City hosting UNA alumni event

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Terry Bowden has been a part of big time college athletics.
The University of North Alabama's new head football coach spent 5 ? seasons coaching in the Southeastern Conference at Auburn. His father, Bobby, is one of the winningest coaches in college football history.
But, the younger Bowden says, he has never seen the kind of enthusiasm in a community like he has seen since being named the Lions' new coach on New Year's Day.
"When I was hired at Auburn there was excitement, but there was also a lot of questions from people because I was so young and I was replacing Pat Dye," said Bowden, who led Auburn to an 11-0 season in his first year as coach there.
"People didn't really get excited until we were about 5-0. That was when the excitement really started building."
It has been much different here in the Shoals. Though Bowden has not coached a game since 1998, UNA fans have openly welcomed him.
"Everybody seems to have bought in since the moment I got hired," Bowden said. "UNA is coming off some very successful seasons and almost at the pinnacle of success. People here don't just want to win, they want to win a national championship. We don't want to waste the excitement that is here."
The University of North Alabama National Alumni Association will be hosting a meet and greet dinner with Bowden at the A.W. Todd Center beginning at 6 p.m. on July 13. There is no charge, but organizers do ask that anyone attending register online at http://www.una.edu/alumni/.
Bowden will be passing out WWCD (What Would a Champion Do) bracelets to the first 100 people who attend the event in Russellville.
Bowden, assistant coaches and players are wearing these until the end of football season.
"I have always had a slogan going into each season and this is what we are using this year," Bowden said. "You have got to be a champion in everything you do, on the field and off. We are not going to take these off until the day after the national championship game. We will know then if we did everything we needed to do to be a champion."
UNA President William G. Cale, Jr. will attend the meeting as will members of the UNA Advancement team.
"It's all about getting more UNA people to take ownership in their school on a more personal level," Bowden said.
But the event is not open to UNA alumni only.
"This is for everyone. You don't have to be a UNA graduate to come and support our program."
For more information, call the UNA Alumni Office at 256-765-4201 or contact Joe Pride at 810-2959, David Grissom at 810-8126, Billy Witt at 383-8335 or Matt Cooper at 332-5600.