Bye Bye Bobby

I was born in 1964. While I am sure that my father had me watch Notre Dame football whenever they were on television, I first became truly aware of college football in 1973. The Irish enjoyed a great season that year behind QB Tom Clements, one of my first sports heroes (along with Bobby Murcer, Clyde Frazier, Fran Tarkenton and Bobby Orr). Watching a successful team with my Dad made it pretty easy to become hooked.

So my time committed to the sport is running on more than 35 years. That period roughly corresponds with the time Bobby Bowden has spent in the limelight, getting solid results from the West Virginia program before moving on to Florida State in 1976. The Seminoles had won only four games total over the previous three seasons, so Bowden had his work cut out for him. But he had three huge factors in his favor. For one, he was an excellent, hard working coach who was blessed with a preacher's ability to speak at one to you and with you. To build the program, Bowden the charming, down home speaker--whether it be to a crowd of boosters or a group of reporters or a recruit's mother--was actually more important than Bowden the coach.

The second important factor was that the school, and its alumni, was itching to win. Florida State had had a taste of success in the 1960s under coach Bill Peterson, who led the Noles to four bowl games with a Gator Bowl victory over Oklahoma after the 1964 season that was the school's biggest win to date. But even in Peterson's best seasons they were on the fringe of the big time much like a TCU or BYU today. A commitment to take the team to the big time meant better facilities, increased pay for assistants and willingness to play anyone, anywhere that allowed Bowden to schedule the best, and then, eventually, beat the best.

The third factor, which helped drive the success of the three major college football programs in the Sunshine State from this period through today was the incredible boom in population in the state on an annual basis. While we here in the North think of the elderly moving to Florida, and they do, the main focus of the population shift were young adults, both returning GIs in the 1940s and '50s and then baby boomers who lost opportunities up north when factories began closing, looking for opportunities in a state that had both cheap land and jobs. Those young adults had children and those kids needed improved sports programs, etc. In a matter of a few decades Florida became a recruiting paradise and men like Bowden, Howard Schnellenberger and Charley Pell benefited.

But Bowden was special. Neither Schnellenberger nor Pell are going to the College Football Hall of Fame. For one thing he won consistently year in and year out. By year two, 1977, the Seminoles won 10 games and beat Florida. By year four they were 11-0 at the end of the regular season with a shot for a national title. The FSU program was becoming a national power, which would be highlighted over the next 30 years by two national championships and the incredible run from 1987 through 2000 of finishing annually in the AP top 5. But I will always remember those earlier seasons when Bowden made the impossible possible with players like Ron Simmons and Mark Lyles.

Plus Bowden seemed to really be having fun at this coaching thing, which made it easy to root for his team when they took on powers like Oklahoma or Nebraska. Whether it was his love for trick plays or his post-game humility, win or lose, Bowden was an unique coach. With today's coaches wearing their stress levels on their sleeves, he will be missed.