Ira Bowman, who was born in Newark, NJ, returned to his hometown in 2008 for his first college coaching position with NJIT after a playing career that saw him spend parts of three seasons in the National Basketball Association with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks.
An eight-year professional career followed a standout college playing career split between Providence and Penn. His pro career took him to three continents in addition to the Continental Basketball Association and his stints in the NBA.
After a torn anterior cruciate ligament halted his playing days, Bowman worked four years as Executive Director of Assist by Knight Foundation from 2004 to 2008, immediately before accepting his coaching position at NJIT.
One of New Jersey’s top high school players in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bowman starred at Seton Hall Prep (West Orange, NJ), where he graduated as the second all-time leading scorer at a school with a storied basketball tradition.
He led Seton Hall Prep to a 31-1 record in his senior year and the school was New Jersey Parochial A and Essex County champion in 1991.
Bowman first attended Providence College and played two years in the Big East Conference under coach Rick Barnes, before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania. Playing at Penn for coach Fran Dunphy, he was an all-Philadelphia Big Five and all-Ivy player for the Quakers, who were unbeaten in the Ivy League in both of his seasons. He was honored as Ivy League Player of the Year in 1996.
Undrafted after college, the 6-foot-5 Bowman played in Australia, where he was all-league for the Gold Coast Rollers. He moved to the CBA, which was the top developmental league for the NBA at the time and he was a starter for the champion Connecticut Pride in 1999 and a CBA all-star in 2000, the same year of his first tour as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
He was back in the NBA with the Hawks for part of the 2000-01 season and he had another final stint with the Sixers in 2001-02.
Out of the NBA, Bowman went to Europe and played in Naples, Italy, for a year before returning to Grand Rapids of the CBA, where he sustained his career-ending ACL injury in 2004.
“Ira has known great success as a player, but he’s also known what it was like to keep working to achieve his goals,” said Jim Engles. “He was a top recruit coming out of Seton Hall Prep and he had a great career at Penn.
"He was a year-round player as a pro, where he played overseas and in the CBA. He kept at it to win championships and then realize his goal of playing in the NBA. He has played for people like Larry Brown, Rick Barnes, Pat Knight, Fran Dunphy and during his high school career, he was coached by legendary Seton Hall Prep mentor Bob Farrell. The fact that he is from Newark and he succeeded as a player at an academic institution like Penn makes him a great fit for what we're trying to do at NJIT."
He resides in Vaux Hall, NJ, with his wife, Reyna, and their son, Jeremiah (5).
