http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2635717

Quote :

"Florida State boosters calling for Bowden to retireESPN.com news services "Our dilemma is: How do you ask a legend to retire?" All-time Div. I-A coaching victories Coach W L T x-Bobby Bowden 363 110 4 x-Joe Paterno 359 120 3 Bear Bryant 323 85 17 Pop Warner 319 106 32 Amos Alonzo Stagg 314 199 35 LaVell Edwards 257 101 3 Tom Osborne 255 49 3 Lou Holtz 249 132 7 Woody Hayes 238 72 10 Bo Schembechler 234 65 8 x- active The question was posed by Bill Davis, a past president of Seminole Boosters, Inc., in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. The answer might be coming soon. Some Florida State boosters are calling for 76-year-old football coach Bobby Bowden to retire with the Seminoles (4-3, 2-3 ACC) in last place in the conference. Palm Beach attorney Peter Mettler, who is a former board member of Seminole Boosters, told the newspaper he was one of many boosters who have written to Florida State, calling for Bowden to retire. "I am convinced and frankly have been for the last two seasons that coach Bowden should retire or be forced to retire," Mettler wrote to Florida State president T.K. Wetherell, the newspaper reported. "Someone has to stand up and make this difficult decision. As our president I urge you to be the leader I know you are, and do what has to be done." Mettler, who is a Golden Chief in the booster organization ($6,000 miniumum donation) told the newspaper he sent his letter on Friday, the day before Florida State lost at home to Boston College. Davis also told the newspaper he thinks it's time for a change at the top for the Florida State football team. "This is a real tough business. It boils down to one of two things: It's either the horses or the jockeys. And we think we have some pretty good horses." A Web site, "RetireCoachBowden.com" also calls for Bowden to step down. "We think it is time for someone in the FSU Administration to tell the Emperor he has no clothes...it is time to let our Legendary Coach retire with some amount of class and dignity. Let 2006 be the swan song year so FSU can look ahead to the future with a new, younger direction, with an active Head Coach who actually coaches in the game," the introduction to the Web site reads. However, Bowden remains upbeat. "I know it sounds crazy, but I feel real good about our program right now," Bowden said Sunday after the Seminoles lost their second straight league home game. "I can't worry about that," Bowden said. "Find the sun. The glass is half full, not half empty. That's always been me." With the season's final road trip on tap Saturday at Maryland (5-2, 2-1), Florida State needs a win to avoid heading into the season's final month at .500 for the first time in Bowden's 31 years at the school. The Seminoles' three losses to Clemson, North Carolina State and Boston College are by a total of 16 points. "We've been in every ballgame until the last dadgum minute," Bowden said. "We're playing so many younger people, we should get better." When, however, is the question for the defending ACC champs, who have now lost seven of their last 12 games dating back to last November. "I don't want to present this as 'Oh boy, next year,'" Bowden said. "I'm talking about this season. [But] we've got some growing up to do." Injuries have forced Bowden to play 17 true freshmen this year, including five who started in the loss to Boston College. "People win with freshmen. You also get beat with freshmen," Bowden said. "But they're going to be good." Reaffirming his positive nature, Bowden said his years in coaching have taught him good follows bad. "We're going to come out of this doggone thing," he said. "

10/23/2006 12:26:09 PM

does anybody else think bobby bowden sounds just like Earl?

lmfao

fsu is going to be good next year. they have a ronald curry/mracus hagans qb coming in next year

10/23/2006 12:33:10 PM

that is fucking stupid
how are you going to force him to retire / he built what FSU is today
not to mention they won the ACC last year and went BCSing

you have to give him a pass this year b/c of the injuries

10/23/2006 12:34:43 PM

I think either Bowden or Paterno will literally die before the other one makes sure he's 1st in all time wins and then retires

10/23/2006 12:36:16 PM

no shit
me too

until one of the retires / the other one will not

that just dont read right

10/23/2006 12:37:08 PM

lol watch him "retire" then go coach at unc

10/23/2006 12:39:44 PM

That would be horrible. He doenst need the UNC taint of pussification.

But seriously, I would give him 1-2 more years to see if he can develope the young players. If he cant, then he can bounce. But I would like to see him have the winningest(sp?) record.

10/23/2006 1:19:20 PM

The real reason most of the people want him gone is because of his son, Jeff, as the OC. They know he won't fire his own son as OC so they at this point would be willing to let him go as long as it got rid of Jeff.

he has done a horrible job developing talent since he took over the OC job in 2000. Their offense has not had a "florida state" type year since he took over. And they have a point. They have still had some killer defenses under Mickey Andrews during this stretch, but their offense has been pretty marginal every single year.

10/23/2006 3:56:48 PM

Quote :

"The real reason most of the people want him gone is because of his son, Jeff, as the OC. They know he won't fire his own son as OC so they at this point would be willing to let him go as long as it got rid of Jeff."

That's a large part of it, yes. But we also want him gone because a football program starts and ends with a head coach. When you're 76 years old, you're not the coach of the future, even if you *maybe* turn it around next year. I personally think the whole program needs a shakeup from top to bottom, including Mickey Andrews.

10/23/2006 7:14:39 PM

I beleive Miami's HC will be looking for a job next year.

10/23/2006 7:16:25 PM

^including Mickey? wow. he is one of the top 5 defensive coordinators in the country.

