Bobby Bowden

Bobby Bowden
Title	Head coach
College	Florida State
Sport	Football
Team record	315–96–4
Born	November 8, 1929 (1929-11-08) (age 80)
Place of birth	Birmingham, Alabama
Career highlights
Overall	388–141–4 (Second all time)
Bowls	21–10–1 (Second all time)
Championships
2 National Championships (1993, 1999) 12 ACC Championships (1992-2000, 2002-2003, 2005)
Playing career
1946–1948	University of Alabama
Position	QB
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1954–55 1956–58 1959–62 1963–65 1966–69 1970–75 1976–present	Howard College (OC) South Georgia College Howard College Florida State (WR) West Virginia (OC) West Virginia Florida State
College Football Hall of Fame, 2006 (Bio)

Robert Cleckler Bowden (born November 8, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama) is the current head college football coach of the Florida State Seminoles football team. Since taking the position in 1976, Bowden has led FSU to an Associated Press and Coaches Poll National Title in 1993 and a BCS National Championship National Title in 1999, as well as twelve Atlantic Coast Conference championships since FSU joined the conference in 1991.

Bowden (with 384 career wins) is currently 7 wins behind Joe Paterno (391 career wins) as the all-time winningest Division I-FBS coach in total victories. He is tied with Joe Paterno and Paul 'Bear' Bryant for most Division 1A winning seasons at 37. A March 6, 2009 NCAA ruling requiring Florida State to "vacate any games in which an ineligible player participated" threatens to remove 14 of Bowden's wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons in relation to an academic scandal. As of July 2009, Florida State is appealing the ruling.^[1][2][3] Bowden, along with Joe Paterno, Chris Ault, and John Gagliardi, is one of four active coaches who have also been inducted in to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Youth and family life

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Bowden spent a portion of his childhood in bed, sick. When he was 13 years old, Bowden was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. After a six month hospital stay, Bowden was confined to his bed at home for just over a year with nothing more than his imagination to pass the time. It was listening to World War II reports on the radio that began Bowden's interest in the war, an interest he still has to this day. It was also around this time that his love for football increased, as he would listen to University of Alabama football on Saturday mornings.

Bowden was an outstanding football player at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, and went on to the University of Alabama as a quarterback, fulfilling a lifelong dream to play for the Crimson Tide before returning to Birmingham and marrying his high school sweetheart Ann Estock on April 1, 1949 (today, the couple have six children and 21 grandchildren). Bobby transferred to Howard College (now Samford University), where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Bowden graduated from Howard in 1953.

Early coaching career

Bowden served as an assistant football coach and head track and field coach at Howard College (now known as Samford University, currently in the FCS football division) in Birmingham, Alabama from 1954–1955. He left his alma mater to become Athletic Director as well as head football, baseball, and basketball coach at South Georgia College from 1956 to 1958. Bowden then returned to Howard as head coach, where he compiled a 31–6 record between 1959 and 1962. In 1962, Bowden went to Florida State University as an assistant coach under Head Coach Bill Peterson. Two other coaching legends who worked under Coach Peterson during this time were Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs. Bowden left Florida State in 1965 to go to West Virginia University as assistant coach. When the head coach at West Virginia left before the 1970 season, Bowden replaced him. Bowden then compiled a 42–26 record at WVU before returning to FSU as head coach in 1976.

During Bowden's first year as head coach at West Virginia University, the tragic plane crash of the Marshall University football team occurred. Bowden asked NCAA permission to wear Marshall jerseys and play Marshall's final game of the 1970 season against Ohio, but was denied. In memory of the victims of the crash, Mountaineers players put green crosses and the initials "MU" on their helmets. Bowden allowed Marshall's new head coach Jack Lengyel and his assistants access to game film and playbooks to acquaint themselves with the veer offense, a variation of the option offense which aids teams with weak offensive lines. Lengyel credits Bowden with helping the Young Thundering Herd recover. Bowden reportedly became emotional while viewing the movie We are Marshall, and has said that he was the original candidate for the Rick Tolley coaching job who died in the plane crash.^[4]

Florida State

Bobby Bowden on the sidelines of the November 4, 2006 game

At Florida State, Bowden inherited a team that had won just four games over the previous three seasons. In his 31 years as the head coach at Florida State, he has had only one losing season, his first in 1976. He is the only coach in Division I-A football history to have enjoyed 14 straight seasons of 10 or more wins. His Florida State Seminoles finished an unprecedented 14 straight seasons in the top 5 of the Associated Press College Football Poll, and won the College Football National Championship in 1993 and 1999.

Retirement Controversy

In an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, Chairman of the university board of trustee's Jim Smith announced that he felt that it was time to remove Bowden as head coach of the football team because "...the arrangement with Bowden as head coach and his successor, Jimbo Fisher, as offensive coordinator isn't working."

