Football School – Bowling Green State University is Now The First Ever MAC Program With an Endowed Head Coaching Position
Toledo Blade— Bowling Green State University on Thursday announced the creation of the Mid-American Conference’s first endowed head football coaching position, thanks to a $2 million gift from alumni Mike and Jan Wilcox.
The endowment establishes the Mike and Jan Wilcox Head Football Coach, a post now held by Eddie George, the former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL star hired on March 9.
The donation will support the football program in perpetuity and help fund a future facility project.
“We’re doing it for the program and to pay back the experience and opportunities that were given to us by BGSU,” Wilcox said. “The significance of Eddie George and what he’s already brought to Bowling Green is very exciting and transformational.
“However you want to slice it, football is the front porch of the University. When you have a successful football program, it’s going to positively impact student enrollment. There are so many trickle-down benefits to this gift that I believe we’ll see going forward.”
In the last six months, my small town alma mater Bowling Green Falcons, who have somehow managed to fund an NCAA Division I FBS College Football program all these years, have decided to take football seriously. Not that they've ever been too terrible for too long of a stretch. We have a decent history. Bowling Green has always been a sneaky great springboard for college football coaches to make a name for themselves before moving onto somewhere bigger. Dave Clawson won a MAC Championship before landing the head coaching job at Wake Forest. Dino Babers won a MAC Championship before moving onto Syracuse (and was low-key one good season away from landing a legitimately premier college football job before it all went to shit on him). And of course, for two years back in the day, Urban Meyer had Bowling Green humming on his way to becoming one of the greatest coaches in college football history.
Bowling Green was idling for a bit in recent years, but caught lighting in a bottle last season as we nearly made the MAC Championship on the back of a single player in Harold Fannin, who seemingly out of nowhere broke every single season tight end record in the book. Then by the grace of God, our head coach Scott Loeffler, who who some people will try to tell you is a good head coach (to the point that I was convinced Bowling Green would be content sticking with him and finishing with 7 or 8 wins for the rest of eternity)... For whatever reason, Scott Loeffler up and left Bowling Green by accepting the job as Philadelphia Eagles QB Coach in late February, way after the coaching carousel should have ended. And right when you thought Bowling Green was about to settle for some random offensive coordinator who ran an exceedingly average ACC offense, we decided to do something cool and take a swing for Eddie George.
It's been a fantastic move in my mind. I think schools like Bowling Green should always lean towards making fun and aggressive staffing moves like hiring big name ex-NFL stars. Why not? What do we have to lose? Especially considering the position we were in, sitting there in early March without a head coach. Eddie George had been wanting to break into the FBS. He had improved the Tennessee State football program year after year. Hiring Eddie George is an exciting thing for a place like Bowling Green. People in Bowling Green would be fired up to see Eddie George eating at Fricker's, let alone have him actually be on our campus on a daily basis leading our football team. And from what I've heard, by all accounts, he's been exceptionally gracious towards anybody who's seen him around town. People says he's been willing to stop and talk to complete strangers. He's not big timing anyone. In interviews, he always speaks highly of Bowling Green as a school, and as a place to live. He's done everything we hoped he would do so far as representative of our school.
Now he's our first ever "Mike and Jan Wilcox Head Football Coach". Honestly, when I first read the sentence, "Eddie George will be the inaugural Mike and Jan Wilcox Head Football Coach at BGSU", I didn't know what the hell it meant. I'm still a little confused as to exactly what the significance of it is. To me it kinda just seems like a different way of classifying a donation. But BGSU alumn Mike Wilcox, the CEO of Wilcox Financial & Wilcox Sports Management, and his wife Jan just gave Bowling Green $2 million to have the BGSU head coaching position named after them. It's an endowment that will allegedly support our football program in perpetuity.
I can't help but think we're going need a little more than $2 million in the bank to last for perpetuity, but $2 million is $2 million. That's a lot of money for a MAC program. By establishing the Mike and Jan Wilcox Head Football Coach, Bowling Green becomes the first MAC school with an endowed head coaching position. Something I genuinely did not know existed until a few hours ago, but apparently is a trend in college football. The idea is a donor gives a large amount of money to a school, and that money is invested to generate income to help fund the program. If you're the lucky donor to get that ball rolling for your school, that means the head coach is named after you. Eddie George is now officially Bowling Green State University's Mike and Jan Wilcox Head Football Coach. It has a nice ring to it.
Other schools to have hopped on this trend are Michigan Wolverines, where Sherrone Moore ins the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach. James Franklin is Penn State's Bob and Elizabeth Harbaugh Head Football Coach. Tony Elliot is the Fralin Family Head Football coach at Virginia. And Frank Reich is the interim Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football at Stanford.
Not the worst company for a school like Bowling Green to be with. I know other schools are essentially printing $2 million donations. I'd imagine a $2 million donation at Ohio State is what it costs to get your name on a brick in the stadium. But $2 million will go a long way at our humble northwest Ohio university. At the very least, it's a sign that people are excited about Bowling Green football. Or at least one family with a little bit of money to throw around is. We were even in the New York Times today.
Apparently Eddie George was also on Broadway. He starred in Chicago alongside Brandy. Who knew. The man has lived a hell of a life.
So thank you Mike and Jan Wilcox. Big things are coming in Bowling Green. Talons up.