Jeff Bowerman has liked what he's seen out of Siloam Springs' junior high football teams from the opposing sidelines the last couple of years.
He's happy to be on the Panthers' side now.
Bowerman, who's spent the last two seasons as head football coach at Springdale Lakeside, was hired as the Panthers' new assistant football coach by the Siloam Springs School Board in a meeting on Tuesday night.
"I've been watching Siloam Springs the last few years, and I can see it on the train track," Bowerman said. "I feel blessed that the good Lord opened the door for me to be in the program."
Bowerman's hiring fills the hole on the football staff that opened up when Scott Bohlman resigned his seventh-grade football coaching job in the spring.
However, there are some changes at hand with the football staff that go along with the new addition.
Bowerman will coach varsity defensive line for the Panthers, while Dwain Pippin will move to the offensive side of the ball to coaching running backs and tight ends.
Alan Hardcastle will move to seventh-grade football in an effort to give him more time to spend as head coach with the baseball program.
"We're happy with the way we were able to fit everything together," said Siloam Springs head football coach Bryan Ross. "We feel lucky to get coach Bowerman."
Bowerman is a former all-state linebacker at Fayetteville High School who went on to play football for the Arkansas Razorbacks in the early 1990s, though by his own admission he didn't receive any playing time.
He went into private business for several years before going back to school and earning his teaching credentials.
While finishing his certification, Bowerman volunteered at Springdale Har-Ber under head coach Chris Wood and helped the Wildcats to a state finals appearance in 2007 and semifinals berth in 2008. He coached a year as an assistant at Mountain Home and then moved into the junior high ranks in Van Buren before being hired as head football coach at upstart Springdale Lakeside a couple of years ago.
The young, inexperienced Lakeside football program didn't win a game in his tenure there, but it wasn't anything Bowerman shied away from as evidenced by it being listed on his resume.
That was impressive to Ross.
"He sees coaching is about more than wins or losses," Ross said. "That's what we want on our staff. We want to win, but we're here to make a difference in kids' lives."
Said Bowerman about his time at Lakeside: "We didn't win a football game. It was very humbling. ... It's the best junior high conference in the state."
Bowerman said he wasn't looking to leave Lakeside but was encouraged to inquire about the Siloam Springs opening by Siloam Springs assistant coach Zach Pruitt and Hardcastle, who both volunteered at Har-Ber at the same time Bowerman did.
"I feel like God put this in my lap," said Bowerman, who will teach social studies at Siloam Springs High School. He'll be an assistant softball coach in the spring.
Bowerman said he's fired up about joining the Panthers' staff. He made his Siloam Springs debut last Monday night during 7-on-7 action at Panther Stadium after spending all day with defensive coordinator Marc Jones and Pruitt reviewing film from last year.
"I sat down Monday with coach Jones and coach Pruitt and we watched every game," Bowerman said. "We were sitting there laughing because the D-line is kind of their anchor. We're like joking around saying 'don't mess it up.' My thing is I was impressed with those guys. They go hard every single play. You don't have to motivate.
"To me defensively, I think we've got a chance to be great."
Ross said there are no concerns about moving Pippin to the offensive side of the football. He coaches offense as head eighth-grade coach.
"He's coached it all at one point or another. I have no worries about that," Ross said.
Assistant baseball coach hired
The district also approved the hiring of Jordan "Craig" Cowart as assistant baseball coach at Tuesday night's meeting. The position was previously vacated by Bohlman's resignation.
Cowart comes to Siloam Springs from Porterville, Calif., where he coaches football, baseball and basketball. He'll teach seventh- and eighth-grade science at Siloam Springs Middle School.
Sports on 07/12/2015