A Fond Farewell to Bowden

Mars · Post by **Mars** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 2:50 pm

I get it, Florida State already has a new head coach in place, so there's no speculation.
And I get it, FSU destroyed us in Provo, then went on to win just 5 others games and see their head coach forced out.

Even so, with not a lot to talk about even if we wanted to, I wanted to post some facts from one of the "goodbye Bobby" articles: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/stor ... FHeadlines

"Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will end his 44-year coaching career after the Seminoles' bowl game this winter. Bowden will retire as the second-winningest coach in major college football behind Penn State's Joe Paterno. The 80-year-old Bowden has won 388 games in his career at Samford, West Virginia and Florida State, where he spent the last 34 seasons... Bowden won two national titles with Florida State, in 1993 and 1999. Among his top achievements was a string of 14 straight seasons, ending in 2000, where the Seminoles won at least 10 games and finished ranked in the top five of the AP poll. Florida State was 152-19-1, an .864 winning percentage, during that span...The winningest coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Bowden's teams put together one of the most dominant runs in college football history between 1987 and 2000, with 14 consecutive finishes in the nation's top five and a pair of national titles. In 1993, despite a late-season slip at Notre Dame, Florida State won its first national title after just missing out in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1992 -- several seasons because of losses to nemesis Miami, which won three national titles during that span. Quarterback Charlie Ward guided the Seminoles to a 12-1 record and a title-clinching win over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl in 1993. The next national crown came six years later, with Chris Weinke and All-American Peter Warrick leading the Seminoles to a perfect 12-0 record, capped by a win over Michael Vick and Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl... Bowden's lone perfect season in 1999 made history as the Seminoles became the first team to go wire-to-wire in The Associated Press poll ranked No. 1 from the preseason to finish... Since winning their 12th ACC championship in 2005, the Seminoles have been 16-16 the past four seasons against league opponents."

"Bowden wants his last bowl game to be in Florida, and efforts are under way to try to attain a berth in the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, or the Dec. 29 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, a school official told ESPN.com. The official also said the school was working with the ACC to try to have the Seminoles (6-6, 4-4 ACC Atlantic) face West Virginia, where Bowden was offensive coordinator from 1966 to 1969, and head coach from 1970 to 1975."

Schmoe · Post by **Schmoe** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:21 pm

Don't know if it has been talked about on here, but it's rumored that the Gator bowl will take FSU vs WVU as a farewell tribute to Bowden.

ltpwfdcm · Post by **ltpwfdcm** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:15 pm

I think that a Gator Bowl between FSU-WVU is a nice gesture for a legendary coach, but dadgum Coach Bowden, did you have to make us look so bad at home? I mean, beat Miami and GT and lose to us and you would have looked better

Mars · Post by **Mars** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:17 am

ltpwfdcm wrote: I think that a Gator Bowl between FSU-WVU is a nice gesture for a legendary coach

I find this funny as well. It's like, "I really remember my time at West Virginia fondly. You know what that makes me want to do? Beat their brains in." (kind of the opposite thinking of Sarkisian at Washington, who canceled a 2 game series with his Alma Mater). Though I think they'd lose.

Mars · Post by **Mars** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:36 am

BTW, the FSU-WV Gator Bowl is a done deal: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4719913

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