UB linebacker Shaun Dolac is a West Seneca East graduate who was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year in football.
The priority for Joe Bowen during his initial trip to Oxford, Ohio, in July 2011 wasn't locating the important Miami University landmarks - things such as the dorm, dining hall and bookstore.
The usual kind of orientation could wait, because Bowen was committed to having an unusual kind of college experience. He wanted to major in coaching football.
"The first place we went was the football office to drop off his résumé," said Bowen's dad, Dan.
A month later, before he attended his first class, Joe began working for the Redhawks' football program, starting a path that has been equal parts gradual and meteoric.
Gradual because he purposely took a unique and winding path to four programs before accepting his first full-time job, but meteoric because he was hired as the University at Buffalo's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at 31.
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Bowen traded the traditional college life for long mornings before class and long nights after class, earning a finance degree as a fallback option. He coached offense and defense, broke down opponents' video tapes, made photocopies. And he loved every minute of it.
"I thought (Miami) was a Division I program where I could get involved in right away, and I just loved being around the game," Bowen said. "I loved the X-and-O side of football, but I loved being part of something bigger than yourself."
UB is benefitting from Bowen's years of crash-course learning at Miami, Michigan State, Florida State, South Carolina and Miami again. He was one of Pete Lembo's first calls last offseason when Lembo was hired as UB's coach. The two had stayed in touch after being on the South Carolina staff.
Taking a chance on a first-year coordinator, in general, and an ultra-young first-time coordinator, in particular, suggests a level of risk, but Lembo wanted what Bowen could provide to a building program. Energy and an ability to connect with players, juice and expertise.
"Joe is 100 miles per hour," said Harlon Barnett, a former longtime Michigan State assistant coach who was responsible for hiring Bowen in East Lansing. "He goes, goes, goes, and his energy is infectious. I'm sure those kids (at UB) feel it. When kids know you care, that's all you need, and Joe - that dude cares about the players, cares about winning and cares about succeeding."
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"I was always fighting to create a better life for myself," Murdock said. "I've wanted a lot better. There was never any sort of quit in me."
The Bulls improved from 3-9 last year to 8-4 this year, and they play Liberty in the Bahamas Bowl on Jan. 4.
On defense, under Bowen's stewardship, UB gave up 28 points per game (seventh in the MAC), but improved significantly stopping the run (11th to fifth) and sacks (11th to fourth). Bowen also serves as UB's linebackers coach, helping Shaun Dolac earn unanimous All-America honors.
"How he calls the plays, how he holds the standard in our position meetings, how he holds the defense accountable on the field - the amount of (Bowen's) growth has been tremendous," Dolac said.
Bowen's coaching life is just beginning, but his bank of memories is already overflowing. Everywhere he has been, important relationships have been forged.
"It's hard to put (this season) into words," said Bowen's wife, Colette. "This is really his dream, and his hard work has come to fruition."
'Cradle of coaches'
The box score referred to him as "Joey Bowen" on Nov. 27, 2010, when Bowen's Grand Rapids (Mich.) Central Catholic faced Williamston for the Division 4 state title at Ford Field. The box score should have referred to him as "game-clincher."
Bowen's interception with 26 seconds left sealed Central Catholic's 27-23 win. What a way to go out.
"I had a pretty good feeling that was going to be my last (football) game," he said. "I thought I was a pretty good high school player, but didn't have a lot of opportunities. But I knew I wanted to coach."
Bowen, one of Dan and Sherry Bowen's four children (they have two sons and two daughters), had Division II football feelers and considered hockey or lacrosse at the small-school level. His parents thought he would choose Michigan or Boston College.
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UB's support staff will have a few extra bucks in their pocket to spend on holiday gifts ... or to take to the Bahamas, as the Bulls leave Jan. 1 for the tropics.
But citing Miami's "cradle of coaches" - a stable that includes legendary teachers such as Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian, Weeb Ewbank, Paul Brown and Sid Gillman and current Super Bowl-winning coaches John Harbaugh and Sean McVay - Bowen chose Miami.
What better place to start his path toward coaching than Miami, Bowen believed.
"He's a passionate kid, so you want to feed that, and we were very supportive of him (coaching)," Dan Bowen said.
When Dan and Sherry visited the Miami campus early in Joe's freshman year, they knew the coaching thing was real, and Joe wasn't turning back.
"That's one thing as a parent you just know," Dan said.
Shaun Dolac makes UB football history, becomes first consensus All-American
Dolac, a linebacker for the Bulls, on Tuesday was named a first-team All-America selection by the Football Writers Association of America, which makes him UB's first consensus All-American.
