End of an Era

Jim Smith, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Florida State University, has come out publicly calling for this to be the last season for Head Coach Bobby Bowden at FSU. This should really come as no surprise to many that follow college football, considering the product Coach Bowden has been putting on the field the last few years.

Coach Bowden has said that 2010 will probably be his last year and when asked during the the nationally televised loss to Boston College if he would be making another visit to Alumni Stadium he indicated he would not. That is a sign that next year will be his last.

Smith has said that the current situation with Jimbo Fisher, head coach in waiting, is not working. That Fisher does not have the power that many think he has and it is still Bowden's ship to captain. Smith also added that asking Bowden to step down is akin to putting down your favorite dog.

While I feel that the time is very close for Coach Bowden to step down I take some offense to the favorite dog comment. Bobby Bowden has given more to Florida State Univeristy than he will ever take away. He took a floundering football program and built it into one of the most admired programs in the country. Two national championships, Five trips to the National Championship game, 14 straight years of being ranked at the end of the season in the top five, 27 straight bowl appearances, 11 straight bowl game wins (1985-1995) and two Heisman Trophy winners (Charlie Ward- Chris Weinke). This is the same Bobby Bowden that spurned powerhouse Alabama to stay at FSU.

With all the success that Florida State has had in the past the last few years have been difficult for Nole fans. Not because FSU still goes to bowl games and have a winning record every year. Not because FSU flirts with being ranked in the top 25 every year. It has been difficult because Florida State fans are spoiled brats. Nole fans do not take defeat very lightly. Nole fans expect to be competing every year for a National Championship. Why?, because Coach Bowden set the bar that high. If Coach Bowden gets run of of Tallahassee he has no one to blame but himself for being to damn successful.

Success breeds expectations and Coach Bobby Bowden has set the expectations very high at the former all girls school. (though I'd throw that in). The expectations from Nole fans are playing for the National Championship or at least being in the hunt every year. They were accustomed to that. There are hundreds of college football programs that would love to be where Florida State is. But FSU fans do not see it that way. They want to win and win now, they will throw a legend to the wolves if it means competing for a National Championship.

They claim that Bobby Bowden is tarnishing his image and legendary status by hanging on too long and by letting the program slip into mediocrity. FSU fans claim that Florida State deserves better and that Bowden is just standing on the sidelines to chase Joe Paterno for most coaching victories. They claim he has lost touch with the college football world and his players.

If Nole fans would wake up they would see that FSU is not putting the same athletes on the field they used to. It all started when FSU moved to the ACC. The Atlantic Coast Conference, as does the SEC, has restrictions on the use of Proposition 48 players something that FSU did not have to deal with prior to joining the ACC as an independent. It is similar to what Miami has gone through and continues to struggle with. These Prop 48 players now go to schools that do not have those restrictions. Examples would be Big East schools. Now this is not an excuse but it is reality. In the glory years, FSU just put better athletes on the field than the other teams they played. They were able to out recruit and out talent many teams because of the use of Prop 48 players and the rule . Not anymore. Florida State has not been able to overcome that yet. (CORRECTION: I AM THE FIRST TO ADMIT WHEN A MISTAKE WAS MADE ESPECIALLY IF IT IT MY MISTAKE. PROP 48 WAS LAID TO REST IN TO 1990. IT REPLACED BY PROP 42 THAT WAS LATER REPLACED BY PROP 16. I KNOW THIS CONFUSES EVEN MORE AND CAN BE HARD TO FOLLOW) FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ONE CAN GO TO NCAA.ORG FOR A FULL EXPLANATION OR CONTACT BY BY E-MAIL AT NUMETAL102@YAHOO.COM AND I WILL BE GLAD TO FORWARD TO YOU WHAT THE NCAA FORWARDED TO ME. THE END RESULT IS THE SAME I JUST HAD THE NAMES WRONG.

Another problem, that even Coach Bowden has pointed out, is the turmoil that FSU has had at the quarterback position. For many years in Tallahassee you did not play QB unless you were a junior or senior and worked your way through the program. That all changed when FSU went with a young unproven Chris Rix. Rix struggled and the Seminole football program has struggled since. One reason Bowden does want to hang on until the end of next year is because of Christian Ponder at quarterback. While FSU is not a national power, Bowden likes the maturity and leadership that Ponder is showing and is expecting great things from him next year.

Bowdens biggest blunder in his career at Florida State and one that I feel if he would call a mulligan on if he could was the hiring of son, Jeff Bowden, as his offensive coordinator. I don't think Bowden would ever say that he regretted the decision publicly but I bet if he had to do it all over again he would have brought in a more seasoned veteran to replace Mark Richt to run the offense.

Florida State football has had its problems on the field and off the field. Coach Bowden has taken criticism for off field behavior, academic scandals, nepotism accusations and now a sub par football program. Be certain though that Bobby Bowden's legend is secure, even if he is put down like Old Yeller. When ever anyone talks Florida State University football, Bowden's name will come up for generations. That is legend. When ever anyone mumbles "dadgum" in college football, Bowden's name will come up. That is legend. When ever anyone mentions, "wide right", Bowden's name will come up. That is legend.

In our lifetime we get to see see very few college football coaches who become legends and in the grand scheme of life it really doesn't matter. There have been a few though Eddie Robinson (Grambling), Paul "Bear" Bryant (Alabama), Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma), Joe Paterno (Penn State) and yes Bobby Bowden.

Coach Bowden has earned the right to decide when he walks away from Florida State and if fans paid any attention since he arrived on the campus they would have to ask where would FSU be without him. Bobby Bowden made FSU Football what it is. Florida State fans should be honored that the college football world is asking, what happened to FSU? Because if they weren't asking that means FSU has never been there, on top of the college football world.