Don’t count on Terry Bowden to be another option in SMU’s head coaching search. The ex-Auburn coach was rebuffed multiple times by SMU this fall when he inquired about the position according to a source who spoke with Bowden while he was in Dallas calling the Cotton Bowl for Westwood One Radio.

Bowden told the source that he had talked to SMU officials before then-head coach Phil Bennett was fired on Oct. 28 about the possibility of being head coach for the Mustangs. SMU told Bowden they weren’t interested. He inquired again after Bennett was fired and got the same result.

Bowden never got a direct answer from the school why they did not want to hire him.

The source was told by two members of SMU athletic department who have knowledge of the search that those in charge of the process believed there were better coaches available.

“They said they could do better than Terry Bowden,” the source said.

Bowden was believed to be a leading contender in the search for West Virginia’s coaching position, but the spot was filled Thursday morning after the school’s upset win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Interim head coach Bill Stewart will take over, leaving Bowden without the job.

The hire gives SMU the not-so-prestigious honor of being the first school to fire their coach and the last one to make a hire. The SMU coaching search will hit day 70 this weekend.

This story was posted at 1:06 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 3.