Bowden

Most college football fans will remember the 2003 football season as the year in which Bobby
Bowden's 342 nd career win made him the all-time winningest coach in Division 1A history.
However, Bowden and FSU fans will likely remember his 28 th season at FSU as being the one
in which he reestablished his program as one of the nation's elite. The Seminoles traveled to
the Orange Bowl on the heels of a breathtaking win over intrastate rival Florida, with their 11 th
ACC championship in 12 years and a return to the familiar 10- win season landmark.
Bowden and his staff did a remarkable job last season considering they entered the year with
an offense that included just one senior (tailback Greg Jones) and a defense that would face
some of the nation's top offenses. Bowden led FSU (10-3) to its 18 th 10-win season in his 28
years. The Orange Bowl was the Seminoles' 22 nd consecutive bowl game and the fifth BCS
bowl game for FSU in the six-year existence of the national championship arrangement.
The outlook for the 2004 season is extremely bright with a number of publications suggesting
the Seminoles will contend for the national title, but Bowden and his staff will face a challenge
very much the opposite of last season. The offense will be loaded with returning starters at
every position except tailback and flanker, but the defense must find replacements for seven
starters.
Bowden took over an FSU program prior in 1976 that had won just four games over the
previous three seasons. He has remained at FSU, despite offers from NFL teams and several
prestigious college football programs. Bowden's loyalty has meant the world to Florida State
University and its athletics program.
Bowden's record at Florida State is 269-67-4. The totals include a 140-20-2 record in
Tallahassee, 31-8-1 record at neutral sites and 98-39-1 in an opponent's stadium. He has built
those numbers against some of the nation's toughest schedules, earning respect for his team,
attracting top players to his program and establishing his reputation as a competitor in the
process.
Bowden achieved impressive numbers in his previous coaching stops including a 31-6 record at
his alma mater Samford University between 1959 and 1962, and 42-26 at West Virginia from
1970-75. But what he has done at FSU is simply phenomenal. Eighteen times in 28 years, his
Seminoles have won 10 or more games in a season. Florida State had been to just eight bowls
in the 29 years before him. The 2004 Orange Bowl marked the Seminole's 25th since his
arrival, including a string of 22 in a row and 18 "New Year's Day" trips. He is, by far, the
winningest coach ever at Florida State as his win total is greater than the previous seven
Seminole head coaches combined.
Florida State is the only school to finish among the (Associated Press) Top Five for 14
consecutive seasons. The Seminoles finished first twice (1993, 1999), sec- ond twice (1987,
92), third, four times (1988, 89, 97, 99), fourth, five times (1990, 91, 94, 95, 96) and fifth in
2000. No team in college football history can match the run.
Over the past 12 years, Florida State has played in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Since
joining the league in football, FSU is 90-6 and has claimed 11 ACC championships and set the
league record for consecutive victories. Bowden picked up ACC Coach of the Year titles in
1993 and 1997. Part of the reason for Bowden's success in his long run at FSU is that the
elements of the job that seem to turn into chores over the years for most coaches, recruiting,
speaking engagements, public functions, press responsibilities, come easily for Bowden.
"I feel great physically," said Bowden who turned 74 last season. "I've always been a people
person. I enjoy getting to know people, so the recruiting is still a lot of fun for me. I like going
into a player's home and meeting his parents and family. I don't have any desire to slow down
on all the elements outside of the actual game that some people find hard. I understand why it
grinds away at some people, but it just doesn't on me. I guess I've always been able to put
football in its place."
He has developed the most consistently successful program in the history of college football.
FSU won more games in the decade of the 1990s than any other program. The win over Wake
Forest on October 25th of last season allowed him to pass Joe Paterno to become the all-time
winningest coach.
"To be honest, it doesn't really feel like I should be there," said Bowden of the feat. "It's not
something that I sat down 40 years ago and said `you know if I coached long enough and was
successful maybe I could get there." That type of thought never entered my mind. I don't really
think about it. Maybe when I'm done I'll look back on everything."