Smith shared his disappointment not only with the teams performance but also with the fact that Offensive Coordinator Fisher "is in a very, very tough situation where people assume he has a whole lot more authority than he really has. He's getting blamed for a lot of things that's just not his fault."

Concerning Bowdens helm as Coach of the FSU football team Smith was quoted as saying, "I think the record will show that the Seminole Nation has been more than patient. We have been in a decline not for a year or two or three but I think we're coming up on seven or eight. I think enough is enough."^[5] In response to Smith's remarks, Bowden's wife Ann stated, "They'll have to fire him for him not to go another year … If they've got guts enough to do it, let them do it." ^[6]

Bowden himself has avoided a announcing when he will retire. ^[7] However, his intent to return for the 2010 season has been widely acknowledged, in part because of his statements that he would play a role in picking a successor to defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, who announced that he would retire at the end of the 2009 season. ^{[8] [9]}

The National Bobby Bowden Award

In 2004, The Fellowship of Christian Athletes presented the first of what is now a yearly award in Bowden's name, The National Bobby Bowden Award, honoring one college football player for his achievements on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award is presented each year prior to the Bowl Championship Series' national title

The Bowden Bowl

As both Florida State and Clemson are in the same division of the Atlantic Coast Conference for football, the two teams played each other every year in a game that became known as "The Bowden Bowl". Their first meeting, in 1999, was the first time in Division I-A history that a father and a son met as opposing head coaches in a football game. Bobby held the edge in the series, leading 5–4 with all four losses within the last five seasons. Tommy Bowden's four wins in the series remain the only times the son has ever beaten the father when facing off as head coach in any of America's four major sports.^{[citation needed]}

One Bowden Bowl was scheduled between Auburn and Florida State for 1999 when Terry Bowden was the coach at Auburn. However, Terry's midseason resignation in 1998 ended the possibility of a Bowden Bowl. Auburn later used the buyout clause in the contract to get out of this matchup.

Another Bowden Bowl was scheduled between Clemson and Florida State in 2008, but Tommy Bowden's resignation halfway through the year ended all possible Bowden Bowls until further notice. Florida State beat Clemson in what would have been the 2008 Bowden Bowl, with a score of 41–27 on Bobby Bowden's 79th birthday, earning him his 380th career win.

Family of coaches

Bobby is not the only member of his family to have coached Division I-A football. His son Tommy Bowden was the head coach at Clemson University. Tommy resigned in 2008. Another son, Terry Bowden, was the head coach at Auburn University, where he was the 1993 Coach of the Year. A third son, Jeff Bowden, was the offensive coordinator at Florida State. All three Bowden men who were head coaches have achieved an undefeated season: Terry in 1993 at Auburn; Tommy in 1998 at Tulane; and Bobby in 1999 at Florida State. Bobby's 1993 and 1999 Florida State teams were the only ones to win a National Championship, however.

Head coaching records

In his 43 seasons as a head coach, Bowden has had 41 winning seasons, and 37 Division 1-A winning seasons, tying Joe Paterno and Paul 'Bear' Bryant at 37.

Author

Bobby Bowden has co-authored several books, including:

• Winning's Only Part of the Game : Lessons of Life and Football (1996)
  • ISBN 0-446-52050-0
• The Bowden Way : 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom (2001)
  • ISBN 1-56352-684-0
• Bobby Bowden: Win by Win (2003)
  • ISBN 0-7385-1544-2
• Bobby Bowden's Tales from the Seminole Sideline (2004)
  • ISBN 1-58261-406-7

Books about Bobby Bowden's early coaching years:

• Bobby Bowden: Memories of A Legend and his Boys from South Georgia College (2008)
  • ISBN 978-1-58385-282-8

See also

• List of Florida State University head football coaches
• List of College Football Hall of Fame inductees (coaches)

References

• "ACC Standings" (PDF). 2006 ACC Football Media Guide. Atlantic Coast Conference. http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/acc/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/06guide093123.pdf. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 
• "Florida State University Coaching Staff" (PDF). 2006 Florida State Football Media Guide. Florida State University Athletics. http://www.fansonly.com/photos/schools/fsu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/6Coaches23-38.pdf. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 
• "Florida State University Year-By-Year Record" (PDF). 2006 Florida State Football Media Guide. Florida State University Athletics. http://www.fansonly.com/photos/schools/fsu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/16Records2173-208.pdf. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 
• "West Virginia University Coaching History" (PDF). 2006 West Virginia Football Media Guide. West Virginia University Athletics. http://www.msnsportsnet.com/content/Football-9.pdf. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 

Notes

External links

• Bowden's bio from the official Florida State athletic's website
• Video clip from 1977 Bobby Bowden comments on his first season as head coach of Florida State University's football program.