In Joe's first season at Miami, the goal was fitting into the program and accepting and volunteering for any task, no matter how small. As an administrative assistant of sorts, he essentially aided the graduate assistant before becoming an offensive intern in 2013. Entering Bowen's senior year, new Miami coach Chuck Martin assigned him to the quarterbacks, an informational boon for a former defensive player.
"Great players and great coaches, the game makes sense to them," Martin said. "The game has always just made sense to Joe, even when he was a student assistant."
Bowen completed his finance degree in 2015 and stayed at Miami for two seasons as a graduate assistant before Martin made a call that kick-started Bowen's career.
Graduate assistant route
Barnett was Michigan State's defensive backs coach in 2017, and was looking for a graduate assistant. Martin called to recommend Bowen, calling him "phenomenal."
"Sure enough, we loved him," said Barnett, now the assistant head coach/defensive backs coach at Northwestern.
Barnett loved Bowen to the point that once Barnett was hired as Florida State's defensive coordinator in 2018, he brought Bowen with him to Tallahassee. Bowen worked with the inside linebackers in 2018 and 2020, sandwiching the 2019 season coaching the outside linebackers, albeit with the graduate assistant title.
In 2021, South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White was in "dire need" of a linebackers coach who was still a graduate assistant. White didn't know Bowen, but again, colleagues recommended him.
"Joe was the definition of a passionate coach," White said. "He was exactly what I was looking for. He set the standard very high and made sure the linebackers were coached up at a high level."
Bowen was nearing 30 years old and still a graduate assistant. The NCAA allows for a seven-year clock for GAs once they receive their undergrad degree. Was he getting antsy? What was the rationale? He thought working at a major program was better for his development than a full-time job at a lower level, and he wanted to be on the field coaching the players, instead of serving as an analyst.
Before the NCAA changed the rule in June, graduate assistants could participate in on-field coaching, but analysts could not.
"I didn't play at a high level, so I wanted to stay at the highest level for as long as I could," Bowen said. "I was trying to be a sponge."
Said Colette, who met Joe when they were high school seniors and married in February 2021: "Joe has always had the ability to be really thoughtful and intentional with the roles he's been in and wanted to be around the best of the best."
His apprenticeships completed, Bowen returned to Miami and worked two years for Martin as linebackers coach and run game coordinator.
The Redhawks had the Mid-American Conference's top-ranked scoring defense and run defense in 2022, and won the 2023 league title.
UB hired Lembo on Jan. 21, and he hired Bowen a week later. Colette was on a work trip in Arizona when Joe called him with the official news.
"By the time I had gotten back (to Ohio), he was already on his way to Buffalo," she said.
'Incredible presence'
Lembo will occasionally pop into UB's defensive meeting room when that week's game plan is being installed.
"There is no doubt and no question who's in charge," Lembo said. "Joe has an incredible presence and he's able to think on his feet, which is really important because our meetings are very interactive. He might get a question from a corner or a linebacker or a defensive tackle, and he has to know the whole thing in and out, and he does."
Bowen has experienced the usual ups and downs of a new coordinator. UB had a four-game stretch at midseason in which it allowed 48, 47, 30 and 48 points, but the Bulls went 2-2. They allowed 27 points in wins over Eastern Michigan and Kent State to wrap up the regular season.
Dolac, who transferred back to UB after spring football and met for hours getting a crash course in Bowen's defense, made 159 tackles and was named a consensus All-American.
"We kind of got stalemated (at midseason), but he stayed poised and made sure we continued to do the little things right," Dolac said. "He's full of energy every single day, and we go into the meeting room and it's about getting ready to work."
Dolac laughed when asked his age - he's 23, and his defensive coordinator and position coach is only eight years older. But Bowen has used that to his advantage, because it wasn't so long ago that he was trying to balance football (as a student coach) and class.
"He has a unique ability to connect with people and build relationships," Colette Bowen said. "Joe meets his players where they're at, and he approaches each player in a different way. He doesn't have a 'one size fits all (approach).' He really gets to know the talent and gifts of the individual player, and puts them in position to be successful."
Bowen said this season has been "awesome," and he's having a "blast" calling the UB defense and creating bonds with the defensive linemen and defensive backs after previously coaching linebackers. He aspires to be a head coach, but as his career path confirms, he will be deliberate in his choices. It has worked so far.
"I'm trying to grow every single day and learn and get better," Bowen said. "You try and take bits and pieces from everybody and make it your own. It's obviously been really fun (this season) and really enjoyable. It's a pleasure to come to work every day."
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