Terry Fowler — who was named the University of South Alabama women’s basketball program’s ninth head coach on April, 17, 2013, coming off two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances in the previous three years at North Alabama — has guided the Jaguars to a record of .500 or better in five of his nine seasons, highlighted by recording back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in a decade as well as consecutive national postseason tournament berths for the first occasion since the 2002-03 and ’03-04 campaigns.
He is entering his 23rd season as a head coach during the 2022-23 season with a career coaching record of 329-238 and a 122-150mark during his first nine years at South Alabama.
While at South Alabama, Fowler has coached seven individuals who have received all-Sun Belt Conference honors on 11 occasions: Meghan Dunn (2013-14), Breanna Hall (‘14-15), Marquita Daniels (‘15-16), Chyna Ellis (‘15-16, ’16-’17 and ‘17-18), Savannah Jones (‘18-19, ’19-20), Antoinette Lewis (‘18-19, ’19-20) and Shaforia Kines (’19-20). Ellis — the first Jaguar to be selected as the league’s defensive student-athlete of the year back during the 2015-16 season — also earned the honor her senior season, while Jones was also named the Sun Belt Conference’s Freshman of the Year following the 2017-18 season, the first Jag to receive the honor since Whitney Woodard in 2003-04.
With a 8-18 and a 2-10 SBC record, South Alabama finished 11th in the Sun Belt.
South concluded the 2019-20 campaign with it first win at Little Rock since 2005, with the Jags earning victories over Arkansas State and host UTA in the opening rounds of the Sun Belt Tournament to advance to the semifinals of the event before it was canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Jaguars also collected the program’s first win over Tulane dating back to 1989 as part of a schedule that saw USA also take on Rutgers, Auburn and Alabama prior to the start of league play.
Jones, Kines and Lewis all scored the 1,000th point of their career during the year, marking the first time in program history that three individuals who surpassed the milestone played together on the same team. Jones and Kines also became the first two Jags to make 200 three-point field goals in a career as all three earned all-Sun Belt recognition at the end of the regular season.
In 2018-19, Fowler led the Jags to a school-record 25 victories, the championship game of the Sun Belt Tournament for the first time since 1989 and a first-round victory in the WNIT. Under his direction both Lewis (first-team) and Jones (second-team) picked up all-league recognition as the former led the conference in field-goal percentage and double-doubles while the latter paced the SBC in three-point field-goal percentage. As a team, South — which opened the campaign with 11 straight wins capped by winning the FIU Holiday Tournament — was among the top 25 nationally in both overall and three-point field-goal percentage defense while also finishing among the country’s leaders in rebounds, blocks and three-point field goals per contest.
Fowler guided the program to its first national postseason appearance in over a decade the previous year as the Jaguars reached the semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational. South Alabama led the nation in blocks with 254, and Ellis became the all-time block leader in Sun Belt history on Jan. 18 against Coastal Carolina while also recording just the fourth triple-double in South Alabama history.
Along with the shots blocked mark, Ellis left the program ranked third in rebounding (985), fifth in double-doubles (29) and 12th at South Alabama in scoring with 1,247 points.
During the 2016-17 season, Fowler and his team went 11-20 and 5-13 in the Sun Belt. The Jaguars were the youngest team in the league with just three upperclassmen (one senior and two juniors) and also suffered multiple injuries. They ranked among the best in the conference in several defensive categories: first in blocked shots per game (5.6), which also placed 16th in the nation, and field-goal percentage defense (36.8%), and second in fewest fouls (499) and scoring defense (57.5 points per game). South Alabama defeated seventh-seeded Georgia State 49-44 in the conference tournament for the program’s first postseason win in five years.
Ellis continued as the premier shot blocker in the league, averaging 3.1 rejections per game to top the Sun Belt and rank seventh in the NCAA. She recorded a block in each game played, was ninth in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (91) and set the single-season record for most blocks in program history. Her total number of blocks were more than seven of the schools in the conference have as a team. Ellis became the schools’ all-time leader in blocks after recording a game-high and season-high six rejections that gave her 212 career rejections. She now has 229 career blocks, which ranks third all-time in career Sun Belt Conference blocked shots leader.
Under his direction, the 2015-16 season saw a marked change in the program at South Alabama as USA finished plus-10 in the wins column from the previous year. After recording a 5-24 record during the ’14-15 season, USA ended with a 15-15 overall record for a 9.5 games improved mark. The Jaguars’ turnaround was tied with Binghamton and Saint Louis for eighth-best among Division I NCAA programs.
The Jags set a new school record with 174 blocks during the ‘15-16 season, which ranked 21st in the NCAA. USA also led the Sun Belt and tied for 11th nationally with 5.8 blocks per game. South Alabama was ninth in the NCAA in field-goal percentage defense (34.7%) and 46th in scoring defense (58.0). South Alabama led the conference in blocks, field-goal defense and in defensive rebounding (27.3).
