says JGT first reported Bowman as the top target on June 30th. He strongly hinted at it a week before then. Also Bowman helps us even more with Okoro & other metro ATL recruits.

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

A couple nuggets here. Even though the above article says JGT first reported Bowman as the top target on June 30th. He strongly hinted at it a week before then. Also Bowman helps us even more with Okoro & other metro ATL recruits.

I thought that the Rutgers asst (Knight) was the so called front runner with his connections to AAU and ATL. Was that wrong info, and Bowman was always the front runner? 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

Bryan Matthews article says he’s considered a “top-notch recruiter” and I am admittedly woefully lacking in b-ball recruiting knowledge. What players has he recruited that are now in the NBA or expected to be soon? I guess I’d like to have an idea of what BM considers top notch. Thanks.  

[GwillMac6 20,607]

47 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

Bryan Matthews article says he’s considered a “top-notch recruiter” and I am admittedly woefully lacking in b-ball recruiting knowledge. What players has he recruited that are now in the NBA or expected to be soon? I guess I’d like to have an idea of what BM considers top notch. Thanks.  

Have absolutely no idea so this is just a guess but most likely means a top notch recruiter relative to the kind of talent you can get in the mid major conferences. He is not going to be getting for the most part NBA talent at Penn where he was at and when he was at the New Jersey Institute of Technology before that. Not a lot of NBA players walking through those doors lol. Like take PJ Fleck for example. He was not churning out NFL talent year after year at Western Michigan (corey davis non withstanding) but he did get the top recruiting classes each year in that conference. That is what I take it to mean about Coach Bowman. He was a great recruiter and one of the best out of mid major conferences.

[ellitor 33,062]

33 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

I thought that the Rutgers asst (Knight) was the so called front runner with his connections to AAU and ATL. Was that wrong info, and Bowman was always the front runner? 

Yes wrong info. knight was the name wild out of the dark guess someone made based on JGT’s hinting Bowman a week earlier..   The guy who guessed Knight even said that was just a guess  and admitted he was wrong  on the guess even before JGT had Bowman officially listed as Bruce’s top target on June 30. Bowman and Knight are from the same area and also have the same connections to the Atlanta AAU circuit. And yes for the third time lol, Bowman was always the front runner.

[ellitor 33,062]

31 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

I am admittedly woefully lacking in b-ball recruiting knowledge.

Most of us are. Basketball recruiting is much more secretive than football recruiting.

33 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

What players has he recruited that are now in the NBA or expected to be soon?

You don't get those type players at an ivy league school like Penn no matter how good of a recruiter you are. Bowman recruited above the standard level for a school like Penn. Now that he has the Bruce & Auburn brand to sell, watch out!

35 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

I guess I’d like to have an idea of what BM considers top notch. Thanks.  

Again. He helps us a lot with Isaac Okoro, a top 40 recruit nationally, as well as the metro Atlanta area. In fact JGT has said getting Bowman made AU a lock for a big time recruit. Not sure if he means Okoro but that's very interesting to say the least.

[GwillMac6 20,607]

 

[GwillMac6 20,607]

AUBURN, Ala. – When Bruce Pearl called to gauge Ira Bowman's interest in the vacant assistant coach position on the Auburn basketball staff, it wasn't a huge surprise. Bowman had received overtures from other schools in the past, hoping to lure him away from Penn.

But Bowman is a Penn guy through and through. He played two seasons for the Quakers and was named the Ivy League Player of the Year in 1996. After playing professionally in the NBA and overseas, he got into coaching as an assistant at NJIT. Then, four years later, he returned to his alma mater where he's been an assistant coach the past six years.

So why Auburn? Why say yes to Pearl?

"Just because of the challenge," Bowman said. "Obviously being here in the SEC in a Power Five conference. I knew a couple of the kids here that I've recruited a little bit. It's an opportunity to make history on the basketball side here at Auburn."

The decision was made easier knowing that Bowman is leaving Penn in good shape. Like Auburn, the Quakers won their conference last season for the first time in over a decade. Thanks in large part to Bowman's efforts, there's a solid foundation that's been laid and a number of recruits that are coming in or already committed.

This was as good a time as any to leave, and after seeing what Auburn did last season and with the team that's coming back, Bowman knew he could be part of something special.

"Any time there's success, it brings attention," he said. "You know the amount of work that it takes to get the program to this point and know what type of work it's going to take to sustain it or even take the next step. That, the challenge in itself, was something that really intrigued me and obviously was something that I felt was good for me, especially at this time in my career."

Though Bowman has spent most of his life in the Northeast, he has some familiarity with this current Auburn roster. Both Horace Spencer and Samir Doughty are from the Philadelphia area, which is where Penn is located. And Jared Harper is a guy that Bowman tried to recruit to Penn since Harper was a freshman in high school.

Bowman also knew Pearl's name. The two didn't know each other well before the interview process, but Pearl's success speaks for itself.

"His energy, his infectiousness, just the way he approaches the game – the players love playing for him," Bowman said. "He's been successful at every place that he's been at. Obviously he's a great coach, great evaluator and a great communicator, and I think those are things you want to be associated with when you're playing or coaching at a high level.

"I'm hopeful for the opportunity to be where he is one day."

So when Pearl offered him the job, Bowman said yes. He accepted the challenge. He chose to leave his alma mater, leave the big city for the loveliest village on the Plains, all because he believes this Auburn program is on the cusp of something special.

"It's ripe for [Auburn] to take that next step and be one of the preeminent basketball teams in the country," Bowman said.

There's been little to no down time for Bowman, who arrived on campus Tuesday and after a meeting with the other coaches, he was on the court with the players that same afternoon. The next day, he hit the recruiting trail to see and evaluate potential prospects.

But Auburn is home now. He's now part of the Auburn family.

Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf

[homersapien 11,354]

Another novice here, but he sounds like a great hire to me. 

He sounds like a savvy guy and the fact he sees this move to Auburn as a career opportunity says a lot about what Pearl has done for the program and for our future basketball potential.  I hope the hire works out great for both of us. 

War Eagle coach Bowman!

[augolf1716 21,096]

This is a very good hire he will surprise people with the connections he has. Just got to trust me on this

[AuburnNTexas 7,128]

Late to the party on this one. Have been out of town in Sour Lake Texas with a Church youth group putting up sheet rock in a couple houses that were impacted by Harvey last year.  This seems like a great hire.  IVY league player and coach who played pro ball both NBA and overseas. Intimate recruiting knowledge of North East and is known in Atlanta Metro area.  The types of recruits who think they have a chance at playing pro ball can relate to him he can be honest with them and tell them what they need to do to make it to the Pro's. The Ivy league background will speak to the parents who are also pushing getting a great education. A lot of very good players have parents who while they want their kids to play NBA ball realize only a select few make it and they want their kid to have a great education to fall back on. This Ivy league background will help with those kids.