“Head Coach In Waiting”

Over the past three years in writing this column I have written several times regarding the Florida State Seminoles football team and coach. In fact I just wrote one a couple of weeks ago titled “It Ain’t Hard To Be Humble” when you’re a Seminole fan. The following week the Noles soundly beat BYU and appeared to be righting the ship. Well the last two weeks have been a return to the land of the humble.
In fact things have digressed to the point that some public officials associated with the school are now calling for Bobby Bowden to announce that he will retire at the end of the season. And if he chooses not to retire, the call is for the school to make the change themselves. Let the feeding frenzy begin.

I’ve been reading some of the blogs related to the story and there appears to be a consensus among the bloggers. Most say that they are huge Bobby Bowden fans and appreciate all that he has done for FSU football. But most are also saying that the time has come to end the Bowden era. Bowden for his part has said that he will not respond to the comments made by these public officials. In the video footage I saw he appears defiant, and even uncharacteristically disrespectful to a female reporter when he commented “that sounds just like a female.”

But there is another sentiment that is voiced by many of the bloggers in which I whole heartedly agree. It should not have come to this, i.e. folks publically calling for Bowden to call it quits. Surely there could and should have been a better way for all this to unfold. And I don’t think the worst has yet to come. If FSU can’t start playing better on the field, which is very possible, the calls for his ouster will only intensify. This thing could get really ugly.

Two years ago some were calling for his ouster and the promoting of Jimbo Fisher to head coach. I wrote that I felt Bowden should have more time to right the ship. I wanted to believe that he could turn things around. He had done it before. Then FSU did this “head coach in waiting” deal with Jimbo Fisher. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. And I don’t think it has worked. There must be one head coach, and it should have been either Bowden or Fisher. As the old saying goes, you can only serve one master. Well a football team can only serve one head coach, not two. Simply Put, this “head coach in waiting” is for the birds.

So what to do now? Tune in next week for my idea on what should be done.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob said the peak years of mental activity are between the ages of 4 & 18. At 4 they know all the questions and at 18 they know all the answers.