Bobby Bowden Impacted Bucs
December 2nd, 2009
Photo courtesy of Rivals.com.
No, Florida State football coach emeritus Bobby Bowden never worked for the Bucs. But his imprints are on the Bucs, both recent past and current.
Who knows what would have happened if Derrick Brooks or Warrick Dunn played for another college program? Brooks may have been a safety, Dunn, maybe not even a running back at the Division-I level he was so small.
Even today, Bucs radio play-by-play broadcaster Gene Deckerhoff confesses he would not have become the voice of the Bucs if not for Bobby Bowden.
Brooks spoke on record with Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune about Bowden.
Former Florida State coordinator Mickey Andrews was recruiting Brooks, but it was Bowden’s job to seal the deal. Bowden sat in Brooks’ living room, working his charm, talking about the program and conveying how the linebacker could help the Seminoles win a national championship.
Then Brooks’ little sister, Latoya, felt comfortable enough to climb into Bowden’s lap. She eventually fell asleep, and when Mom wanted to take Latoya, Bowden’s next move solidified Brooks’ decision.
“My mom got up to put her in bed and he said, ‘Nah, let her lay right here until we’re done. This is home for Derrick.’ That sealed the deal for me.”
Joe was sad yesterday, still is, to learn of Bowden’s resignation. How shameful of the university that Bowden indirectly built to not allow him one more year; what would the old man have hurt? Best as Joe can tell, the man oversaw a program that obviously slipped a great deal but somehow still managed to have winning seasons.
Joe isn’t exactly objective. Joe’s had the opportunity in his profession to cross paths with Bowden a handful of times. Joe can’t imagine any other sports figure being as kind and cooperative (Dick Vitale comes a close second. Whitey Herzog may be No. 3 on Joe’s list. Unlike Bowden and Vitale, Herzog was always willing to drink beer with Joe).
Joe loved talking football with Bowden. How many men still walking on this planet can talk about times spent with Vince Lombardi (“He’d yell and cuss all the time then he’d get away with it because he went to Mass the next morning.”), Paul Brown (“He just whispered.”) and Bear Bryant (“I need one of them ‘Junctions.'”)?
Joe just hopes Bowden doesn’t meet the same fate in retirement as his father and his coaching idol, Bryant.
In the video below from WTSP-TV, Brooks said he can relate to staring into the face of retirement and has a not-so-subtle jab at the Bucs.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:08 am
Joe these are the “what have you done for me lately” days. Frankly I’m not going to slam Bobby for his legacy but being OBJECTIVE it was time for him to go. Everyone knew it except Bobby.
Bobby was a good coach. A Great coach would have already stepped aside without being pushed.
How many times have we seen the players trying to stretch more time then they should have? Look at Galloway as this year’s example. How about Johhny Unitus? Emmitt Smith – the Cardinal.
I hope you get the picture…
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Joe, I like your insight and opinions regarding the Bucs…however, your insight and opinion on the Bobby Bowden situation shows why you should stick solely to Bucs information. Your parroting of the Dick Vitale “what would it hurt for Bobby to stay another year” line, illustrates how unfit you are to speak on this topic. You are probably the same guy who every Saturday says “what’s happened to Florida State?”, but then have the nerve to criticize the university when it tries to help itself.
For a few years now we’ve tried to give Bobby the proper exit but truth be told – this same “your forcing Bobby out” attitude would exist next year also, Bobby would have made sure of it.
We’ve shown Bobby unparalleled gratitude with statues, field namings and even offering him a position at the university as an ambassador earning the same amount of money he would earn as if he were the head coach. No other university has done anything similar but unfortunately that is not good enough for some of you. Unfortunately, Florida State must get on with business of being a university – money has been short the past few years (because of the struggling football program) and we are in the process of hiring a new president (no president wants to come on and be known as the guy who forced Bobby out).
