In our latest edition of Hawkeye Conversations, we catch up with Ryan Bowen. The Iowa native starred for the Hawkeyes in the mid-90's during the Tom Davis era. He goes in-depth about his high school years and the recruiting process that led to him staying home at Iowa. We look back at his Iowa career and his time in the NBA. Then we wrap up discussing his transition to coaching, including being a part of Fran McCaffery's staff and now being a part of the Denver Nuggets organization.
Q: Before we really get into your Iowa history and recruiting, you are on the Nuggets staff and I think you guys were one of the last NBA games before everything got shut down, right?
BOWEN: I think we were one of the last games played. It was what turned out to be the night where everything stopped. We talk about it quite a bit. The OKC game was actually kind of ground zero.
It was kind of strange that day because we had been hearing things basically all day about things possibly changing for us and even some thinking that things were going to just come to a stop for a little bit. The game started and I think it was during the first quarter we caught wind that the other game in OKC was going to be postponed.
Then midway into the third quarter we heard that the commissioner had suspended the season. It was interesting how it trickled through the team and the crowd in real time. I sit in the second row behind the bench and I could hear people talking, so our attention was on that and the game. Our players were talking about it and wondering why we were still playing and things like that.
It was amazing how it all unfolded. After the game we didn’t know if we were going to be able to fly out or if we were going to continue on with our road trip. We were supposed to fly to San Antonio and then it was are we doing that and then going home. There was so much going on and it was actually kind of surreal.
Q: So did someone eventually just explain everything in the locker room and then you just head home to Denver from Dallas?
BOWEN: Well, we ended up losing the game. Coach came in and talked and then our GM was on the trip and he spoke real quick and then our trainer spoke. He was still finalizing the plan. Our hotel in Dallas was already booked, so we couldn’t go there and we didn’t know if we were allowed to fly.
It was just strange to figure out the detail for a little while, but about 15 minutes later the trainer said we were cleared to fly to Denver. Our trainer was actually trying to get it figured out during the game.
Q: Let’s talk about what recruiting was like for a kid from Ft. Madison and trying to get recruiting exposure. Was it Coach Bigler taking you places or did you get out to play AAU and get seen there? How did that work?
BOWEN: I played for an AAU team after my freshman year in high school. Before that I had always played with a group in Ft. Madison going back to like fifth or sixth grade. A guy named George Wright organized a little circuit that we would play. So we would end up in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines playing against other teams.
Then I think we ended up playing in an event in the 8th grade against a team from the Waterloo Boys Club. Mac McCausland was the coach of the team and Kent was on the team. We ended up winning that game and I remind Kent about it. (laugh) Then my freshman year I played for a team out of Keokuk with players from Ft. Madison, Marquette, Central Lee and schools like that. I was playing up and playing in the highest division. We played up in Minnesota.
Then the next couple of summers I don’t even really remember playing a whole lot of AAU type stuff. Coach Bigler had come in and we did a lot of team camps. My freshman year we went to the camp at UNI team camp. That was my first exposure to college coaches and I met Eldon Miller at the team camp and he watched a few of my games. That was when they actually started recruiting me because of what I was able to do at the team camp.
It wasn’t until after my junior year when I jumped back on the AAU circuit. I got a call from Mac and he wanted to know if I would play for the Waterloo Boys Club. He said he and Kent were talking about the game in 8th grade when I scored 50 on them and thought it would be neat to have every one of the top players to play together on an AAU team. That’s the team that had Raef LaFrentz, Kent, Klay Edwards, and myself on the team.
That year we ended up playing at the national AAU tournament in North Carolina and did really well. I think we got fifth or sixth in the tournament, which was pretty good for us. Then we played in Phoenix later that year too.
Q: I’m guessing having Raef on the team really helped you get exposure since he was one of the more highly recruited players in the country at the time.
BOWEN: (laugh) Yeah. I remember calling him back in that day. I remember actually playing against him at one of the team camps that Coach Bigler took us to. It might have been at Wartburg or something like that when we were freshmen. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but everyone knew who Raef was.
I remember before we went to the AAU Tournament in North Carolina, we went to the UNI team camp and Coach Miller was really pushing hard. He wanted me to commit before I went and played in this tournament. I always told him I was a huge Iowa fan and I wouldn’t say I was waiting for that offer, but my dream was to play at Iowa.
