Bobby Bowden’s timetable for stepping down as head football coach of Florida State University remains a hot topic of speculation.
Some calculate that Bowden, 79, would like to get to 400 career wins. He now has 381. Others figure that Bowden would like to overtake Penn State’s Joe Paterno, now at 383, and the all-time leader in major-college football victories. Paterno, who turns 82 in two weeks, also is on year-to-year status and subject to an ongoing, scrutinizing media watch.
Bowden personally plays down any mano a mano with Paterno. He just wants to get FSU back on top, where he used to have it, he says, and leave it in good shape for designated successor Jimbo Fisher.
But here’s another scenario for speculation. Bowden, if his health cooperates, just might want to try and coach a few more years than Paterno. But not to pad his numbers. Actually, to validate them.
Before I continue, allow me a disclaimer. I’m a Penn State grad and a hardcore fan of the Nittany Lions and JoePa. I’ve been called worse than partisan on this issue.
At this stage of Bowden’s and Paterno’s careers, it’s largely about legacy. And Bowden’s has an asterisk. Not all of his *victories – unlike Paterno’s or, say, Bear Bryant’s – came against major competition. In fact, Bowden has 31 grandfathered wins against small schools. It’s all permissible — but not equitable — because this is about the record for MAJOR-COLLEGE wins.
Bowden (when coaching his alma mater Howard, now Samford) started with Maryville. Paterno began with Maryland. Bowden gets to count Millsaps as if it were Michigan.
And speaking of Bowden’s legacy.
To be sure, he doesn’t want to go out on an extended losing streak to Florida (now at five). He also might want to separate himself more from that unholy alliance of academic albatross and police-blotter publicity that have dogged his program all season. And, frankly, he might even want further distance from the notorious “Deion Sanders Rule” that was implemented to assure that student-athletes actually attended class during their (final) season of eligibility. You can guess the genesis of that rule.
And it would be downright sporting of Bowden to call out Seminole fans for their classless cheering when UF’s Percy Harvin was injured last week.
And then the matter of Maryville and Millsaps might not matter as much.
Maybe.