Auburn's Bobby Lowder: Coming to the End of the Road

For Auburn fans, this is both an exciting and troublesome time.  They are starting the 2009 football season without the coach who has given them both the wins over their arch-rival and the stability they have enjoyed during his 10 years on the Plains.

It's exciting because they start a new chapter of their history with an energetic staff and hope for a turnaround.

It's troublesome because many Auburn faithful are still unsure about Gene Chizik as the head coach and the reeling decline of Auburn football in this past year.

But in a change that is perhaps just as big, these are the final years of Bobby Lowder presiding over the board at Auburn.  He will be out when his term expires in less than two years.  Many think the board will be reshaped to ease out Lowder's appointees as well.

Like most things in life, there are good and bad sides to any individual. 

Lowder and his family have been among Auburn's greatest benefactors.  The Lowder Business Building many see on campus, mistakenly think it's named after Bobby, but that was a gift to the school by his parents, who started being philanthropic to Auburn long before Bobby.

It is generally thought that Bobby Lowder has donated up to $25 million to the university.  That is no small change.

That money had strings and it was thought by many that his power far exceeded that of Auburn's president or Athletic Director.

Though many of his actions were blasted by the press, faculty, coaches and fans, most notably the "Jetgate" scandal of 2003, many of his contributions were either ignored or unreported by those same groups.

He became a trustee 26 years ago, way back in 1983.  Pat Dye was in his second year on the Plains.  That year, Auburn put up an 11-1 record, including a Sugar Bowl win and a No. 2 final ranking in the Coaches Poll.

The year before, Dye snapped a nine-game Alabama winning streak, and it seemed like Auburn was finally poised to on Alabama as an equal.

A great friendship was forged between these two men that still is strong today. 

However, 10 years later, following one of the nation's most embarrassing NCAA investigations that even made CBS's "60 Minutes" program, the NCAA placed blame at the feet of Dye, who they said should have known, as Athletic Director, that such things were going on.

That and back-to-back five win seasons made Lowder call his call his old buddy and break the news that after having to step down as Athletic Director the year before, that he was now going to have to give up his coaching job also.

Lowder wanted a younger and more energetic coach to lead the program and to build it into a machine like "Bear" Bryant had done at Alabama and Bobby Bowden had done at Florida State.  Who better then then than a younger, Bowden who seemed to fit the bill.

Using Dye's recruits, Auburn pulled of a stunning 11-0 season in his first year, but because of probation they couldn't go to a bowl and because of TV bans, nobody outside the stadium saw any of these wins.

Though many saw Bowden as the next great thing, insiders, reporters and Lowder though that Bowden was in over his head as he was too immature to lead this team. 

According to Lowder, he did not recruit well, was not liked by most of the high school coaches and seemed to have problems running and controlling the players.

To complicate matters he strained relationships with many boosters and many thought he was condescending.   At least this was what Bobby was telling other board members.

So in 1998 following a miserable 1-5 start, he could see the writing on the wall.  He demanded to know if he was secure in his job and the answer was a deafening no.

Lowder decided it was time for "the little general" as he called him, to go and let it be known.  Bowden subsequently quit but was paid out and assistant coach Bill Oliver finished the season out.

There is no denying that Bowden brought excitement and wins, but being a young coach and having to put up with the pressure put on him by the board was just too much.

Lowder was now ready to find someone who had a LOT of experience and a history of winning and his eyes fell on Tommy Tuberville.  A good recruiter, well liked by high school coaches and a favorite of the press.

Negotiations weren't going well at first and Tuberville publicly announced two days prior to being the head coach at Auburn, "They’ll have to carry me out of here in a pine box.”  (Referring to always remaining as the coach at Ole Miss)

In the end, the lure was made sweeter and Tuberville happily forgot his promise to stay and showed up to tell his Ole Miss players he was leaving while wearing an Auburn sweater.

That hire proved to be a good one, and Tommy's friendship with Lowder was strong until the 2003 "Jetgate" scandal and Auburn's three straight losses to SEC schools. 

How much power did Bobby possess at this time?  So much that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the regional accrediting agency, placed the university on probation, threatening to pull their status as an accredited college.  This would, in effect, make an Auburn degree worthless.

The agency cited the micromanagement by Lowder and the board of trustees, saying Auburn failed to prove that the university president has "ultimate control over the athletics program" as well as failing to prove that the board isn't controlled by "a minority of board members."

So strong was Lowder's control that former Auburn President William Muse, who was forced out by Bobby in 2001, that he not only impacted all personnel moves, but day-to-day decisions like ticket pricing and scheduling.

In fact the board was stuffed with people who owed much to Lowder such as his personal lawyer, being a member of his bank's board of directors, owning millions of dollars of stock in his bank, or borrowing millions from it.

The fact that Lowder would go behind a coach's back to start talking to another coach shouldn't have come as a surprise to Tommy.  Almost a year before Terry Bowden was finally let go, Tuberville met secretly at Lowder's home to start feeling each other out.

Lowder thought it was time for a change, Tuberville felt betrayed and subsequently shut out Lowder from team and coaches' meetings and parties.  The two became bitter enemies after that.

Tuberville enjoyed snubbing Lowder and as long as he continued to win, he could continue to snub all he wanted.  Following the next year's undefeated season, many saw Lowder's power over the football program diminish.

Since Tuberville's departure, coaches have begun speaking about what an uneasy time that was.  They all knew they were one bad season from losing the confidence of the fans, who had kept them in power, and into the hands of the board who wanted Tuberville gone at any cost.

In the end, despite Lowder losing his position at Colonial Bank and most of his fortune when the bank stock, which was the cornerstone of his net worth fell from almost $27 a share to 29 cents in March, he still had enough chips to cash in to get Tommy fired.

So why Chizik?  There are lots of reasons, most of which were covered in the article http://bleacherreport.com/articles/93946-intrigue-conspiracy-and-a-great-story-may-have-gotten-gene-chizik-a-job

But in Lowder's mind, the year before the "Jetgate" scandal, he saw Bobby Petrino invigorate a stale Auburn offense and set his eyes on the next new coach. 

Years later, he remembered the young defensive coordinator who had recruiting so well and seemed to get along with all the other coaches that same year. If he couldn't get one, why not get the other?

That man was Gene Chizik.

Though the story goes that Lowder was backed into a corner to pick a coach quickly and for other reasons, in Chizik, Bobby saw a coach who would respond to his wishes and saw a chance for his old buddy Pat Dye to reassert a little influence over the new program.

Though fans both for and against Auburn will mostly remember Lowder as being a "meddling" booster and board member, it would be hard to argue that his "meddling" wasn't a good thing for Auburn.

History may ultimately judge him on the success or failure of his last hire, Gene Chizik, but that may not be fair, considering all the positive other things he has done for the school and athletic program.

In the end, his 26 years on the board mark the best 26 years of Auburn's football and scholastic history, and that should be how he is remembered.