So we are getting ready to go and practicing in Waterloo before leaving for the event in North Carolina. We are in this small gym and it’s a who’s who of college coaches in there watching us practice. Coach Davis was there. Coach Miller was there. Roy Williams was there. I will never forget, we were staying at a house before we flew out and Mac said I think Iowa is going to start recruiting you. I will never forget that day because I was like, wow, they are starting to look at me. I remember back when I was at Iowa that Coach Davis would say that he watched me play 20 times before seeing me at that one practice that when he realized I could play for him.
Playing with Raef was huge for me because I wouldn’t have been seen to the level I was seen. Coach Davis wouldn’t have been there for sure. Then it also opened up opportunities for other schools to see me because all those coaches were there primarily to see Raef. I remember getting back from the tournament in North Carolina and getting a lot of calls from coaches. I played really well in that tournament and a lot of people started recruiting me.
Q: When does Dr. Tom sit down and tell you he would like you to be a Hawkeye?
BOWEN: Some other people jumped on board right away. I was keeping in touch with the Iowa coaches too. My sister went to school at Iowa and Coach Bigler made sure I went to camp there too, so I felt really comfortable at Iowa.
We got back from that tournament and I remember hearing from Coach Close and he said we are going to start recruiting you pretty hard. I remember I went on my official visit as early as I could to Iowa. We went to Iowa City and had a good time. Kevin Skillet was my host. I remember we finished out the weekend by going to see Coach Davis at his house. It was me, my parents, and Coach Davis and we said we really appreciate the visit and the program having me on the visit. I was pretty naïve at the time and I didn’t know if they offered me or not. I don’t think they ever said, we are offering you a scholarship. I was just so new to the whole thing. I talked to my parents after we left and I asked them, well did they offer me a scholarship or not?
Later on that week Coach Close came down to watch me at one of my cross country meets and then Coach Davis came over to the house for a home visit and I asked Coach Close about the scholarship and he said, of course we offered you a scholarship. What are you talking about and I said, well it wasn’t clear that day. It was just so confusing and I wasn’t highly recruited at the time. Then when I knew they offered it was a real game changer for me.
Q: Beyond Iowa and UNI were there other schools that tried to get involved recruiting you?
BOWEN: The two other schools that were involved were Iowa State and Arizona.
Lute jumped in and Jim Rosborough was my lead recruiter. He said Lute loves Iowa kids and all that kind of stuff. Then Johnny Orr was also involved. I took official visits to UNI, Iowa, and Arizona. I didn’t take an official visit to Iowa State, but I took plenty of unofficial visits there. My home visits were with Coach Orr, Coach Davis, and Lute. I remember Johnny and Lute came to my house on the same day. I told my mom that coaches were going to come to the house and she said why are they coming to the house? I said it was part of recruiting and I told her that Lute was coming to the house and I don’t think she ever believed me. So Sunday morning Lute and Jim Rosbrorough were standing at the door and I think she about fainted.
Coach Davis and Coach Close came in that one day. Coach Close had come to the cross country meet and I was never a very good cross country runner. I was on the JV team and then went to the house.
Q: When did you tell Dr. Tom you were coming? Was there a big plan there?
BOWEN: When he offered me and I figured out there was really an offer, then he told me there were only a certain number of scholarships available and if someone takes it then you know, it’s gone. He wasn’t being pushy, but he was letting me know.
Then I had to go see Northern Iowa and Arizona out of respect to those coaches. I was a little nervous in going. I think it was a one or two week period after I knew for sure I had the offer. I finished up going to Arizona and I was nervous all week thinking I should just do it and then I said no, I need to respect them and go out there.
I remember when I committed, it was during school. My dad was a teacher, so I remember going to his office and calling Coach Davis during my lunch hour. It wasn’t a big thing and I didn’t do it in-person or anything like that. I just called him up and told him I wanted to be a Hawkeye and that was my dream. Then I went back to the lunch room and I don’t think I told anyone what I had just done. By the end of school I think it had gotten out around school.
Q: You arrive in the fall of 1994 and you are a contributor right away with that team. You carved out a role playing with Settles, Woolridge, Kingsbury, Kenyon Murray, and Kent are there.
