IT IS TIME FOR BOBBY TO GRACEFULLY BOW OUT

I am going to change up the format of this week’s blog. Instead of ending with the Baller & Scrub of the Week, I am going to start with my Baller of the Week and then end with my Scrub of the Week.

BALLER OF THE WEEK: THE NFL – While watching the NFL last Sunday, you may have noticed that a lot of coaches were wearing baseball caps with pink bills. Officials are also wearing pink wristbands. The goal posts are protected by pink padding, and commentators & game analysts have been wearing their best pink shirts and ties. Most notably, the players have been wearing pink wristbands, gloves, and thanks to a brilliant idea by DeAngelo Williams of the Carolina Panthers, pink cleats. For those that don’t know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer affects roughly 1 in every 8 American women and countless other worldwide. The purpose of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is to raise awareness of the disease and to also raise money to continue to improve treatment and ultimately find a cure. The NFL, which is the most popular sports league in America, is definitely doing its part to raise awareness through its high-visibility support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many of the pink items that are being worn by players and coaches can be purchased from nflshop.com with a portion of the proceeds going to breast cancer research.

All over America, a variety of fundraisers are taking place to raise money to fight breast cancer. Walks are one of the most popular types of fundraisers. My wife will be participating in American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk.” If you would like to sponsor her by making a donation to the American Cancer Society’s efforts to fight breast cancer, please click on the link below.
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY10SouthAtlantic?px=13127018&pg=personal&fr_id=19944&fl=en_US&et=5ytmJfK6d1OE2FiXxAR-xw..&s_tafId=360975

You may have noticed that this week’s entry appears to be written in pink font. Don’t adjust the color settings on your monitor. This is my way of contributing to the fight against breast cancer. Therefore all entries written this month will be done in pink (with a dark background so that it can easily be read).

Now for this week’s entry:

This is by far the most difficult blog entry that I have had to write since I started STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!! For those of you who know me or read this blog regularly, it is obvious that I am a huge sports fan. Although, I enjoy watching many different sports, players, and teams there are four entities that I am especially loyal to. I am obviously a HUGE NFL FAN! I enjoy the entire league, I don’t have one particular team that I am a fan or, I am simply a fan of NFL football. I watch and follow every team in the league. I am also the Self-appointed President of the unofficial Atlanta Hawks fan club. I have been a Hawks fan forever, and have been serving in my current capacity of self-appointed President since 2004. I am also a big fan of the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball program, and the Florida State University football program. The fact that I have been a Florida State football fan since my childhood is what makes this such a difficult entry to write. I regretfully say that IT IS NOW TIME FOR BOBBY BOWDEN TO GRACEFULLY BOW OUT!!!!

Since 1976 (before I was born) Bobby Bowden has been a stalwart on the sidelines at Florida State University. During his illustrious tenure with the Seminoles, Bowden has won 12 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships (FSU didn’t join the conference until 1991) and 2 National Championships. His career record as a head coach (including stints at Samford University & West Virginia) is 384-127-4. His 384 career wins are second all-time behind only Joe Paterno of Penn State (388 wins). Of Bowden’s 384 wins, 311 of them came at Florida State. Needless to say, he is a legendary coach and figure in college football. He has also coached many future NFL stars such as Warrick Dunn, Deion Sanders, Derrick Brooks, Peter Boulware, Darnell Dockett, and Leon Washington just to name a few. I could name more but it really would take up too much space. However, I would be remised if I didn’t mention Charlie Ward, who never played in the NFL for reasons that are an entirely different blog topic.

In the 73 years of football at FSU before Bowden’s arrival Florida State had a combined record of 157-136-14. This includes a 19-37 record in the in the last four seasons before Bowden took over. This basically shows that the Florida State University Football Program was built by Bobby Bowden. Unfortunately, today it seems as though it is being destroyed by Bobby Bowden.

