Bowdon And FSU Both Must Move On

Bobby Bowdon will go down as one of the greatest coaches in all of sports. DAH!, of course you know that. After all that he has done for Florida St., building a football program that didn't have much of a football tradition, winning 2 national championships, putting tons of players into the NFL, and most importantly, impacting the lives of hundreds of young men for eternity, it's unfortunate that he was forced out before he really wanted to go, but that is what happened.

The truth is, both Bowdon and FSU have to move on. The football program has been on a steady decline the past few years. There comes a time when a new and fresh voice must be heard. Coach Bowdon is now 80 years old. He can now spend more time with his family and do things he wanted to do but was unable to because of his duties as the Seminoles' Head Football Coach. He really loved coaching football at FSU. In his press conference announcing his retirement, he said "I will now have to go out and get a job". He didn't see coaching at FSU as a "job". The transition will take some getting use to, but again, for both parties, especially for Coach Bowdon, it is necessary.

The concept of "Coach in Waiting" works only if you are winning. That is the case at Texas, where Defensive Coordinator Will Muschampe is waiting in the wings to take over for Mac Brown when he retires. Who knows when that will be. In the case of FSU, this is a disaster because recruits want to know who is in charge. Is it Bowdon or Jimbo Fisher. There can be only one Commander and Chief. Now that Bowdon is retiring, prospective recruits know who their coach will be. This is a huge reason why it was good for Bowdon to step down. Jimbo Fisher is more than capable of returning Florida St. back to the championship level that Bobby Bowdon once had it at. He'll get the top recruits in Florida and probably some from Georgia as well.

As Bobby Bowdon said in his press conference, nothing lasts forever. The inevitable was going to occur either now or a year from now. Better for both Bowdon and Florida St. that it happen now than for the program to go through another year of mediocrity and possibly worse than that. A new voice is needed to relate to young men, and Head Coach Jimbo Fisher is that new voice. Bobby Bowdon will always be the greatest head coach in Florida St. history and among the very best in the history of college football surpassed only by Penn State's Joe Paterno. Eventually, even Paterno's reign in Happy Valley will come to an end. The torch must eventually be passed.