BOWEN: I went there the summer before my freshman year. I moved up to Iowa City and I had just started lifting and working out and I got a job washing cars at a local dealership. Kent and I would go lift in the afternoon and then we would go play pickup ball later in the evening. A lot of guys weren’t around in the summer.
They were taking a foreign trip that year and back then incoming freshmen weren’t allowed on those trips. So we were there just to watch them practice. We watched the two weeks of practice just to get a feel for what it was going to be like.
That summer I was also still playing high school baseball for Ft. Madison. I was traveling to the away games since they were closer than driving all the way home. I was a pitcher, so I actually only went to the games where I was pitching. I still kind of feel bad about that. I would pitch and then go back to Iowa City.
I will never forget the first day we got there to play pickup. There was a guy there and I was thinking who the heck is this guy? It was Darryl Moore. I remember thinking, this guy is a walk-on and he has been around the program, but I wasn’t sure he was even on the team. I asked around and they said he was a walk-on this year and I just thought, this guy is better than anyone I have ever played against and if he’s a walk-on, what the heck am I doing on scholarship? I was thinking there’s no way that I can ever play for this team and maybe I should have went to a smaller school.
In the end, I think it motivated me to keep getting better and to get stronger because I wanted to compete with these guys in practice. I kept thinking the guys were probably looking at me and thinking why is this guy on the team? Then I kept thinking that I am going to have to really bring it if I am ever going to play.
I remember that fall I talked to Coach Davis about the possibility of redshirting. I needed to get stronger and I needed to develop. As it turned out there were a couple of injuries and a guy was academically ineligible, so the way it happened I was kind thrown into the fire in my freshman year.
So I kind of went from thinking about a redshirt, to hey, you are not only playing, but you are playing a big part and I actually ended up starting a handful of games in my freshman year.
Q: What was it like playing with a great point guard like Andre Woolridge?
BOWEN: Andre was awesome to play with. Still to this day I can’t understand how things happened and why he wasn’t able to do those same things at the NBA level. He was as good of a point guard as there was in the country and he just made everything easy for everyone else.
I was a little intimidated early on because I kept thinking this guy is really good. Just to see how he ran the team and how he was able to put them in position to be successful was amazing. He was really huge for me and made me look good, probably more than I should have.
Q: Are there any games that kind of jump out to you in your career?
BOWEN: There are always a few games that always stick out to you in every season. In my freshman year I remember us going to the Rainbow Classic and we beat Duke. It was the first round of the tournament. Everyone wanted Duke and Arkansas in the championship game of that event. That was pretty special.
The NIT was fun that year. I think the first game we played was actually played in Moline against DePaul and they had Tom Kleinschmidt. I remember that game because it was a home game, but it was away. After that game we were on the bus and got our food. The DePaul coach at the time was Joey Meyer and his dad was Ray Meyer. So we are sitting there on the bus and Ray Meyer walks on to our bus. He grabs a box of food and sits down in the front seat. He opens up the box and say, hey we got some good food tonight and turns around and realizes he is on the wrong bus. He took his food and said, well, I’m going to take this if it’s alright with you guys and left.
In my sophomore year, I remember I broke my hand and missed some time.
Q: Two games in your sophomore year that always jump out to me. The Great Alaskan Shootout win over UCONN and then the NCAA game against George Washington when Millard went nuts and you guys came back late in the second half.
BOWEN: For whatever reason that UCONN game gets shown a lot on the BTN.
I think the first game we played against Ohio and I had a big rebounding game in that one. For some reason my knee was all taped up. Then we played UCONN and Kingsbury was talking non-stop to Ray Allen. I remember one time Ray Allen was saying they are in a box and one and Kingsbury looks at him and says, we are not in a box and one. Kingsbury hit all kinds of deep shots in that game. Then coming down the stretch we called a pick and roll play and I am getting the rip screen to go for the lob and Andre has the option to shoot or go for the lob and I am looking at him. I remember saying to him before that, hey, I don’t think I am going to be open on this, so only throw it if I am wide open. I did catch it and finish it and that was a go ahead basket in that game. Unfortunately the next game we lost to Duke. We had a lead and couldn’t hold on to it.
