Chad Bowden | In Focus | Backstory Pt. II
Chad Bowden started from the bottom and within a few years, reached the top.
“I really take pride in this,” Bowden says of his climb at such a young age.
He’s not talking about his journey to become Notre Dame’s Director of Recruiting before turning 28.
No, he’s talking about his work for Cincinnati’s Anderson High School football team.
“I was a water boy fourth and fifth grade,” he remembers proudly. “Sixth grade, I got promoted to being a towel boy. Seventh grade, I got promoted to being a ball boy. In eighth grade, I was the ball boy and EQ manager.
“I take great pride in that because I was just around football. I was around it every day. I went to every practice. That was my childhood. I loved, loved high school football.”
Bowden’s professional career has mirrored that trajectory.
In the span of five years, he’s gone from student intern at Cincinnati to quality control to Bearcat Director of Recruiting and Notre Dame Director of Recruiting.
Bowden spent a single year as a student at Anderson High School when he finished his career handing out water and towels before transferring to Highlands High School in Kentucky.
“Chad was the guy that could talk sports with every teacher,” says Evan Dreyer, Bowden’s freshman football coach and teacher at Anderson.
“He acted like he was running the Reds like he was his father. Then, he could talk about the Bengals like he was the GM.”
In fact, when Dreyer had to fill in as freshman baseball coach for a couple weeks, he tabbed the 14-year-old Bowden to be his assistant, coaching other 14-year-olds.
“That was one of the best moments to work with him,” says Dreyer. “It was amazing. I still remember that. He's crazy, but he's been fun to be around since he was 14.”
Bowden remained in touch after leaving Anderson, sending letters of congratulations when Dreyer scored jobs and keeping his former coach updated on his grades at Highland.
“Those things do matter and I truly believe that you make a difference in a guy's life by doing little things like that,” said Dreyer. “He's definitely made a difference in my life in how I'm going to attack each day.”
And when Bowden was trying to figure out his next move while sharing a studio apartment with Jac Collinsworth in Hollywood, Calif., Dreyer was constantly in Bowden’s ear about returning to Ohio and getting back into football.
“I just kept bugging him because he's one of my favorite players of all-time,” says Dreyer, who had landed the head coaching job at Western Brown High School.
“His energy's contagious, his ability to work with others and he loves having fun every day.”
Eventually, Bowden jumped at the chance to become Dreyer’s defensive coordinator while heading back to school at the University of Cincinnati.
“I really did realize the only thing I really did love was football,” says Bowden.
As a 21-year-old first-time defensive coordinator, Bowden’s scheme was limited.
“I was sitting there like, 'I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just going to blitz the house,’” he laughs now. “‘That's all I know how to do is blitz.’”
After a season at Western, Dreyer took the head job at Oak Hills High School, a small Division-I program, where Bowden would serve as linebackers coach and JV defensive coordinator.
“I actually gave up 80 points in a JV game, gave up 80 points,” says Bowden, still clearly annoyed. “Couldn't stop them. Couldn't stop them. Couldn't figure it out either. Couldn't figure out what to do. It was against Lakota West. I'll never forget that game.”
But what Dreyer won’t forget is Bowden leading that same JV squad to a win over rival Elder High School and the impact he made throughout the program.
“The weight room and his energy and the way he helped with our strength training was incredible,” says Dreyer. “His ability to motivate kids and stay active and work out with the kids, that helped us lay the foundation of what kind of program we wanted to be.”
Dreyer was also struck by the way Bowden could identify players on film at a young age who would go on to become Ohio high school stars like Tommy Kraemer, Jackson Carman, Malik Vann, Peyton Ramsey and Alex Welch.
But when Dreyer returned to Anderson after a season at Oak Hills, Bowden decided he needed a change as well and landed an internship with the Miami Dolphins under Chris Grier and Brandon Shore.
Eventually, Shore advised Bowden that everything he needed was back at school anyway.
“Brandon Shore, I owe a lot of my career to,” says Bowden “Brandon is the one who sat me down and said, 'Here's what you need to do. You need to go to Cincinnati. They have a great staff with Coach (Marcus) Freeman and Coach (Luke) Fickell. They're going to build something really special. You need to go back there.'”
And so, he did.
He scored a student internship under Cincinnati Director of Recruiting Brian Mason – “he’s now our special teams coordinator, small world,” Bowden says now – and Director of Scouting Mike Waugh.
He worked his way up to quality control and eventually became Director of Recruiting himself.
Together, Bowden, Freeman, Mason, Fickell and others assembled the nucleus of a roster that would win 44 of 51 games over four years, including a New Year’s Six Bowl appearance after the 2020 season and a spot in this past season’s College Football Playoff.
Dreyer points to the nine Cincinnati Bearcats who were selected in last month’s NFL Draft as evidence of Bowden and Freeman’s ability to evaluate and recruit.
“Who would've thought Sauce Gardner, Coby Bryant and that defensive backfield they put together at UC would be that good?” says Dreyer. “Darian Beavers, where he projected from going from safety to linebacker and what he played.
“I would tell you that him and Marcus were a big thing and I don't think they're getting enough credit right now for it.”
Bowden is quick to point out that current Irish cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and Mason also deserve tons of credit for the success they had in Cincinnati.
Bowden’s career came to a crossroads a couple years ago when Freeman decided to leave to take the job as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. Bowden could remain at Cincinnati as the Director of Recruiting or take a lesser role to follow Freeman to South Bend.
“I chose Marcus because I truly feel that he believes in the same things that I do and he truly cares about the kids,” Bowden said.
“The same way he treats his own kids is the same way he treats his players and the same way he treats his staff. He is a genuine person who cares about people and it's hard to find those people in this world. It's really hard, especially coaches nowadays.”
Bowden never had any doubts about being able to succeed at Notre Dame despite outside narratives suggesting otherwise.
“In my opinion, if we could recruit and evaluate at Cincinnati and bring that program (close) to a national championship, I can't even imagine what we'll do at Notre Dame,” he says. “That's been my mindset ever since we got here. It hasn't changed at all.
“We had Cincinnati and that team's 5th in the country and should have beat Georgia in the Peach Bowl and then last year, I know, obviously I wasn't a part of that team, but knowing what that team had and going to (the College Football Playoff), there's a lot of people that were a big-time part of that program, not just me.
“Coach Mason was the Director of Recruiting and did an unbelievable job. He was incredible. Obviously, I helped the program do some things too and Coach Freeman. There's a lot of people. Coach Mickens brought in Ahmad Gardner, I mean, holy smokes, right? We were all kind of a part of it. If we could do that at Cincinnati, it's scary what could be built at Notre Dame.”
When Freeman was promoted to Notre Dame head coach, Bowden was promoted to Director of Recruiting.
“There's the whole backstory, man…from fourth grade to being promoted all the way to being 28 years old in South Bend, Indiana, looking at the rain, just hitting me in the eyes.”
If you missed Part I, you can check it out HERE
Our series on Bowden will continue tomorrow as we examine his plans to build a championship-caliber roster at Notre Dame.
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