BOBBY BOWDEN

Age:  79

School:  Florida State

Alma Mater:  Howard, 1955

Conference:  ACC

Salary:  $2,500,000

Official Bio:   www.seminoles.com

Years Coaching:  42

Career Record:  373 - 118 - 4  .754

Years at School:  32

Record at Florida State:  300 - 85 - 4   .771

2007 Record:  7 - 6   .538

2007 Cost per Win:  $242,286

Attorney/Agent:   

Contract: 

December 2008 Buyout:  $1,000,000

Coaches Hot Seat Analysis

One of the most powerful motivations in the human psyche is the "I'll show 'em," and that very motivation sent Bobby Bowden off one of the great runs in the history of college football between 1987 and 2000.  In those 14 years Bobby Bowden and Florida State put up a record of 152-19-1 (.884), won 9 of 9 possible conference titles, and 2 National Titles.  No doubt, Bobby Bowden was already a very good if not great football coach before the 1987 season, but an event that happened to Bowden in December of 1986 lit a fire under Bobby Bowden that is still flickering today and certainly still drives the man forward.  1986 was not a great year for FSU, and the 6-4-1 regular season record sent the Seminoles to the All-American Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama to play Indiana.  Big things were going on in the state of Alabama at that time, with Ray Perkins taking the money to be the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over staying at his alma mater Alabama.  Suddenly, the job that Bobby Bowden had always dreamed of having, the Alabama head coach where his hero and mentor, Paul "Bear" Bryant had played and coached was open and it seemed that Alabama was leaning towards hiring Bowden.  The backstory is that Bobby Bowden was born and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and as a QB went to Alabama to play football.  He transferred to Howard College in Birmingham after getting married, and a few years after graduating from Howard ended up as its head football coach.  During that time Bobby Bowden would visit Paul Bryant in Tuscaloosa, and a few times Bryant would send players along to Howard that were not going to be good enough to play for the Tide.  After coaching Howard, Bowden went on to West Virginia, and then to FSU where he put up some great numbers that led up to the fateful events of December '86.  After Ray Perkins had resigned from Alabama, Bobby Bowden and his football team arrived in Birmingham and a time was set-up for Bowden to interview for the Bama job.  Bobby Bowden arrived at the interview expecting a meeting with the Alabama president and AD, but found a committee that had been appointed by the president to interview prospective candidates.  After the interview Bowden thought that maybe he was not going to get the Alabama job, and sure enough after the All-American Bowl, Alabama hired Bill Curry of Georgia Tech to replace Ray Perkins.  As has been reported in the media since Bill Curry's hiring, the reasoning for hiring Curry over Bowden was that "Bowden's best days were behind him."  Bobby Bowden was 57 in 1986, and no doubt he got wind of that opinion of the decision makers at Alabama on him, and we believe that Bowden channeled his anger of that bogus opinion into his FSU football team over the next 20 years.  Of course, it was not just Bobby Bowden that Alabama missed on, because after Gene Stallings was forced into retirement after his 7 year run in Tuscaloosa, the geniuses at Alabama hired Mike Dubose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price, and Mike Shula.  One wonders how Nick Saban ever got hired at Alabama, but as the southern saying goes, "Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in awhile," although we think even a blind pig could find an acorn more than 1 out 5 times!  Yes indeed, Bobby Bowden surely "showed" the geniuses at Alabama what he was made of, and one can only wonder what kind of football power that Bowden would have built in Tuscaloosa.  Certainly, the SEC would look a lot different today if Bobby Bowden has been at Alabama for the past 20 years.

No doubt, Bobby Bowden is one of the greatest head college football coaches in the history of the game, and for those of us between 30 and 50 years of age, the period between the mid '80s and the year 2000 was a time when Bobby Bowden and FSU were on center stage.  Since 2000 it has been another story though, but only in relation to what Bowden did during the rest of his career, but the last three seasons in particular have not been up to Bobby Bowden's standards.  What exactly drives Bobby Bowden to continue coaching is not entirely clear to us, except of course the desire to be the winningest football coach of all time.  When Paul Bryant retired in 1982 as the winningest coach at that time, he was widely quoted as saying, "I just can't coach 'em anymore," and that was after 9-2-1 and 8-4 records in his last two years.  Bowden has put up 8-5, 7-6, and 7-6 in the last three seasons, and the Seminoles are certainly not playing the kind of football that they did during Bobby Bowden's heyday.  From our point of view, if FSU still wants Bobby Bowden as their head coach, then he should stay on as long as he wants, but we hope that both Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden know that whomever ends up as the winningest coach of all time, that they will have their record broken in the 21st century.  As Hank Aaron has said, "Records are made to be broken," and a college football coach will break 400 wins with the number of games that will be played in future years, and Paterno and Bowden will then only be what Paul Bryant and Amos Alonzo Stagg are now, as two of the greatest coaches in the history of the game.  Paterno and Bowden can coach for as long as their health will hold out, but if they are coaching for the winningest all-time coaching record, that record will only exist for a period of time until it is eventually broken, and it will be broken.