The game that I broke my hand in was against Michigan State. We were up huge. I think 20 or 30 points and I went in for a steal really late and hit a guys leg and broke my left hand. I remember running over to Coach Davis and he felt bad that I was still in the game. I was just playing hard and doing whatever I could. I think I missed two or three weeks and in that time we had a big win over Purdue and I was back for the NCAA Tournament playing with a big wrap on my hand.
That game against George Washington, I think we were down by 17 points with about seven or eight minutes left in the game. Russ Millard hit some big shots and Jess Settles played well. Unfortunately after that we lost to Arizona in Tempe. That game was a lot of fun. They had some pros on that team and they were really good. I think we were disappointed in our seed that year, but made a huge comeback to move on.
Q: In your junior year the game that always sticks out to me is the Kentucky game because you played them right to the end and Woolridge was fantastic in that one. In the first game of that NCAA Tournament, I think you had 15 or 16 rebounds. What do you remember about that run?
BOWEN: That first game was against Virginia and I had 15 points and 16 rebounds. I played really well in that game.
Then going against Kentucky, they were really loaded. They had Ron Mercer and what’s funny is I played against him on the AAU circuit. That was one of the games that Coach Davis saw me at and in the first half I guarded Ron Mercer really well back in high school. I was a 6-9 guy out there guarding a guy who was a guard and Coach Davis felt maybe this guy is quick enough to play for us. That really helped me in my career.
It was funny a few weeks ago, I think it was the title game that year, it was Kentucky vs. Arizona for the title and I told my son that was the team we lost to that year. We were excited and thought we could get a five seed that year and dropped to the 8/9 game, so it always makes you wonder.
There are a few games that I don’t want to say I refuse to watch, but I just don’t want to watch it because it will bring back bad memories, like my final high school game. That Kentucky game is one of those games. I just don’t want to watch it.
Q: Let’s fast forward to your post college life. You are a second round draft pick and you end up going over to Turkey to play in your first year. What was the decision making there?
BOWEN: My draft night, you don’t know what teams are really thinking. I had heard that possibly Cleveland was thinking about drafting me at 48. Sacramento said they really liked me at 36. I will never forgot I had a lot of people at my apartment that night and Cleveland comes up and they say with the 46th pick, the Cleveland selects Ryan…and my apartment goes crazy….Ryan Stack from South Carolina. I remember looking at the remaining picks and telling everyone, I’m sorry. None of the other teams have even talked to me, so people start leaving and then I look after commercial and they said I was drafted by the Nuggets.
That happened to be the year of a lockout. There was no summer league and the season didn’t even start until January. So in July I was talking to my agent and he said I should go play in Europe. Second round picks are not guaranteed and they had the 54th and 55th pick and if anything they are going to keep the pick ahead of me. So I told my agent to find me the best job he could find in Europe. He came back with Turkey and I was like, are you serious, you couldn’t find me any place else? (laugh) Turkey?
My wife and I were on our way to Turkey and it was her first foreign trip. It was an adventure. It was a tough year. The team wasn’t very good. We were trying to make the playoffs because if you weren’t a top team then you are going to get dropped down. We had two coaching changes and the first coach told me I could go home for Thanksgiving, but once he got fired the new coach didn’t want me to go home.
But, from a basketball perspective it was a tremendous year for me. I got so much better as a basketball player. We did two a days all season long. Five days a week we had two practices a week and then we would play on Saturday and we had Sunday off. Just one game a week and it was a lot of practice. A lot of team practice and individual work. It was a crazy year. It was good for me to grow as a player and I think it gave me more drive to make the NBA the next year.
By the end of the year we actually started to enjoy being over there and actually considered signing another contract, but then the NBA had played and they were going to have summer league and I knew I was going to need that if I was going to make the team. I needed longer than a 10-15 day training camp to impress the coaches. They needed to see me for a month or two. I can back and did summer league and made the team. I went into it knowing they had two too many guaranteed roster spots, but they ended up making a trade and a few injuries happened and I made the team. From then on the rest is history.
Q: I think you really carved out a role in the NBA and that served you really well over the course of your career.
BOWEN: For sure. It wasn’t my pure basketball ability or my athletic ability. (laugh) I remember I would go back to Coach Davis because he was such a huge influence on me and my career and he said to me that to make the NBA you have to be great at something. He told me to find something I was great at and for me that might be hard work and hustle. That’s what I had to do. I had to be great at hustle and energy and that’s what I did.