Please Joe, stick to Buccaneers topics because your takes elsewhere are not on point.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 am
Harry:
Joe never heard what Vitale said. If anything, Vitale has parroted Joe. It’s hardly a novel thought.
Please explain in great detail how one more year for that old man would crush that school or doom that program. Bowden put that school on the map, made that football program, generated hundreds of millions of dollars for that university. He already corrected his biggest mistake: Skirting state nepotism laws by hiring his (idiot) son.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:51 am
Joe,
Your “patriotism” to Bobby Bowden shows your bias. You would be so enamored with the person you would let the university, the fans, the institution go through another season of getting blown of by UF, barely becoming bowl eligible thanks to late game heroics against a 2-8 (at the time) Maryland team, etc just to let the guy walk the sidelines and get a cool 2.5 million to have the best seat in the house.
If you’re willing to shell out 2.5 million maybe you can convince the university to let him walk the sidelines. You do remember he gets paid to coach right?
This idea that someone is “owed” a job is counter to everything competitive sports. You want your QB’s to earn their jobs but not the coach? You want Maurice Stovall on the field, but what about all the Michael Clayton did in 2004? Stovall never did that; if you are going to be consistent then you should want Clayton starting because he has the greater ‘legacy’ and ‘proved more.’
There should be no surprise that FSU fans and alums like myself would disagree with you. Because unlike you, we watch and attend FSU games for the past ten years. It hasn’t been the past four years, it’s been the decade that things have slipped. Look at any chart of FSU’s wins and you see a steep decline from 2002 onward. No company would pay their CEO after production like that.
But since it isn’t your university, your football team, you’d give the guy a pass because he is affable and treated you nicely. Well, I hope someday you find yourself rooting for a team with a superbly nice coach who had a great string of success at one time but can no longer cash the checks, maybe then you would have a clue. As of today however, you do not.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Bobby should have been allowed to leave on his own terms — period. I’m a big FSU fan (my daughter is a student) and have been frustrated with the losses over the last few years, but not to the point where I wanted Bobby out. I’m glad I was able to be there for his last game in Tally.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Tom:
1) From what Joe has read, FSU has 10 of 11 starters returning from a pretty good offense with a quarterback who may very well be a first round draft pick. There’s absolutely no reason to believe Florida State’s program will turn into Indiana with Bowden sticking around one more year. Randy Shannon hasn’t had much more (if any better) success at Miami than FSU and the Canes draw roughly have the crowd FSU does, yet I hear no groundswell to lop his head off.
Joe also seems to remember FSU was a goal line fumble away from going to the Orange Bowl last year. Or was that somehow Bowden’s fault that Marcus Sims fumbled in Atlanta?
2) The real problem with Florida State (this season) was not Bowden, but his old pal Mickey Andrews, who really didn’t want to come back this season. Granted, Andrews has been dealing with a lot lately off the field. If a defensive coordinator waffles about returning to work, no matter the reason, that tells Joe Andrews was not 100 percent committed, and Joe believes that showed on the field this season.
3) To even remotely compare or invoke Michael Clayton of all people to prove a point about Bowden is beyond the pale. Joe can only suggest, politely, you may want to lay off the bourbon this early in the day. 🙂
Or come up with a better analogy.
Joe greatly appreciates your support Tom. We’ll just have to disagree on this issue.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 pm
We will have to disagree indeed. But here is a good report from earlier in the season, describing exactly what you are looking for when in reference to what negatives Bowden staying would have.
http://www.tomahawknation.com/2009/10/5/1069590/finally-report-florida-states
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Joe, you keep asking what damage would be done if Bowden stayed…well, what good would be done by him staying? Another bad recruiting class, another year where the university sacrifices large sums of money – mainly because Bowden can no longer fill the stadium, another year where our arch-rival destroys us by halftime, another year for Bowden to ruin his legacy. Also, he wanted to appoint Chuck Amato as the DC, which would have been a further disaster to the program.
