Coach Dick Bowzer Oct. 29, 2008

Central's Bowzer--41 seasons of coaching winners

by Scott Kretzmann

At Central College, Dick Bowzer is part of a small club alongside names like Penn State’s Joe Paterno and John Gagliardi of St. John’s: football coaches who have spent 40 or more years at a single college.

While Paterno and Gagliardi garner headlines, Bowzer quietly spends his 41st season at Central as the longest-tenured assistant football coach in Division III and likely in the U.S. He’s known to few beyond the Pella campus, but he’s yet to experience a losing season and is a pillar of one of America’s most successful small-college football programs.

“He brings a historical perspective, and he knows that there are things that we’ve done in the past and have worked well in the past,” said Central’s head football coach Jeff McMartin. “He shows a sense of family and tradition in our program. He shows great loyalty to the program, and that’s important for the players and coaches to see.”

His devotion comes from his days as a four-sport athlete at Central. After graduating in 1966, Bowzer earned his master’s degree in exercise science before returning as a faculty member and an assistant football and basketball coach.

Bowzer followed his Jackson (Mich.) High School coach, Ron Schipper, to Central, where Schipper embarked on a 36-year hall of fame career. Before McMartin, Bowzer also coached with Rich Kacmarynski (1997-2003). It has been the coaching transitions that have taught him the importance of tradition.

“It’s been about coming to grips with the new things while helping Coach McMartin with the transition and helping to understand what was significant in the past,” Bowzer said. “It’s tough to change everything in a successful program. You need to understand the tradition and what we want to continue and decide what we want to address during the transition.”

Coach Dick BowzerOffenses and defenses change, but along with Bowzer’s presence, the one constant over the last 40 years at Central has been instilling family and discipline in the football program.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is there are a lot of ways to experience success,” said Bowzer, who has been a part of 25 Iowa Conference title winners. “As the coach or the teacher you have to do it your way and get the players to buy into your belief system.”

That means students expecting the best from themselves.

“I won’t allow someone to slide by on a C or a D, or even a B,” said Bowzer. “I will encourage them to get help and see me and find someone who can help them. You can’t make a person do that, but if they’re not doing as well as my expectations they hear from me.”

McMartin knows. He was a student of Bowzer’s at Central.

“He’s someone with a lot of knowledge who really cares,” said McMartin. “He has high expectations that you do your best. He did for me as a student and he does for me now as a coach.”

Bowzer continues to take on both his coaching and teaching responsibilities with passion, regularly spending up to 10 hours in an already hectic week meeting with students who need help in classes, as well as football players. McMartin, whose office is next to Bowzer’s, sees this often.

“I always see him working very hard for his classes,” McMartin said. “He’s always helping students and willing to sit down with them and make sure they understand the material, and then coming out to practice. He’s helping us get better every day.”

Many in Bowzer’s shoes would have left for a head coaching job elsewhere long ago. But Bowzer cherishes his opportunity to be both faculty member and coach.

“The thing that trips my trigger about doing both is that I want my players to see someone that is a professional as a teacher to go out and do the same as a coach,” Bowzer said.

Though the setting changes, Bowzer sees a lot of overlap between his two primary roles at Central.

“They’re both teaching and they’re both coaching,” he said.

However, there’s no question about how Bowzer wants to be addressed.

“I prefer to be Coach Bowzer,” he said. “There’s something more involved with coaching than with being a classroom teacher.”

But whether he spends time with a student who’s working for a grade or working for a spot in the lineup, he has the same goals for them.

“I want them to learn to do two things: be self-accountable on a daily basis and have the discipline and focus to do things the right way every day; and to decide what is they want,” said Bowzer.

 “For me, it’s about learning what they want and helping them learn how to get there.”

That’s what keeps Bowzer coming back after 41 years.