Tom Bowen

Thomas Michael Bowen (born May 27, 1961) is an American athletics administrator. He served as the athletic director at San Jose State University from 2004 to 2012, the University of Memphis from 2012 to 2019, and Arkansas State University from 2021 to 2022. He previously worked in the front office for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL).

Early life and education Bowen was born in Denver, Colorado and spent his childhood and Stone Mountain, Georgia and San Francisco, California. He played one year of college football at the University of San Diego, before transferring to the University of Notre Dame and studying for the Catholic priesthood.

From July 2000 to September 2002, Bowen was associate athletic director for fundraising at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2012, he became the athletic director for the University of Memphis, where he oversaw the transition of the Memphis Tigers sports program from Conference USA to the new American Athletic Conference. He was also inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa at Memphis in 2014. In 2015, his Memphis contract was extended through June 2019, after he had been rumored to be a sought-after candidate for other NCAA Division I athletic director positions. At the time of his extension, Bowen was praised for leading the $40 million capital upgrade campaign of Memphis' athletic facilities and for the improved academic performance of Memphis Tigers athletes during his tenure.

On May 14, 2019, Bowen resigned from Memphis to pursue another career opening.