New York Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles was born on Nov. 18, 1963. He grew up in Elizabeth, NJ in the now-demolished Pioneer Homes projects. His mother, Joan, raised four kids while juggling two jobs. In his youth, Bowles helped turn the Elizabeth High School football team around before playing college football at Temple, where he served as a captain for Bruce Arians, now the coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Bowles wasn’t drafted out of college, but the Washington Redskins signed him; he made the team and was a member of its 1987 Super Bowl-winning squad. Bowles retired from the NFL in 1993 at the age of 30. After retiring, he spent time owning a gym and construction company before working as a scout for the Packers.
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Early Coaching Days
At 33, Bowles entered the haphazard profession of coaching, beginning his career at Morehouse College as defensive coordinator under his former Washington teammate Doug Williams. Bowles joined Williams at Grambling State in 1998 and ran the defense there for two years before joining the Jets as the team’s defensive backs coach. He worked for the Browns for four years, then coached the Dallas secondary from 2005-2007 and later joined the Dolphins as the team’s secondary coach and assistant head coach.
Bowles’ first head coaching experience in the NFL came in Miami after the Dolphins dismissed Tony Sparano and named him interim head coach. Miami won two of three games under Bowles and he was the first candidate Miami owner Stephen Ross and former GM Jeff Ireland interviewed for the job, but he left for Philadelphia after the organization hired Joe Philbin.
New Beginnings
Todd Bowles was promoted from secondary coach to defensive coordinator during the 2012 season, when the Eagles fired Juan Castillo in October. He left to reunite with his old college coach when he accepted a job as defensive coordinator of the Cardinals after Arizona hired Arians as its head coach in 2013.
Bowles interviewed for six head coaching jobs in the five years before the Jets hired him in 2015. On June 23, 2015, he spoke at his alma mater and told graduates to find something that motivates them. His exact words were, “There’s no place that taught me more about survival skills, whether it’s on the street or whether it’s in the classroom, than Elizabeth High School.”
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