What about the players? Do the players deserve to be playing for a program that plays with one arm tied behind its back? Should the players have to sacrifice another year of their valuable college football careers to allow an old coach see them through another subpar year.
Finally, don’t you guys run a website which constantly (and rightly so) points out the lackluster performance of the Bucs Head Coach. This is because having a good head coach matters. FSU has not had a good head coach for 10 years. If just getting rid of poor coordinators made for a good team, well then the Bucs should be set now, right? They have rid themselves of both of theirs. But, of course having a head coach who actually communicates with players and coaches effectively while also putting them in a position to succeed is what a head coach must do. Bobby Bowden has not been able to do this for 10 years. And yes, he did build the program and if I remember right he was rewarded grossly for it. Until only recently he was either the highest paid or among the highest paid coaches in college football…he was not doing charity work for Florida State University – he was a very well paid employee. The football program at Florida State University is Florida State University’s asset, it is not Bobby Bowden’s asset, thus just because Bowden built the program (as he was paid to do) doesn’t give him the authority to destroy it.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Harry:
Destroy it?
Please point out the last time Bowden had a losing record? You act like he turned that program into Indiana or Baylor. Shoot, Penn State won three games not long ago — three! And Paterno kept his job.
Did you actually expect Florida State do to anything against Florida this year? Seriously? Florida State had a freshman quarterback in his third start playing against one of the best defenses in the country on the road, not even counting FSU’s All-American offensive lineman was out.
Joe has yet to see any tangible evidence the program up there would crumble beyond repair had Bowden gotten one more final year. If anything that team is set up for a nice run next season.
Amato should have never been rehired. I’ll give you that. FSU should have done everything in its power to keep its mitts on Kevin Steele. Notice the defense and its pipeline of NFL linebackers began to fizzle out after Steele (a Bowden hire) left?
People seem to forget FSU football wouldn’t be anything more than UCF if not for Bowden.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:15 am
Joe says: “Please point out the last time Bowden had a losing record? You act like he turned that program into Indiana or Baylor. Shoot, Penn State won three games not long ago — three! And Paterno kept his job.”
6 losses 3 of the last 4 years…I don’t know if that’s Baylor or Indiana but I know it shouldn’t be FSU. As far as Paterno, that’s Penn State’s call…they can run their program however they see fit.
Joe says “Did you actually expect Florida State do to anything against Florida this year? Seriously? Florida State had a freshman quarterback in his third start playing against one of the best defenses in the country on the road, not even counting FSU’s All-American offensive lineman was out.”
No, I didn’t expect us to do anything against UF…we haven’t since 2003. Do you see a problem, Joe? Our redshirt freshman typically doesn’t play defense nor does the offensive line…UF could have named their score in that game…they took a knee with three timeouts and they were on midfield. They pitied us…and the sad part is that’s about the third time in the past three years they have taken pity on us.
Joe says: “joe has yet to see any tangible evidence the program up there would crumble beyond repair had Bowden gotten one more final year. If anything that team is set up for a nice run next season.”
Joe, are you kidding me? Tangible evidence? Have you not witnessed the precipitous decline this program has been on over the past 10 years? There is absolutely zero “empirical evidence” this program would improve next year under Bowden. Our offense would have been good like this year, Amato would coach a horrible defense…and we would still be the same dysfunctional bunch with a leader-less head coach that we’ve been the past decade…results should be about the same – poor.
Joe says: “Amato should have never been rehired. I’ll give you that. FSU should have done everything in its power to keep its mitts on Kevin Steele. Notice the defense and its pipeline of NFL linebackers began to fizzle out after Steele (a Bowden hire) left?”
It would be nice if Kevin Steele were still here but he left for Alabama a few years back…the reason – he wasn’t going to become the DC at FSU anytime soon. Not because of Mickey but because of Bobby, Mickey has wanted out for several years now but Bowden has begged him stay. Had Bowden stayed out of the way and let Mickey go when he wanted to…Steele would be the DC right now, because of Bowden – he is not.
