Message-ID: <2165203.1075858254335.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 01:45:00 -0700 (PDT) From: phillip.love@enron.com To: dlove8847@aol.com, james.love@msl.redstone.army.mil, shane.dobbs@fctg.com, jmjaked@mindspring.com Subject: au Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Phillip M Love X-To: dlove8847@aol.com, "James Love" , Shane.Dobbs@fctg.com @ ENRON, "Jason Dobbs" @ ENRON X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Phillip_Love_Jun2001\Notes Folders\All documents X-Origin: Love-P X-FileName: plove.nsf not sure if you guys saw this. PL Muse: Bowden 'panicked' after Lowder told him his job in jeopardy The Associated Press 3/18/2001 MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- When Auburn's football fortunes took a turn for the worse in 1998, trustee Bobby Lowder told coach Terry Bowden that he would not be retained after the season, former university President William Muse said. When Bowden resigned on the eve of a game that fall, he said he was essentially fired. "Basically, Mr. Lowder told him he would not be around come the end of the season, and coach Bowden basically, in my opinion, panicked when he was told that and came and negotiated out of his contract," Muse said. More Auburn football | Talkin' Tigers Forum Muse said Lowder did not consult with him before speaking to Bowden, whose team was off to a 1-5 start. Bowden said Thursday that Lowder actually did not speak directly to him, but went through athletic director David Housel. "That's how David and I worked," Bowden said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his Orlando home. "We would meet and he would tell me what Lowder wanted me to do. I felt like I could do everything I could do and it wouldn't be enough (to save his job)." Muse made his comments to faculty members March 15. A transcript of the meeting was made public Tuesday by Auburn officials. Muse said he was unable to reach Bowden until "the wee hours of the morning," then told him that Lowder didn't have the authority to fire him and "urged him to stay until the end of the season." Muse said that was "the most celebrated case" of Lowder taking such a direct role in athletic decisions, but "there are many others." Bowden often commented that "Mr. Lowder hired me" and that the coach had "regular contact" with the powerful trustee, Muse said. Bowden said he spoke with Lowder "weekly, if not daily" during his first two or three seasons, but "never felt it was a situation that he would tell me something and that I should do it." Muse said Lowder did not hand-pick the coach. He said an eight-member search committee, including Lowder, voted unanimously to offer Bowden the job in 1993. "Let's just say I would not have been hired if Bobby Lowder had not wanted me hired," said Bowden, now a television commentator with ABC. "There's no doubt about it. Bobby Lowder controlled the committee that hired me at Auburn." Both Lowder and Housel have denied Bowden's contention that he was told his coaching fate was all but sealed. They also denied that Lowder was pulling the strings on that decision. Bowden "always believed ... that the only way he got that job was because of Lowder's influence," Muse said. "So he believed very strongly that he had to maintain that relationship." Muse said that relationship began to sour when Bowden fired longtime defensive coordinator Wayne Hall. Muse also said he is not sure what Lowder's relationship is with Bowden's successor, Tommy Tuberville, but that he believes basketball coach Cliff Ellis has "very, very frequent contact" with the Montgomery banker. Lowder was out of town and did not immediately return a call for comment. Earlier Tuesday he said in a statement issued by Auburn that the trustees' athletic panel he chairs will continue to provide "support and input" to the president and athletic director and that it's time to focus on positive accomplishments and "stop bickering."