By BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
December 1, 2009; 2:57 p.m.
Bobby Bowden will end his 44-year coaching career after Florida State plays in a bowl game.
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 at Samford, West Virginia and Florida State, where he spent the
last 34 seasons.
"We've got one more game and I look forward to
enjoying these next few weeks as the head football coach," Bowden said
Tuesday in a statement released by the school.
Florida State's bowl game has not been determined. The Seminoles are bowl eligible with a 6-6 record.
Bowden
won two national titles with Florida State, in 1993 and 1999. Among his
top achievement is a string of 14 straight seasons ending in 2000 when
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. He has a 315-97-4 record with the Seminoles.
"He
set records of achievement on the field that will probably never be
equaled," Florida State president T.K. Wetherell said. "Bobby Bowden in
many ways became the face of Florida State. It was his sterling
personality and character that personified this university."
FSU officials announced after the 2007 season that offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher would succeed Bowden.
The
end of the Bowden era has been brewing for years, and the call for
change only grew louder this year, when loss after loss, many coming in
the final minutes, began piling up. The regular season ended with a
sixth straight loss to bitter rival Florida, a 37-10 blowout.
Bowden
is a football lifer, who modeled his career after his idol Paul "Bear"
Bryant, the legendary Alabama coach who died shortly after he retired
in 1982.
"After you retire, there's only one big event left," Bowden has said over the years. "And I ain't ready for that."
Bowden
is one of the most quotable coaches the game has known. He relished the
spotlight and his folksy approach to the game was well received
everywhere he went. It was during the rare losses when Bowden is at his
best, relying on his favorite phrase "Dadgumit" when discussing all
those wide-right and wide-left field goals against Miami in the late
1980s and early 1990s that knocked so many of his teams out of national
title contention.
He also got caught up in NCAA investigations.
The school was hit with five years' probation for a 1993 incident when
several of his players were given free shoes and sporting goods from a
local store. That led to former Florida coach Steve Spurrier calling
Florida State "Free Shoes University."
Bowden entered this
season faced with losing 14 of his wins as part of sanctions from the
NCAA on an academic cheating scandal that involved two dozen football
players. The school is appealing.
Bowden and winning, though, go hand in hand. He goes into a final bowl game with a 388-129-4 record.
After
his first Florida State team went 5-6 in 1976, the Seminoles never had
a losing season. However, the losing became more frequent. Florida
State has a 73-42 record from 2001-09.
Among the stars who
played for Bowden were Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks Charlie Ward
and Chris Weinke, defensive backs Deion Sanders and LeRoy Butler,
running back Warrick Dunn, receiver Peter Warrick and nose guard Ron
Simmons.
Bowden's national titles came in '93 with Ward guiding
the Seminoles to a 12-1 record and a title-clinching win over Nebraska
in the Orange Bowl. The next national crown came six years later, with
Weinke and All-American Warrick leading the 'Noles to a perfect 12-0
record capped by a win over Michael Vick and Virginia Tech in the Sugar
Bowl.
The '93 title was perhaps Bowden's greatest moment. It
came after near misses in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1992 -- thanks to missed
kicks against Miami. In '87, it was a missed field goal, missed extra
point and failed 2-point conversion in a 26-25 loss; in '88 the 'Noles
only loss was 31-0 against Miami in the season-opener; in '91 Gerry
Thomas was wide right in a 17-16 loss; and in '92, Dan Mowrey was wide
right on a game-tying attempt in a 19-16 loss. Wide right III occurred
in a 2000 loss against Miami, but Florida State still made it to the
title game before losing to Oklahoma 13-2.
Bowden's lone perfect
season in '99 made history as the Seminoles became the first team to go
wire-to-wire in AP ranked No. 1 from preseason to final poll.
"The first championship was more of a relief," Bowden said. "I think I was able to enjoy the second one a little more."
A
few more failed field goals against Miami followed. In 2002, Xavier
Beitia was wide left on a last-play, 43-yard attempt in 28-27 loss and
Beitia was wide right late in the fourth quarter in a 16-14 Orange Bowl
loss to Miami in 2004.
Other than Miami, Bowden's Seminoles were
a dominant force. They won the Atlantic Coast Conference 12 times in
their first 14 seasons after joining the league in 1992.
Bowden
left West Virginia to take over an FSU program in 1976 that had
produced just four wins in the three previous seasons. After one losing
season, Bowden turned things around with a philosophy of preparing for
games like World War II generals prepared for battles.
"You face
similar tasks of motivation, preparation, teamwork, discipline," Bowden
said. "I probably get the most satisfaction out of putting in the
strategies and watching them play out."
Bowden built up Florida
State's program by scheduling tough opponents -- usually on the road.
He was dubbed "King of the Road" in 1981 after playing consecutive road
games at Nebraska, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and LSU. The
Seminoles won three of the five.
Success also brought the
spotlight to Bowden's program. First came the "Free Shoes University"
incident, followed by top recruit Randy Moss being kicked out of school
for smoking marijuana; Warrick's suspension in 1999 for his involvement
in a shopping scam; quarterback Adrian McPherson's dismissal in 2002
amid rumors of gambling; and now the cheating scandal.
Bowden,
native of Birmingham, Ala., also is the patriarch of college football's
most famous coaching family. Sons Tommy and Terry were head coaches --
Tommy at Tulane and Clemson; Terry at Auburn. Another son, Jeff, was
FSU's offensive coordinator in 2005-06, but the team had its lowest
production in a quarter-century and lost 11 times over those two
seasons. He was forced to resign after working for his father for 19
seasons.
Bowden's oldest son, Steve, did not get into coaching
but was arrested in 2003 on a multimillion investment scam that cost
his father $1.6 million.
