After losing a key staff member to an SEC rival, Arkansas has made a move at a top personnel position just before it starts the 2025 season.
David Bowen has been tabbed as the Razorbacks' new director of player personnel. The move comes after last month, Auburn general manager Will Redmon nabbed Arkansas's Jovon Hubbard for a similar role with the Tigers.
But Bowen is an experienced veteran of the SEC who's remained loyal to Arkansas in recent years, even as other schools have come inquiring about his services.
Bowen was hired into the Arkansas program in spring 2024 as the program's assistant director of player personnel for head coach Sam Pittman.
Arkansas is Bowen's fifth SEC program, showing his versatility and breadth of experience. He first worked at Georgia in the recruiting office from 2015-17, joined Mississippi State in similar roles for the 2017 season and then spent nearly 18 months as Florida's recruiting specialist in football.
He was assistant director of player personnel at LSU for three years before he transitioned to Texas A&M, where he served as director of college scouting for the Aggies.
Bowen started his career as a recruiting analyst and operations intern at Louisville. CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz also shared the news on Bowen.
A Southeastern Louisiana University graduate, Bowen counts college football personnel leaders such as Oregon's Marshall Malchow, former Ohio State and now-LSU top personnel executive Sam Petitto and LSU general manager/No. 2 athletics director Austin Thomas among his mentors.
Arkansas is entering a key season for Pittman, who is 30-31 in his five seasons at the helm.
The Razorbacks open their 2025 campaign Saturday at home against Alabama A&M and also face Butch Jones's Arkansas State squad a week later.
Things get quite difficult in a hurry for Arkansas; the Hogs have a three-game stretch at Ole Miss, at Memphis and home against No. 6 Notre Dame to close out September.