I agree that he is not the head coach of the future, but you have to be careful when dealing with a legend. It can put a stain on your program that would last for a long, long time if he is run out of there considering all that he has done for FSU football.

That said, I think the best thing for the program is for Bowden to step down, FSU go after a young but proven coach that can light a fire under this team and get them back to National Championship contention, because they have enough talent (a lot of it is injured this year).

10/23/2006 7:18:57 PM

yea thats a bunch of crap


Bowden has the reigns of his program, and should keep them till they pry them out of his dead ass hands

how can you not love a coach that doesnt blow sunshine up anyones ass, shoots straight, and wont hesitate one second to discipline star players

10/23/2006 7:26:33 PM

He will leave when he wants

any other way is unacceptable

10/23/2006 7:28:12 PM

^ what he said

10/23/2006 7:31:18 PM

I definitely don't want Bowden fired. Didn't mean to imply that. With all he's done for our program, he deserves better than that. Ideally (imho), Bowden himself will gracefully step down, perhaps after next year. But you can't just let him stay until he wants to leave. What if he goes crazy and doesn't want to leave, even when he's 90 and in a wheelchair? At some point, you kind of have to ease him out. I don't think we're there yet, but we're getting close. People don't realize, this is our 6th straight year of sub-par (by FSU standards, which admittedly are exceptionally, perhaps unreasonably high) football.

[Edited on October 23, 2006 at 7:35 PM. Reason : cuz]

10/23/2006 7:34:47 PM

watch him win it all next year

that team is still pretty young

kind of like what Paterno almost did after they called for his head

10/23/2006 7:35:50 PM

paterno is nothing more than a penn state mascot

10/23/2006 7:45:57 PM

^good call there. I don't know how much he actually does as far as coaching goes on that football team anymore. I mean you just leave the game because you are sick and need to go to the bathroom you have to trust one of your assistant coaches fairly heavily.


I think FSU could win it all next year b/c of how young they are and all of the players that are injured this year will be back. But I don't think that they will b/c Jeff is a bad playcaller and player developer in my opinion. If Bobby fired him, which won't happen b/c it is his son, and brought in a fresh mind on the offensive side of the football, I think they could.

10/23/2006 8:05:17 PM

The guys on PTI were like "we have to words for these boosters; SHUT UP!"

10/23/2006 8:18:45 PM

they won't win it all with a true freshman qb

10/23/2006 8:21:07 PM

Bobby Bowden is like Dean Smith, you let him retire when he wants to.

10/23/2006 8:24:56 PM

Weatherford will be a junior next year, so assuming he can keep the job....

Tell you what, guys. We'll trade you straight up, Jeff Bowden for Chuck Amato. Any takers?

10/23/2006 8:25:30 PM

^ur kidding right? weatherford is worse than marcus stone.

http://floridastate.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=39672

[Edited on October 23, 2006 at 8:32 PM. Reason : dexter merrit ftqb]

10/23/2006 8:28:34 PM

Might Chuck be in line for this job?

10/23/2006 8:35:35 PM

he's gonna have a great year next year and bolt for fsu because he's not wanted here

10/23/2006 8:40:22 PM

will you please shut the fuck up

10/23/2006 8:58:33 PM

Quote :

"I mean you just leave the game because you are sick and need to go to the bathroom you have to trust one of your assistant coaches fairly heavily."

in most cases the assistant coaches do most of the "coaching" during the game. I am not saying that not having a head coach isn't important, just that if the coordinators and such are good at their goods the head coach just oversees to make sure everything is running smoothly

10/24/2006 1:41:39 AM

if the coordinators and such are good at their goods

10/24/2006 9:12:56 AM

that's right....good at their goods

10/24/2006 11:55:40 AM

Quote :

"Tell you what, guys. We'll trade you straight up, Jeff Bowden for Chuck Amato. Any takers? "

hell no. my dad went to fsu, and we still have a lot of friends that live in tallahasee, and for the most part, bobby is not on the hotseat, its Jeff. Everyone hates Jeff right now (and you can't blame em) In fact, I was told that one gas station even had a sign up saying: " Jeff Bowden: free gas for a year if you resign."

[Edited on October 24, 2006 at 12:16 PM. Reason : d]

10/24/2006 12:15:54 PM

^Obviously it was a joke. I don't think most high school teams would take Jeff Bowden as their waterboy right now. You're right that Jeff is on the hotseat more than Bobby, but people are finally coming to the realization that Baby Bowden isn't going anywhere until Papa does.

10/24/2006 12:36:56 PM

Bobby should somehow get Jeff out, by getting him a head coaching position at some lower school, like a MAC team or something.

10/24/2006 12:38:54 PM

A few years ago, my friend tried to start http://www.hirejeffbowden.com, but the domain name had already been taken. It's now a legit website.

[Edited on October 24, 2006 at 12:49 PM. Reason : cuz]

10/24/2006 12:48:43 PM

Boo fucking hoo, the donors are pissed because for once they are not in the top 25, for once they arent winning the division. What a bunch of crying bitches, try being an NC State supporter, then you can actually be calling for this shit.

10/25/2006 4:21:13 PM

They are seriously going to talk about this on Sportscenter in a few...

They won the ACC last year folks....and the season is only half over.

10/26/2006 6:17:40 PM