Jeff Bower (American football)

Jeff Bower (born May 28, 1953) is an American football coach, most recently at the University of Southern Mississippi. He assumed the role of head coach at Southern Miss on December 2, 1990, and held it for 17 years until November 26, 2007, when he resigned effective after the Papajohns.com Bowl which was played on December 22, 2007. Under his tutelage, the Golden Eagles put together a continuing streak of fourteen straight winning seasons, the 5th longest streak in college football. Bower's Southern Miss teams had also been to bowl games 10 of the last 11 seasons.

High school
Jeff Bower grew up in Roswell, Georgia, where he attended Roswell High School. He led the football team to two state championships and became an eventual prep All-American, one of the school's first. He also started for two State Champion Baseball teams and one State Champion Basketball squad. He was named Class A Player of the year and played in the State All-Star game.

Playing
Bower started his career at the University of Georgia before transferring to Southern Miss. He started as quarterback in 1973. His career records from 1973-75 are still in the top 5 for many of the School's passing statistics, including #3 all time in Passing percentage.

Coaching
Bower spent 29 years at the University of Southern Mississippi as a quarterback, assistant coach and head coach. He was quite successful, with a long career and many wins. He was named "Coach of the Decade" by Conference USA in 2004.