Legendary Florida state coach Bobby Bowden has died aged 91

Hall of Fame folk coach Bobby Bowden who has won over 350 games and made Florida state one of college football’s great dynasties with two national championships has passed away. He was 91 years old.

Bobby’s son, Terry, confirmed to The Associated Press that his father died at the home surrounded by his family early Sunday morning. Florida State too announced the news on social networks.

“It was really peaceful,” Terry Bowden said in a text message to AP.

Bobby Bowden announced on July 21 that he was suffering from a terminal illness which Terry Bowden later referred to as pancreatic cancer. Bobby Bowden was treated for prostate cancer over ten years ago.

“I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the pitch, and I’m prepared for what’s to come,” Bowden said at the time. “My wife, Ann, and our family have been the greatest blessing in life. I am at peace.”

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Bowden was hospitalized in October 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19. The test took place days after he returned to his Tallahassee, Florida home after a lengthy hospital stay for a leg infection.

With Southern charm and spirit, Bowden racked up 377 wins in his 40 years as a major college coach, from little Samford – his alma mater, then known as Howard College – to Virginia – Western and finally to the State of Florida, where he went 315-98-4. The Seminoles have been a force in his 34 seasons as a coach, winning 12 Atlantic Coast Conference championships and national titles in 1993 and 1999.

Bowden retired after the 2009 season with a Gator Bowl victory over West Virginia in Florida State’s 28th straight playoff appearance, a victory that gave him his 33rd straight winning season. However, a month after his resignation, the NCAA deprived the State of Florida of its victories in 10 sports due to a college cheating scandal in 2006 and 2007 involving 61 athletes.

Still, only Penn State’s Joe Paterno is credited with winning more games as a major college football coach. Bowden’s winning tally ranks fourth in all divisions in college football history.

Bowden was replaced by his offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, who had been Bowden’s pending replacement.

“He’s one of the great human beings who has never been trained and one of the great coaches who has never been trained,” said Fisher.

Bowden won the National Championship in 1993 with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Charlie Ward, and again in 1999 with his second Heisman winner, quarterback Chris Weinke, and All-American wide receiver Peter Warrick.

The Seminoles had a chance for even more glory, but lost in national title games to Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma and narrowly missed the championship game in several other seasons due to defeats against their rival Miami.

Bowden once joked that his gravestone would read, “But he played in Miami,” a line on a line that came the day after the Hurricanes’ 17-16 win in 1991, when the Seminoles missed a basket. right in the last few seconds. Miami also won similarly in 2002 when a shot on goal went to the left, much to Bowden’s chagrin.

Florida State dominated the ACC under Bowden, winning championships in 12 of his first 14 seasons after joining the league in 1992.

“Bobby Bowden has meant everything to Florida state athletics and so much to college football in general,” said Florida state athletic director David Coburn. “He’s part of the heart and soul of FSU, but it goes beyond even that – he’s a big part of the story of the game.”

Bowden was also the patriarch of college football’s most colorful coaching family. His son Tommy Bowden was 90-49 at Tulane and Clemson, and his son Terry Bowden was 47-17-1 at Auburn. Another son, Jeff, served 13 years as a wide receivers coach for his father at Florida State and six seasons as an offensive coordinator before stepping down in 2006.

Bobby Bowden left West Virginia to resume a Florida State program in 1976 that had produced just four wins in the previous three seasons. The Seminoles went 5-6 in Bowden’s freshman year and have never seen a losing season again under a man who said he was preparing for football games like WWII generals were preparing for battles.

“You face similar tasks of motivation, preparation, teamwork, discipline,” Bowden said. “I probably get the most satisfaction from putting the strategies in place and watching them unfold.”

By 1979, Bowden had positioned the State of Florida for an unprecedented run in the annals of college football.
Led by All American nose guard Ron Simmons, the Seminoles enjoyed an 11-0 regular season but lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. In 1993, despite a late slip at Notre Dame, the state of Florida won its first national title after nearly getting there in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1992.

Bowden’s one perfect season came in 1999 when the Seminoles became the first team to go from wire to wire in the Associated Press rankings, No.1 from preseason to finish.

“The first championship was more of a relief,” said Bowden. “I think I got to enjoy the second a bit more.”

The success also caught the limelight, and Bowden’s program has been hit by scandal a few times. The school was placed on NCAA probation for five years after several players in 1993 accepted free shoes and other sporting goods at a local store. The episode led to former Florida coach Steve Spurrier to nickname FSU “Free Shoes University”.

Bowden was proud to adjust to the times and give players a second chance, but critics said he was gentle on the discipline with an eye on winning matches.

“If short hair and good manners won the football games, the Army and Navy would play for the national championship every year,” Bowden retorted.

Randy Moss, one of the most talented athletes to ever attend the state of Florida, never looked down on the Seminoles and was kicked out of school after a red shirt season for smoking marijuana. In 1999, Warrick was caught in a shopping scam that led to his two-game suspension and likely cost him the Heisman Trophy that year.

“It’s only about 6 inches that turns that halo into a noose,” Bowden loved to say on good days, when he was often called “Saint Bobby” by worshipers in the state of Florida.

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The Seminoles have won 10 or more games in 18 of Bowden’s 34 seasons at Florida State, but were relatively deadly 74-42 on the field from 2001 to 2009.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

Bowden is survived by his 51 year old wife, Ann; sons Terry, Tommy, Jeff and Steve; and daughters Robyn Hines and Ginger Madden.

AP Sports writer John Zenor in Alabama and former AP Sports associate editor John Affleck contributed to this report.