Florida State Seminoles Schedule
Saturday
9/11/2010
TBA
Oklahoma Sooners vs Florida State Seminoles
Saturday
9/18/2010
TBA
Florida State Seminoles vs Brigham Young BYU Cougars
Saturday
9/25/2010
TBA
Florida State Seminoles vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons
NEWS
By Bud L. Ellis
He never could have realized, upon taking on the challenge of building the Florida State football program some three and a half decades ago, that it would end on the next to last week of the first decade of a new century.
Bobby Bowden directed his final practice at the Al Dunlap practice field Tuesday morning, as the Florida State Seminoles continue final preparations for the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day against West Virginia at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.
It seems light to call this the end of an era. Bowden’s legendary career at Florida State goes beyond the sheer numbers of 34 seasons and 388 victories, a pair of national championships, and a tenure in Tallahassee that’s run from early 1976 until late 2009.
Bowden joked with media members that the practice facility has changed in some respects, that the highway that runs near the field wasn’t there, that where a wall now sits once populated pine trees. Plenty has changed, but what hasn’t changed is Bowden’s focus on the task at hand.
Whether he believed it or not, Bowden told the press that this was just another practice. But that’s not exactly true, as it is estimated Bowden has presided over more than 4,200 workouts at the FSU facility.
The Gators will resume workouts after Christmas in Jacksonville, in preparation for Bowden’s swan song against West Virginia, the school where he served as head coach for six years before beginning his remarkable run at FSU.
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 11:11 pm by bud
Tags: Bobby Bowden, Florida State, Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, West Virginia
By Bud L. Ellis
As Florida State prepares to play its final game under Bobby Bowden in the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day, the Seminoles only need to look back five years for a blueprint for success.
On New Year’s Day 2005 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (then called Alltel Stadium), the Seminoles knocked off West Virginia – this year’s Gator Bowl opponent – 30-18 in the Gator Bowl.
Leon Washington spurred the Seminoles on that day, rushing for 195 yards (135 coming before halftime) as Bowden’s current team beat the team he coached a generation earlier.
Washington, who rushed for the third-most yards in Gator Bowl history, got plenty of help from Lorenzo Booker, who rushed for 101 yards. The Seminoles finished with 321 yards on the ground; Washington finished as the game’s MVP.
The Seminoles got the win despite allowing 238 yards rushing. Certainly, FSU fans are hoping for better defense this time around, and a victory to send Bowden out in good fashion.
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Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 10:11 pm by bud
Tags: Bobby Bowden, Florida State, Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Leon Washington, Lorenzo Booker, West Virginia
Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher has signed a five-year contract with the school worth $9 million.
Fisher has been the team’s offensive coordinator and coach in waiting for a couple of years now, just waiting things out until the legendary Bobby Bowden decided to call it quits.
That time was this year, although many would argue that the school essentially backed Bowden into a corner and forced him to retire. He will officially become the head coach after the team plays in the Gator Bowl.
The Seminoles faithful are growing desperate to see a winning product back out on the field and a return to the glory days of 10-win seasons and national championships.
It remains to be seen whether or not Fisher is the man that can get them back to those days. He didn’t exactly set the world on fire as the team’s offensive coordinator, which has to be concerning.
Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 8:41 am by steve
By Bud L. Ellis
We all knew it was coming, but Friday the official word came from Tallahassee: Jimbo Fisher will replace Bobby Bowden as Seminoles’ coach in 2010.
The coach in waiting got the official word Friday with an incentive-laced contract that will pay Fisher handsomely should FSU regain its footing among the college football elite.
The base pay is $1.8 million, but the incentives in the deal would make Fisher quite richer. Consider:
If the Seminoles win an ACC division title, Fisher pockets $50,000. Another $50,000 would come from winning the ACC championship game. The 44-year-old would earn $125,000 should FSU land in the BCS championship game, and another $125,000 if FSU wins the national championship contest.
A top 10 finish in The Associated Press final rankings? Chalk up another $50,000. A top five finish makes it $100,000.
Bowden coaches the final game of his 34-year run as FSU’s head coach in the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium against West Virginia.
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at 1:16 am by bud
Tags: Bobby Bowden, Florida State, Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Jimbo Fisher, West Virginia
By Bud L. Ellis
One cannot blame Bobby Bowden one bit for being sentimental as the final days of 2009 – and the final days of his storied run at Florida State – tick away.
And what makes it even more emotional for the 80-year-old coach is the fact his final game on the Seminoles’ sidelines comes against the school he left to take over the Tallahassee school 34 years ago.
Bowden will direct the Seminoles in the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium against West Virginia, the team where Bowden spent 10 seasons as a football coach, the final six (from 1970-75) as the head man.
With full practices beginning Tuesday, the ramp up to Bowden’s finale has started in earnest for the Seminoles. To a man, they know winning this game would make this up-and-down season end on an intoxicating high note.