Ellis ranked as one to the top post defenders nationally during the ‘15-16 campaign as she led the Sun Belt in blocking for the second straight season. Ellis also ranked 22nd in the NCAA in that category — fourth-most among sophomores nationally — with 2.73 per game. Her 82 blocks were 24th-most nationally and were four shy of tying the single-season mark of 86.
During Fowler’s second season at the helm of the program, Hall closed out her Jaguar career with an outstanding 2014-15 campaign. She ranked among the conference leaders in numerous categories in the final rankings, leading the league in three-point shooting (.408), second in three-pointers per game (2.37), third in free-throw percentage (.820) and sixth in scoring (15.4). Hall also ranked 27th nationally from behind the arc.
Fowler also had a pair of freshman contribute significantly during the ‘14-15 season. Daniels ranked in the top 10 in several program freshman marks — steals (second, 54), three-pointers made (fourth, 32), free throws (seventh, 64), and points (10th, 290). Ellis led the conference in blocks with 2.0 per outing, with her total of 56 the most ever by a freshman at South Alabama, and she also ranked fifth in the Sun Belt on the glass with 7.8 rpg while shooting 41.1 percent from the field.
During his first season at the helm, the Jaguars led the Sun Belt in three-point percentage (35.4%), three-point field-goal defense (28.0%) and tied with Troy for most three-pointers per game (6.5). USA ended the season ranked 26th nationally in three-point field-goal defense and 38th in three-point shooting.
Fowler’s first Sun Belt Conference victory came in his very first league contest as the Jaguars defeated preseason favorite Western Kentucky, 74-65, on Jan. 1, 2014.
Fowler arrived at USA after spending seven seasons at the helm at North Alabama where he guided the Lions to the NCAA Tournament in both 2011 and ’13 while winning 20-plus games in each of those years. During the 2012-13 campaign, UNA posted a 20-11 mark — going 12-6 in the Gulf South Conference — while qualifying for the event, and after ranking in the top 20 nationally in field-goal percentage defense and scoring defense, he was named the league’s Coach of the Year. Fowler was also chosen the GSC East Division Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading the Lions to a 12-0 record in conference action; UNA would finish the year 21-7 after advancing to the NCAA Tournament, its first appearance in the event since the 1993-94 campaign.
At UNA, he inherited a program that had won 11 games combined the two previous seasons, and in his first year directing the team, Fowler led the Lions to a 14-14 overall finish and their first berth in the conference tournament since 2003. He guided UNA to a winning record in each of his last five years, posting an overall mark of 115-87 (56.9%) — which included going 57-32 (64%) in Gulf South play — during his tenure.
Twelve Lions earned all-GSC recognition in Fowler’s seven seasons, with a pair selected the league’s East Division Player of the Year. UNA also had the conference Freshman of the Year in 2009. Amber Rutherford led the NCAA Division II in free-throw percentage twice — during the 2006-07 season where she hit 93.7 percent of her attempts and during the following season where she hit 93.6 percent of her attempts at the charity stripe. He has also had three academic all-GSC selections during his time at North Alabama – Ashley Moore (2008-09), Julia Myers (2011-12) and Lauren Faris (2012-13).
Fowler has ties to the Mobile community as well, having worked at both USA and Spring Hill prior to taking over the reins of the UNA program. He was an assistant on the Lady Jaguar staff during the 2000-01 and ’01-02 seasons, with his responsibilities including coaching guards, recruiting, scouting, strength and conditioning, and handling team travel. During his first year, USA’s 13 wins were the most posted by the program since 1991, while in his second season the Lady Jags finished 17-11 for the school’s first winning record since 1990. USA ranked in the top 25 in the country both years in scoring defense, finishing sixth in the category Fowler’s second year on the staff.
After serving as an assistant at SHC from 1993-98, he was promoted to head coach prior to the start of the ’98-99 campaign. In his second season as a collegiate head coach, Fowler led the Badgers to their first-ever NAIA Tournament appearance and 23-11 overall record while winning both the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles. For his efforts, he was named the league Coach of the Year at the end of the year.
Fowler returned to Spring Hill in 2002, and during the next four years led the Badgers to their first-ever NAIA national ranking and the semifinals of the GCAC Tournament on two occasions, while helping SHC finish among the top 15 in the nation in scoring defense three consecutive seasons. He served as chair of the GCAC women’s basketball committee and was the Region 6 representative on the NAIA Kodak/WBCA All-America selection committee while in his second stint at the school, also implementing “Reading Badgers” and mentoring programs in, which his student-athletes assisted in the community.
He played his first two years on the collegiate level at Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) before going on to earn all-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as a senior at Lane (Tenn.), where he was also a two-time Academic All-SIAC selection. Fowler earned his degree in business administration from the school in 1986, and added a master’s degree in sport management from the United States Sports Academy in 1994. Fowler and his wife, Carolyn, have four children — Megan, Geoffrey, Morgan and Madison — and one granddaughter, Tatum.