While Bowden has not spent much time looking back, most of the nation has spent time looking
in at his program's extraordinary success. Just imagine a college basketball program advancing
to the Final Four for 14 years in a row. Even more startling is the thought of playing in the
national title game five times in eight seasons. FSU set an NCAA record with 14 straight Top
Five finishes and the 2001 Orange Bowl was the Tribe's third straight national title game and
fifth in eight years.
Like few other coaches before him, Bowden has created unreal expectations for his program.
He has coached his Florida State teams so very close to perfection that for some, anything
short of another national championship is a down year. The last time FSU did not finish the
season ranked was following a 7-4- 1 record in 1986. Over the 17 seasons since that year,
Florida State has won 179 games and lost just 31 with one tie.
In the fickle world of "big-time" college sports some forget what it is all about. Sure, Bobby
Bowden is proud of his two national championships, his place among the all-time greats, and a
football program that is the model for the entire country. But he has always pointed to the fact
that there are more important things in life. He makes time for charity and to give to his church.
He has never walked past an admiring child without a wink and a smile. He greets total
strangers. He listens and he cares.
One of Bowden's greatest coaching achievements revolves around his success in bowl games.
His 18-8-1 record and .685 bowl winning percentage rank first all-time. Only Joe Paterno (20)
has won more bowl games. Indeed, Florida State's eighth head coach has inked his name on
the list of legends while coaching Samford for four years, West Virginia for six and 28 years at
FSU.
What Bobby Bowden means to Florida State University off the playing field cannot be
measured. Respect, sincerity, class, honesty, charisma, charm and humor; just a few of the
words that describe and define this man better than wins, losses or coaching records.
It has been well chronicled how the Birmingham, Ala., native left snowy West Virginia to come to
Florida State and save the program. Three seasons after he first walked across the campus, he
had taken FSU to within one game of a national championship.
Rising above Bowden's coaching accomplishments, though, are his credentials as a man.
Friendly and outgoing, he is a deeply religious man who believes strongly in the strength of the
family. He loves people. His personality and charm are bigger than life and he has become
somewhat of a folk hero. An engaging speaker, Bowden is constantly in demand and most free
evenings will find him on the speaking circuit. His off-season travel schedule would exhaust
anyone. Sunday morning will usually find him in the pulpit of a church somewhere in the south.
Outside of football, Bowden has an intense interest in World War II history and he is a
voracious reader on the subject. He traced his ancestry to parts of Germany and has visited
the country several times.
Bowden was an outstanding football player at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Ala., and
went on to Alabama as a freshman quarterback, fulfilling a lifelong dream to play for the
Crimson Tide. He lasted one semester in Tuscaloosa before high school sweetheart Ann
Estock lured him back to Birmingham. They soon married and Bobby transferred to Howard
College in Birmingham. The two celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in the same year
(1999) that FSU won its second national championship and Bowden coached his only
undefeated team, the only team ever to go wire-to-wire as the AP No. 1 in college football
history.
Bowden served as an assistant football coach and head track coach at Howard College (now
Samford) from 1954-55. He left his alma mater to serve as Althletic Director and Head Coach at
South Georgia Junior College from 1956-58. He returned to Samford as head coach from
1959-62. He joined the Florida State coaching staff under head coach Bill Peterson as wide
receivers coach from 1963-65. During that time, he coached Seminole receiver T.K. Wetherell
who is now president of FSU. Bowden moved on to West Virginia, serving as offensive
coordinator from 1966-69 before taking over as the Mountaineers' head coach from
1970-1975. He was named FSU's head coach in January 1976 and has been with Florida State
since that day.
Bowden's faith and family have always been most impor-tant to him. The nation can follow son
Tommy's career as head coach at Clemson as well as Terry, who is ABC's college football
studio analyst. The Bowden's oldest son, Steve, co-wrote a book entitled "The Bowden Way"
with his dad that hit the Wall Street Journal's best seller list. Youngest son, Jeff, will be in his
11th season on the FSU staff in 2004 and his fourth as offensive coordinator. The four boys,
daughters Robyn Hines (who is married to Clemson assistant coach Jack Hines), Ginger
Madden, and 21 grandchildren make up the Bowden clan.