Bob Bowlsby has no intention of being Northern Iowa's permanent athletics director
Bob Bowlsby said a few times Wednesday afternoon that he’s not returning to Northern Iowa to become the school's permanent athletics director. He’ll be the interim athletics director, but anything beyond that is out of the question.
“During my first month on the job, I’m going to turn 72,” he said during a half-hour Zoom call with reporters. “The likelihood of me taking a full-time job at any point in time in the future is very, very remote.
“I had the opportunity to be the interim once before, and it turned into a full-time job. I don’t think it’s going to work that way this time.
“I don’t think it’ll be a six-month engagement. I think it’s probably more of a three- or four-month engagement.”
Bowlsby was the Panthers' athletics director from 1983 to 1991, then served as AD at Iowa and Stanford, then as Big 12 Conference commissioner before retiring in 2022.
When Northern Iowa president Mark Nook called Bowlsby last week, asking if he would temporarily fill the void left when David Harris became Tulane’s athletics director, he pondered, then said yes.
“I said if you want me to do it, I will do it for a short period of time,” Bowlsby told reporters. “It’s a good way for me to give back. It was hard for me to say no.
“I know a lot of the staff. I also know there are challenges. I’m going to need to get quickly up to speed on what those are so that I can keep the ship sailing in the direction it’s intended.”
More: Bob Bowlsby to serve as interim athletics director at Northern Iowa
The Waterloo native made it clear he’s not on board just to sign paychecks. He’ll likely play some kind of role in hiring the next athletics director.
“Hiring a new athletics director is a collaborative process,” he said. “We’ll draw upon my professional contacts. I think we’ll likely use an executive search firm.
“I expect when the time comes, that hire will be made by president Nook and the senior leadership. If they want my input, I’ll certainly provide it.”
What else did Bowlsby say?
About being an athletics director during these always-changing times
“It’s never been more difficult to be a Division I athletics director than it is tight now, whether it has to do with name, image and likeness, the transfer portal or the multitude of lawsuits that are alleging one thing or another,” he said. “There’s plenty of turbulence and acrimony to go around. UNI is a little below the radar in that.”
Bowlsby said challenges exist everywhere, regardless of NCAA classification.
“We’re blessed with good facilities, yet that doesn’t mean we don’t have facility challenges,” he said. “We’re blessed with a great academic institution, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have challenges in that arena as well. I think I can probably help with assessing that.”
About his family’s reaction to returning home, albeit temporarily
“They were proud that I was giving back and going back to my roots,” said Bowlsby, who lives in the Dallas area. “In (wife) Candy’s case, I’m not sure she’s fully adjusted to my retirement. She may be overjoyed at the prospect of having me out of the house for a while.
“Three of our children were born in Cedar Falls. One in Iowa City. Our roots are deep.”
On recent Northern Iowa athletic directors landing jobs at more prestigious colleges
Tulane has hired Northern Iowa's last two ADs – Troy Dannen and David Harris.
Bowlsby went from Northern Iowa to Iowa, then Stanford.
“It’s a great place,” he said of the Cedar Falls institution. “It has tremendous facilities. It has great tradition, but more than anything else, it has terrific people. It hasn’t just been athletics directors that have moved on. There have been lots of wonderful people come through Northern Iowa. It’s proven to be a great springboard.”
About giving the coaches in Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game their first major jobs
That would be Bowlsby-hire Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, who Bowlsby hired at Stanford in 2007.
“I take pride in the people that I’ve hired,” he said. “Terry Allen was the winningest coach in FCS when he left UNI. Kirk Ferentz – they called me everything but a good Christian for hiring Kirk Ferentz. He’s now one of the longest-sitting head coaches in the country.”
Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, on X @RandyPete, and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bob Bowlsby talks about many topics, including Ferentz and Harbaugh