I think the thing that separated me from hundreds of other people that were more talented than me was my work ethic, my drive, and I had the unique ability to guard multiple positons for my size.
Q: After the NBA playing days were done you ended up being on Fran McCaffery’s first staff as the video coordinator. How did that come about?
BOWEN: In my last year I was playing for the Thunder and I got released around Thanksgiving. We came back home to our house near Burlington. I was playing morning pickup ball with a group of guys to try and stay in shape.
I had gotten hurt at the end of the time with Thunder and had some opportunities elsewhere, but my foot was bothering me and that spring Coach Lickliter was let go and Fran came on board. Right away I had been in contact with some of my former coaches, like Jeff Van Gundy. I remember he called me and said there’s your chance. I know some people that know him really well and if you want me to I can put in a call. All of the sudden in a two week span I went from being done playing and maybe into coaching at the University of Iowa.
I don’t think my mind I had fully switch from player to coach, but it was Iowa and if I had a chance to get on there, then I had to do it.
I met Fran for the first time at the press conference and told him I would love to be on his staff and knew he had a lot of people saying the same thing and he had decisions to make. After that I kind of took a step back and let things play out. He gave me a call back and he told me he didn’t have an assistant spot, but asked if I would be willing to be the video guy. I said yes, absolutely.
He told me a story about how that summer before my senior year he was recruiting Raef pretty hard and he had watched me a few times and he liked how I played, but wasn’t sure he was good enough to play at Notre Dame. My mom has all the letters from all the schools still back at home and not one from Notre Dame, so I joked with him about that.
I think some people had recommended me and jumped on staff right away not really knowing what the heck I was doing.
Q: Then you get back to the NBA with Denver, then Sacramento, and now back to Denver again. What is it like to be an assistant in the NBA these days?
BOWEN: First of all, one of the toughest decisions that I have had to make was leaving Iowa. That was what I wanted to do. I was willing to wait it out and see if I could get moved up. We were both Hawkeyes and we were back home.
The only thing that I couldn’t do was be on the court. I felt like one of my biggest strengths was I felt like I could play at a very high level and I wasn’t able to be on the court with the guys or have any interaction with them out there. I was happy and enjoy the video stuff, but when you can’t be on the court working out the guys and you still feel like you could beat most of the guys, I kind of thought what am I doing here?
So that year there was another NBA lockout and the season didn’t start until around Thanksgiving or later. I had to end up leaving Iowa right after the start of the season to go the NBA and that was a really tough decision. It was hard for me to tell Fran and he was really understanding. He knew it was an opportunity for me to get back into the NBA. I didn’t know George Karl and didn’t play for him, but the people in Denver recommended me to him and it worked out well. It was what I wanted to do and I was playing a lot and working guys out and jumping in playing pickup games. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for George. Fortunately I got on with Coach Malone in Sacramento. I didn’t really know him either and had a great couple of years with him there. Then it’s just crazy how things worked out and he ends up getting the Nuggets job and we are back in Denver.
It’s been a real blessing and it’s crazy how it all worked out. I feel really fortunate to be in this situation. I have kind of transformed my job here. In my first few years I was more focused on player development and working out guys before and after practice. Now the last three years I have been more on the coaching side and working on game preps. I have really seen my career grow quite a bit in the last few years and it’s unbelieve to be able to see the best basketball in the world and be a part of it.
Q: Last question. Tell us about your family.
BOWEN: They are great. My daughter is a freshman at TCU. Unfortunately for her and fortunately for us, she has been back home early due to all of this going on. She had a great year and is a very good student.
My oldest son, Benjamin, is 16. He had a great junior year of high school out here. He is a basketball player and he’s getting some college looks right now and is getting started with the recruiting process. Unfortunately we are probably going to miss out on the AAU season this year. He’s been getting local looks and I’ve been getting calls from coaches.
Then I have a freshman in high school, Zach, and he plays basketball as well. I think he will end up taller than Ben, who is about 6-5 now. Zach is probably 6-3.
This time has been great. We have gotten to spend more time together. We get to have dinner together and play some board games and all that. My wife was on the dance team at Iowa and she’s from Burlington, so we have our families close. She’s been successful in real estate out here in Colorado for the last five years. I am hoping she can keep that going so I can retire.
