Who would have thought that a coach, a legend, who is just 19 wins away from 400 would have to be defended? The very same man who has brought almost the same type of success to Tallahassee as George Steinbrenner did to New York.
Do you know what prestigious athletic schools like UCLA, Georgia, California, and Clemson (just to name a few of MANY) have in common? Each of those schools has one less NCAA football championship than Florida State does.
It's quite amazing that a big-time school in the big bad SEC only has one championship. Yet, the Bulldogs' fans are not storming the streets of Athens calling for Mark Reicht's job annually. So why then, are the Noles' fans here in Tallahassee crying that Bobby Bowden needs to retire and that he has gotten to old for today's game?
How exactly has he gotten too old to coach the game of football? The same game he has coached and won over 380 games has not changed much. In fact, last time I checked the players still play on a field with two goal posts on each side of it.
The object of the game is still to score touchdowns on the opponent while trying to stop them from scoring on your team, right? The players still wear pads, helmets, and shoes with spikes, correct? The quarterbacks still throw the ball and the receiver still tries to catch it, yes? Perhaps the only thing that has indeed changed is the expectations of the fans...and the city.
Sure, I know what you die hard fans are thinking: "Florida State has gone 22-15 the last three seasons and that is unacceptable." For who?
I do not argue that these past two seasons in particular have not been the best years for the Noles, but please spare me on the "Bowden needs to retire" lecture. The team, a failure these past two seasons according to most Noles' fans, still played in two bowl games. One of those bowl games Florida State pounded the very UCLA team that ended the USC Trojans' dynasty from continuing on just weeks before.
Then, last year Florida State met Kentucky in the Motor City Bowl with basically half of their team suspended. Did the Noles just show up to get their faces stomped on?
Absolutely not.
Instead, the half-empty roster that was Florida State showed up and nearly upset the Wildcats. I know what you are thinking again..."Kentucky? Who cares, they are a basketball school." Try telling the eventual BCS National Champion LSU Tigers that Kentucky is a basketball school. By the way, FSU profits slightly from these bowl appearances.
I understand those seasons were not what Noles' fans are used to but fans everywhere need to realize that College football goes through cycles. Teams are great one decade and the next decade they are merely a solid football team.
If Florida State was going in the wrong direction I would understand the criticism, but they're not. Fans need to realize that the guy that brought you your past high expectations is on the verge of leading you back to a whole new set of high expectations.
The criticism of Bowden does not end with their lack of wins lately; instead, Bowden takes a beating for the school's academic scandal where several of the Noles football players were caught cheating. Where is all of the criticism for the other coaches and faculty at FSU?
Why is Bowden the central blamed figure in this whole scenario? That's the easy part to figure out because without Bowden, there would be no standards. After 381 wins, two national championships, countless number of successful NFL players and a school budget millions of dollars richer and still the legend that is Bobby Bowden can't escape the negativity.
Bowden is criticized routinely when there is any off-field problems but when incredible stories like Myron Rolle (2008 Rhodes Scholarship winner) occur, where is the love, the respect, the applause he deserves? No program in the country goes one season without some sort off-field issue, but only the prestigious programs are the ones that are torn apart by the media.
If it was not for Bowden and his amiable Alabaman accent, Florida State would not be, well, Florida State. The people of Tallahassee would not know what a championship banner looks like if it was not for Bobby Bowden. While most of you are calling for Jimbo Fisher to take over for Bowden, picture this first... if Fisher goes 11-2 for the next 30 years, he will still fall nearly 50 wins short of where Bowden is now. Pretty remarkable isn't it?
Bowden is 8-3 this season and anyone who has watched the Seminoles this year knows that they are on their way back to the top. The team is young (extremely young), talented, and still learning a new offensive system.
For a man that has brought so much to a school, program, city and even the state of Florida, the least people can let him do is go off on his own peacefully and with pride. He has earned far too much on the field to be swept right off of it.
As long as the players still wear that garnet and gold and come running out of that tunnel to the sound of the war chant, Bobby Bowden will know how to coach football at Florida State.
