held as much as a 20–7 lead, but lost, giving up a fourth quarter 73-yard touchdown pass by Peyton Manning of the Tennessee Volunteers. In 1998, Bowden's fate at Auburn changed as he faced criticism for recruiting woes, off-the-field issues that resulted in player discipline, and in his relationships with Auburn administrators, including board of trustees member Bobby Lowder. These issues, combined with a string of player injuries, led to a disastrous start of the 1998 season. After starting with a 1–5 record, Bowden resigned as head coach the night before Auburn played against Louisiana Tech. In conversations with athletic director David Housel, Bowden was given no assurances he would have a chance to remedy the situation for the next season, and that he believed his termination was imminent. The team was coached for the remainder of the season by Bill Oliver. On July 24, 2013, an article in The Auburn Villager newspaper claimed, a novel titled "The Legend's Son" is a thinly disguised satire of Bowden's rise and fall at Auburn. Broadcasting career After resigning at Auburn, Bowden accepted a role as a studio analyst and color commentator for ABC Sports' college football coverage where he often referred to his father Bobby Bowden as "Daddy." He was also an exclusive college football columnist for Yahoo! Sports. For a period, Bowden also hosted a sports talk radio show in the Orlando, Florida area. In 2006, Bowden became the expert analyst for Westwood One radio network's College Football National Game of Week. He also co-hosted "The Coaches Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio with Jack Arute and worked several times a month as a motivational speaker. In a July 30, 2007 column, writing a few weeks before the 2007 college football season, Bowden said he was eager to go back to coaching for the 2008 football season. In December 2007, the coaching job at his alma mater West Virginia opened up: Rich Rodriguez left to be Michigan's coach. Bowden issued a statement which read in part, "Coming home to West Virginia would obviously be the dream job for me." However, West Virginia offered the job to one of Rodriguez's assistants, Bill Stewart, who was the interim head coach when the Mountaineers upset the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl. In late 2007, Bowden interviewed for the head coaching job at Georgia Tech, which ultimately went to Paul Johnson. Bowden returned to