Bowden has won 379 games in his illustrious career. Forty-two of those victories came as West Virginia’s head man. Only once, in a 4-7 season in 1974, did Bowden coach the Mountaineers to a losing record. Twice his teams won eight games. In his final season at West Virginia, the Mountaineers went 9-3 and reached the Peach Bowl (Bowden also led West Virginia to the Peach Bowl in 1972).
He arrived at West Virginia in 1966, after three seasons of foreshadowing – Bowden coaching the wide receivers at Florida State from 1963-65 He would spend his first four seasons at West Virginia as offensive coordinator before taking over as head coach in 1970.
And now here he is, the circle on his remarkable coaching career nearly closed. It’s fitting that the final loop will be closed in a game pitting Florida State against West Virginia.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 10:09 pm by bud
Tags: Bobby Bowdon, Florida State, Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Peach Bowl, West Virginia
The Florida State Seminoles have accepted an invitation to play in the Gators Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
The Gator Bowl, the ACC and Florida State officials all worked together to try and make this happen.
Head coach Bobby Bowden is retiring after season and made it clear that his last wish was to finish his career in a bowl game in Florida.
To make it extra special, the Seminoles will take on the West Virginia Mountaineers, where Bowden began his coaching career.
The announcement is sure to upset several ACC teams who finished with a better record than Florida State, but Bowden deserves to go out on top.
Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 9:17 am by steve
By Bud L. Ellis
The end of his storied career will be a blast from the past for Bobby Bowden.
The outgoing Florida State coach – outgoing in personality as much as job status – will direct the Seminoles in the final game of his illustrious 44-year coaching career on Jan. 1, when FSU takes on 18th-ranked West Virginia in the Gator Bowl at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.
Bowden, who has spent the past 34 years in Tallahassee, directed the Mountaineers from 1970-1975, winning 42 of his 388 career victories at the school. He left to take over FSU in 1976, a school that had won just four times in the three previous seasons.
We all know what Bowdon did when he arrived at FSU: build a national giant. The Seminoles won national championships in 1993 and 1999, the pinnacle peaks of a 14-season streak from 1987-2000 during which the Seminoles finished in the top five every season. During that run, FSU went 152-18-1.
A matchup dripping with history, this isn’t the first time Bowdon has faced his former team in Jacksonville. In 1982, the Seminoles downed West Virginia 31-12. In 2004, FSU topped the Mountaineers 30-18. Bowden also coached in the Gator Bowl in 1985 (a 34-23 FSU win over Oklahoma State) and 2001 (a 30-17 triumph over Virginia Tech).
Because of Bowden’s retirement, the ACC allowed 6-6 FSU to slide into the Gator Bowl, giving Bowden the opportunity to coach his final game in Florida. The Seminoles struggled out of the gate in 2009 but turned things around in late October, ripping off four wins in five tries before falling to then-top ranked Florida in the regular-season finale.
In contrast, West Virginia opened the season with victories in six of its first seven games. After dropping two of its next three, West Virginia closed the season with victories over Pittsburgh and Rutgers.
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Monday, December 7, 2009 at 6:17 pm by bud
Tags: Bobby Bowden, Florida, Florida State, Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Florida State Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden has announced that he is stepping down from his post.
Bowden was given the choice to step down or remain as an ambassador to the program but with reduced responsibilities.
The coach has been under a lot of scrutiny and received a lot of criticism for the team’s recent struggles.
It’s disappointing to see the 80-year old coach essentially forced out after all he has done for the university.
Friday, December 4, 2009 at 3:08 pm by steve
The Florida State Seminoles hung tough early but eventually wore down in a 37-10 loss to the Florida Gators.
On the road, the undermanned Seminoles had very little shot at knocking off the top team in the country.
After holding the Gators to just a touchdown in the first quarter, Florida State went into halftime trailing 24-0.
It wasn’t much better in the second half, but the Gators did seem to ease up a little bit on their rivals.
The game had significance for the Seminoles because it could have been the last regular season contest in the great career of head coach Bobby Bowden.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 7:44 pm by steve
By Bud L. Ellis
The Bobby Bowden Era at Florida State University is over.
The architect of the Seminoles’ program, who elevated the once woebegone program to national elite status, announced his retirement Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation and pressure surrounding the status of the 80-year-old patriarch of the FSU program.
After 34 seasons at the Tallahassee school, Bowden will coach his final game when FSU lines up in a to-be-determined bowl game. And while the past few seasons have been a struggle for the Seminoles, there can be no denying the impact Bowden had on the program, and on college football.
For 14 years in a row, Bowden directed the Seminoles to 10-win seasons. Each year, FSU finished in the top five of The Associated Press rankings. During that stretch, Bowden’s teams won 86.4 percent of their games (152-19-1), including national championships in 1993 and 1999. In the later season, FSU became the first team to stay at No. 1 in the AP poll from the preseason to the end.
The second-winningest coach in major college football behind Joe Paterno, Bowden stands with 388 career victories at Samford, West Virginia and Florida State.
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 10:56 pm by bud
Tags: Bobby Bowden, Florida State, Joe Paterno, Samford, West Virginia