The question is… are the fans still going to show up and support the man and team that built the expectations you all now possess?
If the answer is no, then do us all a favor and take off that garnet and gold and go put on some blue and orange. Because quite frankly, true Noles' fans don't want you around at Bobby Bowden Field anyway!
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about 1 month ago
"How exactly has he gotten too old to coach the game of football?"
I think this might be a large part of the answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIn17ufE7ZM
from about 1 month ago
sorry tim I will take near 400 wins and 2 national titles and a respectable human being over a youtube video... this was 50 seconds long and you don't know what was said in the days before this, and moments before and after this... if you base your coaching judgment on pregame speeches you don't have much understanding how how life works. His speech must have worked last night when they beat maryland 37-3 on the road, huh?
about 1 month ago
Jonny, you can get all mad if you want, but that clip of Bowden reading, losing his place, and saying things like "Receivers, you need to catch the ball" is one of the reasons people say he is too old. It's pretty hard to deny, and if you want to say that clip is taken out of context, and the rest of his speech was super-intense and inspiring, well, then I think you have a good imagination.
All the wins are impressive, they really are. But you already stated all of that, and everybody with a TV knows about Bowden's career IN THE PAST. He is 8-3. 8-4 if they lose to FL. Who knows who'll they'll get in the bowl game, but would an 8-5 year do it for you?
Is that the coach you want to play for? The one who needs cue cards during a pre-game speech?
You asked questions in your column, I answered them in an unbiased way, and then you start throwing out a win over Maryland (crazy that a Maryland win has FSU fans excited these days). Maybe you shouldn't have asked the questions if you didn't want people to answer them...
from about 1 month ago
I am a USC fan far more than a Noles fan but just angers me that a guy who built the program as much...fulmer, as you mentiond is being forced out... isn't that what people are trying to do to bowden? I am just trying to defend a guy who shouldn't even need to be defended. in MY OPINION he deserves to stick around until he wants... maybe he is making sure jimbo is ready to take over and is the right fit? a lot of things happen behind closed doors that nobody else sees.... bowden has earned the right to decide is what i am saying. i understand your point though
thanks for the read
about 1 month ago
Saying football hasnt changed would be like saying Politics hasnt changed since the country was founded, cooking has remained the same since the dawn of man, firing a gun hasnt changed since the advent of gunpowder, or even using a computer is the same as it was 20 years ago. Football has changed. Bobby Bowden has not.
I've watched Florida State football for as long as I can remember. I remember being 9 years old and watching my mom go crazy after Florida State won it's first National Championship. And I remember all of the trick plays that Bobby Bowden was known for. Bobby was a huge innovator who ran plays and did things very different. Commentators on TV will still say that a trick plays come from Bobby Bowden's play book.
But Bobby doesnt do that anymore. What is his purpose? It's not recruiting because the recruits say they want to play for Jimbo, not Bobby. It's not coaching because his coaching is ancient and offers no insights for players. Its not the play calling because everyone rolls their eyes when Bobby puts the headset on. So what is the point?
I for one, as a HUGE Bobby Bowden fan, would rather watch Bobby's legacy be what it should be. But instead, Bobby is going to end up going out on a low-note instead of the high that he deserves. And Bobby has no one to blame but himself.
from about 1 month ago
thanks for the comment matt. I respectfully disagree with you... and I think you are seculating when you say the recruits are going there for Jimbo not bobby... the 5 star recruit last year Nigel Bradham made it clear he always wanted to play for bobby bowden a legend. if you can find proof on that I would take that more serious but I think you are just speculating what the recruits are thinking.... what has Jimbo proved thus far? I am a big believer that Bobby is there to make sure he is the right guy and to ease the coaching change... Bowden built the program, he is the program, the last thing he wants to do is to leave it in the hands of a guy who will leave in a year or two or to a guy not ready for it.... there are too many things that happen behind closed doors that nobody else sees to accurately portray everything.
thanks for the read and comment, appreciate it!
about 1 month ago
first line thats meant to be speculating sorry
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