Bowie helping Woodside excel

Woodside assistant coach Josh Bowie has come full circle. Bowie started his coaching career on the defensive side. He moved to the offensive side, became a head coach in two spots and returned to the defensive side when he came back for his third stint at Woodside, which is completely shutting down the opposition as they remained undefeated on the season.

In Friday’s 28-14 win over Half Moon Bay, a game in which the Wildcats trailed 14-7 at halftime, Bowie’s voice could be heard up until the Cougars snapped the ball. By late in the fourth quarter, his voice was barely above a whisper.

But by that time, it didn’t really matter. The Wildcats pitched a shutout in the second half, limiting HMB to just 34 yards of offense and three first downs — two of which came via Woodside penalties.

“He does coach actively and this (past) week, in particular,” said Justin Andrews, who is in his 11th year as the Wildcats’ head coach and who also admitted his voice was pretty shot after that game, as well.

“(Bowie) was just on top of it. Just to make sure there was nothing our guys were missing.”

A 1998 Woodside graduate, Bowie got his coaching start as a defensive assistant at Capuchino in the early 2000s. He returned to his alma mater in 2007 to be the defensive coordinator under Steve Nicolopoulos.

He then transitioned to the offensive side of the ball when he took an assistant role under Pete Lavorato at Sacred Heart Prep and stayed on that side of the ball when he was named head coach at Woodside in 2012.

He stepped down after two seasons, with Andrews moving up from coaching the frosh-soph team, but Bowie stayed on as offensive coordinator before he moved on take the head coaching job at Menlo School, where he spent three seasons.

He took a break before he and Andrews started talking about a role with the Wildcats again ahead of the 2022 season.

And in an intriguing shift, both Bowie and Andrews were looking for him to assume a defensive role.

Which is funny, because Andrews considers himself a defensive guy.

“When he came (back), we were already a few years into a rebrand with our offense,” Andrews said. “I was, at the time, doing both offense and defense, which was a nightmare.

“He had been doing a lot of research and looking into defenses that he was interested in pursuing and trying.

“It was 100% to come back as a defensive coordinator. I was still in the beginning of figuring out the offense. I just wanted to release the defense to someone I trusted.”

And Andrews trusts Bowie to the fullest. It’s not just because he can dial up the right plays in the right formations. Bowie’s familiarity with both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, coupled with former roles as a head coach, almost gives Woodside two head coaches — one for offense, one for defense.

Andrews said if a coach sticks around the game long enough, he is bound to learn about the game as a whole, not just one unit. When he was transitioning to being an offensive coordinator, Andrews said he looked at it through the lens of a defensive coach.

“For me, it was about, what are the thing I hate to defend? What are the little things that keep me up (at night) as a defensive game planner? With the offense we have now, it’s a collection of things I hated to defend.”

Andrews said Bowie uses a similar mindset on defense. But more so, he appreciates Bowie’s football mind.

“Josh has, probably more than anyone else I’ve worked with, taken things I like to do and move them forward,” Andrews said. “He’s a student of the game. … I consider him a wealth of information.

“I give him almost unchecked authority with the defense. I trust him fully.”

And if someone sticks around a football sideline enough, the titles of offensive or defensive coach melt away.

“I just consider [Bowie] a football coach,” Andrew said.