TechSBP pretty much hit the nail on the head, and did so in a very diplomatic manner. For reasons not germane to this issue, I was closely involved in some Auburn development projects as they related to a firm that I was doing an IPO for at the time. In this capacity I had daily interface with the prime movers and shakers there. which included Bowden's nemesis, uber-Tiger / War Eagle Bobby Lowder, probably the single most "hands-on" trustee of any university this side of Oral Roberts (a cheap shot, I admit, but you have to admit the superlative low hanging fruit factor). Bowden asked for and received a strikingly high level of university and alumni support there, both financially and socially, which was granted in the reasonable expectation that he would not only succeed on the field but help to establish himself and through his efforts the university as well as a positive true paradigm force in the region, prior sullied reputation notwithstanding. This admirable endeavor followed such embarrassments as actually qualifying for graduation certain flat-out illiterates, most notably James Brooks, and using the football team as white mice way back in the "bad old days" of steroid research decades ago. Auburn's social niceties and academics were regarded as a joke and Bowden was thought to be the guy to start making things better, just as his Daddy, St. Bobby of Tallahassee had done for FSU.
Bowden followed a pattern of extremely questionable yet high profile behavior, particularly in the case of then named co-ed student(s) in a town with nothing much to talk about other than the football team, and his outrageous lack of discretion followed by a "you know how much it's gonna cost ya'll to pay me off?" attitude put him on an unavoidable slippery slope to termination. How Bowden handled it was probably worse than what he did, and this is part of the basis of why he hasn't been welcomed by another desperate university since then.
Mr. Bowden is absolutely NOT the answer.