Joe says: “People seem to forget FSU football wouldn’t be anything more than UCF if not for Bowden.”
This is my favorite of your poor arguments. Okay so by that reasoning – UF would be USF without Spurrier, UM would be FIU without Schnellenberger or Johnson, Nebraska would be Tulsa without Osborne, Alabama would be UAB without Bryant. Seriously, I hope you were loaded on Caybrew when you came up with this logic because it’s just poor. Again, Florida State University HIRED Bobby Bowden to be it’s Head Football Coach – they then retained him for several years as their head coach amidst times when other schools tried to lure him away…we paid him to stay. Florida State University must protect Florida State University, God knows we have to – because folks like you think we should enjoy self destruction.
34 years ago Florida State University made a decision to improve its university through the improvement of its football program (it has a direct correlation to a university’s value – just ask UF). We have now made that decision again. We will return to greatness – now, much sooner than later…for some reason I think that worries you.
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 am
Harry:
Maybe you and Joe have different standards. To Joe, a bad program can’t sniff a winning season, has lousy facilities, plays in a garbage stadium. To read your comments, if Joe didn’t know any better, FSU won three or four games a year, played in a high school stadium, and would be lucky to pull in 25,000 a game, thanks to that SOB Bowden, how dare he even stains the streets of Tallahassee.
To read your complaints, that program will be ruined for eternity if the old man got one more year. The school will lose $50 million dollars if the senile old fraud sticks around another season.
The program is hardly in a shambles. Hardly.
Sorry. Joe looks around the college football landscape and Joe sees godawful programs, godawful teams. FSU wasn’t and isn’t one of them. About 80 percent — if not more — of the schoos only dream they were as bad off as FSU.
Joe doesn’t know, maybe Joe have a soul. For all the money that guy made the school, for what a tremendous ambassador he was for that school, Joe does not nor cannot see the dire harm of letting him have one more year (if that’s actually what he really wanted?), specifically when he hasn’t had a losing season in three decades and has 10 starters returning from a pretty good offense.
Joe surely not advocating Bowden get a lifetime contract. One lousy year for a guy who built arguably the best dynasty in the south since Bear Bryant? I don’t consider that a criminal request.
Sure, Bowden has seen better days. But even his mediocre days are a lot better than most coaches’ good days.
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am
As an FSU Alumni and Booster supporter, I am completely DISGUSTED with how Bobby has been treated. This man BUILT the school and the program. He single handedly put FSU on the map. He deserved the right to go out with all the tributes and celebration. As a member of the Seminole Nation, not only was Bobby shafted, I was also deprived of the opportunity to show my appreciation to a great coach and wonderful man! This will anger me for MANY years to come.
What also angers me is JimBlow… he is NOT the solution, answer or ever be the man Bobby was. I’m angry that JB was the catalyst for this mess, knowing FULL WELL that Bobby had the option to stay the full THREE years while he was HCIW. Pulling his “stunt” with the big mouth booster rep (who so didn’t represent all the rest of the Noles that I know) completely diminishes any chance of my support. The fact that he never stepped up and said, this is Bobby’s team and Bobby’s decision and just sat back and didn’t show any support makes him scum in my book.
I would also like to say that I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with Bobby on several occasions and the one that stands out the most was when I was in college. I was standing in line at Hardee’s and Bobby was in line in front of me. I was afraid to say anything because I didn’t know if he would even acknowledge me. I took the chance and did the proverbial, “Hi Bobby, how do you think we will play this weekend?” This man took the next 10 minutes, while in line, to explain to me the pros and cons of our team and the opponents team, what to look out for and how to beat them. From that moment on, I was just completely enamored with him. The funny part was when we finished our conversation, I told him I would be there to watch the game because I was in the Marching Chiefs and he turns back around and says “I just love you guys”… What a man 🙂