Bobby Bowden passes at 91
Legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden has passed away at 91, apparently from pancreatic cancer.
I've always disliked FSU, especially after watching them mollywhop us 51-31 in our own stadium, but for some reason I could never muster up a dislike of Bowden himself. If it weren't for some horrible luck in kicking field goals, he probably would have had another NC or two.
Dadgummit!
Unprecedented run at FSU. Peace to his family.
In other news, Markie Post, actress who played the public defender in Night Court, passed away at age 70 after a 3 year battle with cancer.
I was just going to say something about Markie Post passing. RIP to both
Markie Post died...shit! She definitely had a place in "the bank" during my formative years. I mourn.
August 8th, 2021 at 10:03 AM ^
Username checks out.
Charlie Robinson of Night Court passed away last month too. Harry Anderson's gone.
really bummed to hear this news.
August 8th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
Here's some Grade-A trivia. Markie's dad was a physicist of some renown:
FSU played anyone anytime. So did Miami. That is something up and coming programs today should emulate. Those programs earned their elite status.
Fans who are in their 20s now might find it hard to imagine, but from the late 1980s through the 1990s the Miami-FSU games were almost national championship-level games in the regular season. The physical talent on both squads was ridiculous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_State%E2%80%93Miami_football_rivalry
Those games were always huge. And then throughout the 90s, there was the rivalry b/w Bowden and Spurrier that always seemed to have national championship implications.
RIP Coach Bowden.
Say what you want about him, but he loved his school, and he loved his players. They, in turn, played their hearts out for him.
I was lucky/unfortunate enough to be in the Coaches Press Box with the Michigan staff the year they came into town.
We all thought we really had something special with that Michigan team that year.
They not only steam rolled us, they did it mercilessly. The staff had telescopic mikes in those days. The taunting was torture, as it was followed by execution. They would tell our O line where they were going, and that they they were too slow and fat to stop them. Then they did what they said they would do.
Changed the way I looked at the game for the rest of my life. It was clear that the speed was on another level, and we would be hard pressed to ever field a team deep enough to dominate.
August 8th, 2021 at 10:46 AM ^
"It was clear that the speed was on another level ..."
And, yet, almost thirty years later, there are at least a few people in the Michigan fan base who are more concerned about the size of Wisconsin and Iowa than they are about OSU's overall athletic ability.
There's a Bowden quote buried in here ( https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/smith_mark_a_200412_phd.pdf ) that I remember:
I know a guy walked into my office one day back in 1976 when I first got here. He was a Florida State graduate and I had known him for years, but I hadn’t seen him in ten years. Well he trained hunting dogs and we got to talking. He started telling me about these hunting dogs. Saying that, “If a dog won’t do what you teach him to do, then teach him to do what he can do.” Say he might not want to go into the water, well teach him to climb a tree. Well, I went that is exactly like football is. If you have got a player and he can’t do this, we’ll figure out what his ability is and then use it. Teach him and develop him so he can do that thing really well.
Not only did he have a run that will most likely never be broken (14 straight top five finishes) he built his program from pretty much nothing. RIP coach
Not that those teams weren't great and he wasn't a great coach, but it was a 1-team conference really.
So what? Their non conference every year more than made up for it. They were playing us, Notre Dame, plus top five Miami and Florida teams every year.
Also from 1982 to 2000 they went 15-3-1 in bowl games.
August 8th, 2021 at 10:43 AM ^
Logged in to downvote this idiotic statement.
August 8th, 2021 at 12:45 PM ^
It wasn't a 1-team conference...until FSU showed up & dominated and right away turned it into a "1-team" conference!
This wasn't Boise St dominating the Mountain West conference. FSU stepped into a P5 conference and owned it like the badasses they were.
...just like Texas will do in the SEC. /s
The Bigten isn’t a one team conference?
So is the B1G
August 8th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
basically gonzaga basketball today
Just think how many national titles would FSU have won if the playoff had existed back then. Probably as many as Saban at Bama, maybe more.
I was at that game.
I'm under no illusion that Bowden ran what many of us would consider to be a clean program. FSU didn't come to mean "Free Shoes University" for no reason, and the solicitude the Tallahassee LEOs displayed toward FSU players was well documented years ago.