Whatever the reason for Bowden's continued desire to coach, we still recognize that he is one hellava football coach and man for that matter, and nothing is going to change our opinion of him in our minds. 

Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line

We predict that Bobby Bowden and Florida State will have a 6-6 record in 2008.  Even with two Division I-AA teams on the FSU 2008 schedule, the Seminoles are going to face some tremendous challenges in the upcoming season.  The first year of the Jimbo Fisher experiment at FSU didn't impress us very much, but we have to think that Bowden and Fisher have ironed out some of the problems that they dealt with during the '07 season.  Jimbo Fisher coordinated some great offenses at Auburn and LSU, and what he ran at FSU in '07 certainly wasn't up to his past standards.  If you believe in the recruiting rankings (FSU classes according to Rivals.com, 2005 # 2, 2006 # 3, 2007 #21, 2008 #9), then Florida State should have plenty of talent on campus, but for some reason the FSU offense cannot get off go.  The '08 season starts out easy enough for FSU with Western Carolina and Chattanooga visiting Tallahassee.  That should be two easy wins, so FSU is 2-0.  The ACC gets started in week 3, with what should be a very good Wake Forest team traveling to Tallahassee.  The Demon Deacons should challenge for the ACC in '08, so we see them beating FSU in this game.  Florida State's record after three games is 2-1.  Next up is another trip to Jacksonville in '08 to play Colorado on a "neutral field."  Colorado will not bring as many fans as Alabama did last season, but in what we see as a very close game, Bowden and the Seminoles should be able to get the win.  FSU is 3-1.  Week 5 is what used to be the biggest game on the schedule, as FSU travels to Miami to play the Hurricanes at Dolphins Stadium.  Miami is still in the process of rebuilding, and although this game should be close, FSU should be able to beat Miami if Jimbo Fisher can get the offense moving.  After five games, FSU is 4-1.  The next game is a trip to Raleigh to play an improving NC State team in what is a very tough place to play, and we see the Wolfpack getting the win in this spot.  After six games, FSU is 4-2.  Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech come calling in Tallahassee for the next game, and this is a game in the past that FSU would have been the dominant team on the field, but that table had been flipped over now.  Virginia Tech should be able to handle the Seminoles, and that takes FSU to 4-3 after seven games.  Week 8 is going to be a fascinating game as FSU travels to play Georgia Tech in Atlanta.  In what should be a throw-back game of sorts, we see Georgia Tech grinding it out on the ground to beat FSU, which takes the Seminoles record to 4-4.  The son, Tommy Bowden and the Clemson Tigers travel to Tallahassee for the next game, and the Tigers should be on a run to the ACC Championship Game.  Tommy should beat his Dad in this game, and that takes the FSU record to 4-5 after nine games.  Week 10 brings Boston College to Tallahassee and in what should be a very close game, we see FSU finding a way to get a win in this one.  After 10 games, FSU is 5-5.  A trip to play Maryland on the road is the next game, and in another very tough place to play, we can see FSU's talent advantage helping to get a win in this game, which takes the FSU record to 6-5.  Of course, the last game of the year is against the Gators, and there will be whispers that this will be the last regular season game of Bobby Bowden's career.  If that is the case, the FSU players will play with a lot of emotion and fire, but Florida is now stocked with talent and the Gators will find a way to win this game.  A loss to Florida leaves FSU's regular season record at 6-6.

We do believe that if Bobby Bowden and FSU finish the regular season at 6-6, that 2008 will be Bowden's last season as a head coach.  In what will be one of the greatest coaching careers in the history of college football, no doubt Bowden will coach his final game in a bowl game somewhere.  Bobby Bowden has been a credit to the game throughout his career, and we do have a number of Bowden's games during his great run during FSU's glory days, and it is impossible to beat the games that combined Bobby Bowden coaching with Keith Jackson doing the play-by-play.  Before we end Bowden's career though, let's see what he and the Seminoles can do in '08, in what is going to be a very challenging season. 

2008 Coaches Hot Seat Prediction:        6-6

Will Bobby Bowden be back for the 2009 season?      NO*

*Replacement:  Jimbo Fisher