There are those that say, “Bowden built that program from nothing, so he should be able to coach as long as he wants to.” I used to be amongst that crowd until I stood back and took an objective look at the program that I have loved since childhood. The truth is that since the end of the 2000 season, FSU has a record of 69-40. Now I know that some of you are wondering what all the fuss is about, because that is a respectable record that a lot of schools would love to have. That is true for most schools, but not for an elite program, the caliber of which Florida State used to be. Prior to 2001, FSU had an unprecedented streak of finishing the season ranked in the top five for 14 CONSECUTIVE YEARS!!!! Do you really think a program that had grown accustomed to that type of success can deal with living in the land of the mediocre programs? We are talking about a team that had grown accustomed to annually playing in the few bowl games that should actually exist. Their last three bowl appearances have been in the Emerald Bowl, Music City Bowl, and the Champs Sports Bowl. Now, I am not putting down other programs that would be celebrating such bowl appearances, but at Florida State this is flat out embarrassing.

There are also those that say that, “It may be time for Bowden to step down, but FSU has to handle this situation better than they have.” To those people I ask, “How can Florida State handle the situation any better than they have?” Not only does everyone know that this should be Bowden’s last season as head coach, they also know that his last season should have been about four years ago. The Florida State University administration has been tremendously patient with Bowden. They have endured countless scandals, the recent losing, and in my opinion, six years of the worst offensive play-calling in the history of college football. The six years I am referring to are 2001-2006 when Bobby’s son, Jeff served as offensive coordinator. With Jeff Bowden calling the plays, you could be certain of one thing. You were going to see a plethora of screen passes each Saturday afternoon. Down and distance didn’t matter, he was going to be sure that he got at least 30 screen passes into every game plan. Whether they up by 20 or down by 20, you can be sure that a screen pass was coming at some point on each drive.

I must commend FSU for being proactive and going ahead a hiring their next head coach. I feel as though Jimbo Fisher will do an excellent job to restore Florida State back to their rightful place among college football’s elite programs. He is an innovative offensive mind who has a track record of success. Many people say, “Bobby doesn’t coach now, so why bother forcing him out as head coach?” I agree that at this point Bobby Bowden is no more than a figurehead. His primary role at this point consists of mostly shaking hands and kissing babies to raise money for the program. However, there is one problem with him staying on in his current figurehead capacity. He still has the title of head coach, therefore giving him complete control over the coaching staff. Bobby is an extremely loyal person, which is why his assistant coaches enjoy great job security. There needs to be some staff-wide changes that won’t take place until Jimbo is officially made head coach. Mickey Andrews is certainly not the defensive genius that he once was and Bobby even welcomed back fired NC State coach Chuck Amato (who was originally on Bobby’s staff from 1981 to 1999). The bottom line is that it is time for sweeping changes at FSU and they won’t take place until the Jimbo Fisher era officially begins.

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned Bowden’s age one time in this entry (he will be 80 years old in November), because that honestly doesn’t matter to me. Truthfully, if FSU were still winning and competing year in and year out for Conference and (more importantly) National Championships, I would not be writing this blog. I feel as though, as Tony Kornheiser likes to say, “THIS IS A GOTS TO GO SITUATION!”

I know that everything is cyclical, but at no point in the cycle should Florida State be the fourth best college football team in the state of Florida (behind Florida, Miami, and South Florida with Central Florida and Florida Atlantic fast approaching at this pace). The arrow on this program is clearly pointing down, and I honestly don’t think it will ever point up again under Bowden’s leadership.

By no means am I saying that FSU should kick Bowden out like yesterday’s trash, I mean he did build the program. He should be given a football related role within the athletic department and he should be paid his entire coaching salary (over $2 million annuallly) for the rest of his life. However, he should no longer be the football coach. The 2010 season should start a new era of Florida State football.

SCRUB OF THE WEEK: Florida State University Football Team – You are currently 2-4 overall with a 0-3 conference record. That’s why you are my Scrub of the Week. That’s all I’m going to say about that.