Regardless, Bowden never struck me as sleazy, which I guess was the result of his folksy "dadgummit" southern charm.
August 8th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
Agreed. Bowden, like Osborne at Nebraska, just always struck me as a great recruiter and coach earnestly focused on building a program from nothing (Burt Reynolds dinner theatre doesn't count.) He wasn't two-faced like Holtz or sleazy like Switzer. The constant failures of the kicking game made the program something of an annual Greek tragedy. But damn, they fielded some of the most impressive rosters in the history of college football. Part of me wishes FSU could make it back to the elite, but I don't think Norvell is the guy to make that happen.
A dinner theater reference?!
Comrade, though Mother Russia produced Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theatre, your invocation of Burt Reynolds and his business surprises me.
One of the greats. RIP coach. Hope the Seminoles can get it together and make you proud in the next few years. CFB is better when they are competitive.
Bowden was a great coach that loved his university. Every football program is fubar, including ours, so we can’t look down our nose at others. R.I.P. BB
One of the greats. RIP.
Sad to hear and from every anecdote that I've heard, he was really a good guy.
I always enjoyed this commercial spot he was in. RIP.
Rest in Peace
I always hated those Florida schools but it is sad to see a Legend pass.
We were mollywhopped because we lolygagged and they were up to their usual shenanigans and skullduggery.
August 8th, 2021 at 10:18 AM ^
RIP, Mr. Bowden. I just remember watching all those wide right, wide left games against For being on the portly side, he lived a long time. I'd take 91, instead of 71 any day!
August 8th, 2021 at 10:23 AM ^
The great times of college football continues to slip away. RIP coach
August 8th, 2021 at 10:37 AM ^
Fine, I’ll be that guy.
Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles committed felonies and were caught red-handed. Warrick, the star, was suspended for two games (that was the absolute least FSU could get away with, since Warrick was caught on camera and pled guilty) to avoid risking FSU’s shot at the title. Coles was expendable and dismissed from the team. Says everything you need to know about the secret to FSU’s dominance: impunity for superstars, accountability for the mooks.
Let’s not whitewash a dirty legacy.
August 8th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
Michigan has had it’s share of problems related to stuff like that. Most college programs did.
August 8th, 2021 at 11:59 AM ^
They did not commit felonies, they were only charged with misdemeanors, and Coles was kicked off the team because of a prior incident.
You think Grant Perry should have been kicked off the team too?
I'm pretty sure Michigan lost all finger wagging privilege when they let kids get molested for DECADES
August 8th, 2021 at 11:00 AM ^
Certainly not glad to see anyone die and I feel for his family. But he made a number of racist comments — as of last year, he still called Blacks “coloreds” — and he behaved like someone out “Smokey and the Bear.” A number of his ex-players have said he was racist. Just because someone died doesn’t mean you forget who he was. The bad with the good.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theroot.com/ex-coach-bobby-bowden-is-an-old-school-racist-who-doesn-1791134200/amp
August 8th, 2021 at 11:57 AM ^
The Root is not exactly a reputable source. It’s equivalent to Jacobin/Breitbart.
A number of his black players never said that he was racist.
Behaved like someone out of Smokey and the Bear? What does that even mean?
When did he call black Americans “colored”?
August 8th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
I read the column you linked. It does not provide any evidence that he was a racist.
August 8th, 2021 at 12:14 PM ^
Smokie and the Bear? How could you confuse the name of an all time great movie?
Incidentally the Bandit famously played football at Florida State, where he roomed with Lee Corso
August 8th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
RIP to one of the all time greats!
Bowden was a genuinely likeable guy. One of the things I really liked about him was that win or lose, he always showed respect and gave a tip of the cap to the opposing team in post-game interviews. It was always one of the first things he talked about.
Class act.
Well, this sucks. RIP, coach - you were one of the greats that nobody could dislike, try as we might.
Tear down his statue.
I thought the blog consensus was NOT to put coaches/people on pedestals.
Oh wait, only MICHIGAN coaches, got it.
Go Blue.