John Bowler enters his second season with the Delta State University Men’s Basketball program. He came to the Statesmen after serving a year at St. Francis De Sales High School in Toledo, Ohio as their top assistant varsity coach.
In his first season with the Statesmen, Bowler helped lead the Statesmen to one of the best seasons in program history in 2013-2014, as Delta State went 26-7 overall, captured the Gulf South Conference regular season title and made a run to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Senior power forward Willie Readus was named GSC Player of the Year, while point guard Devin Schmidt was selected the GSC Freshman of the Year. The duo both earned All-GSC first team accolades. Readus was a consensus first team All-South Region selection by Daktronics and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, while Schmidt was named second team.
Several individual marks also fell during the season, as senior guard Cornel Knight cracked the school’s career top 10 list for assists with 249 and sophomore shooting guard Jack Madgen climbed in the career charts for made 3-pointers with 95.
Prior to embarking upon his coaching career, Bowler experienced an outstanding playing career at both the collegiate and professional levels. Professionally, he played six successful seasons in Germany’s top league for ENBW Ludwigsburg (2010-2012) and Telekom Baskets Bonn (2006-2009).
While playing in one of the top leagues in Europe, the Chicago, Ill., native helped lead his team to four playoff appearances, a Beko BBL Cup Final, two EuroCup appearances, a top eight finish in the Eurochallenge, and two Beko BBL finals appearances.
In 2008, he was voted as the Most Likable Player by the German fans. Bowler’s best season came in 2007-2008, where he played 39 games, averaging 12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
Bowler played his college basketball at Eastern Michigan University, where he developed under current Delta State head coach Jim Boone. At EMU, he had a storied career achieving many major accomplishments. The 6-foot-10 former center accumulated 1,427 points and pulled down 801 rebounds, which put him in 13th and 6th place respectively in the school’s history book.
The former two-year captain was a two-time All-Mid American Conference selection. Bowler’s best season was during his senior campaign when he played 28 games, averaging 20.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Bowler resides in Cleveland with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Grace.
