Bobby Bowden Anatomy of a Coach show

[Music] so [Music] when bobby bowden took over at florida state the seminoles were anything but a major force in college football hello everyone i'm paul crane over the next hour we'll see how bobby bowden created one of the greatest programs in history and in the process won more games than anyone in division 1a ever we'll also go beyond his affable personality and awe shucks attitude to see signs of the man few get to see i like the good old boy image that my dad has he's never caught a fish in his life he doesn't know how to use a hammer you know he's a he's a city boy from birmingham but he is a southerner it's golf and football that's about all there is i think when people look at him and you hear all the good old guy talk i don't think people really realize how competitive a person he is and how much he hates to lose as you know i've been coaching so long now 50 50 this is my 51st year and losses hurt just as bad today as they did when i was 23 years of age or 24 in my first years [Applause] by bobby bowden's own admission he's not cut out for losing after his seminoles lost nine games in 2001 and 2002 combined which was the same amount they had lost from the end of 1991 until 2000 he brought fsu back to national prominence and a 10-win season in 2003. you want a chance to win it all in this business and the expectations are to win it all i i know i came here last year and it was really kind of funny they apologized for just winning the acc he enjoys the image of himself as a kind of backslapping country bumpkin whose grammar is not always perfect his addiction is not always what the english teacher would like but i call him dumb as a fox and and he really is there's not much that he misses i think coach bowden is really a lot more competitive i'm a lot more competitive than people think they see this happy-go-lucky guy sometimes with the media or whatever but he's very intense bowden's intensity is part of the reason he's been able to build one of the game's greatest winners at a place that had never known real winning before but then all bowdoin has ever needed was opportunity and he'd take care of the rest paul i really think probably what i'm most proud of is that bobby played at a little no-name school howard college with a no-name coach he's sort of come up on his own through the years he didn't play in alabama or oklahoma or michigan or some you know large football school came from just just a small college kind of a self-made man didn't have any kind of help initiating him in the coaching profession so many guys that make it big time they either play for a top coach or at a big name school and but he kind of came from nothing and did it all on his own which with meal pushing a little bit even with the pushing and competitive fire bowden is about much more than winning games his coaching staff is among the most loyal in all of college football six current assistants have been at florida state at least 10 years and three of those 19 years or more from a personal standpoint he's helped me grow as a man seeing the example that he he places every day in front of you not just talk about but the way he lives i think personally you know he provided an atmosphere for me and my family of stability in a business that really doesn't have a lot of stability i think the thing you've got to do and i've tried to do is keep uh keep things in perspective and keep your priorities in order so i've never felt like football should be your number one priority it is a priority but it's not the priority family has long been a priority for bowdoin and later we'll get a unique perspective on the game's only father-son rivalry we'll also talk about the subject of retirement with the coach and his family in what could be their most candid comments about this subject on record but up next some key moments in a remarkable career i was very tempted to go back to alabama in 1987. and how bobby bowden made florida state great by going places few teams like to go and winning you are better than nebraska now that's what i say are we going to let them beat us [Music] nothing has come easily for bobby bowden before the national championships he had to endure the kind of heartbreak that can be summed up in two words wide right in 1991 bowden had florida state ranked number one in the country from opening day all the way to a november meeting against miami which was ranked number two with less than 30 seconds to play the seminoles missed a 34-yard field goal as miami won 17-16 and went on to a 12-0 national championship season then the next year in miami different kicker same result wide right on the game's final play as florida state would lose 1916 and finish the season ranked number two in the nation at 11 and 1. national championship contenders were far from bowden's first division one head coaching job it came in 1959 at his alma mater howard college in birmingham now known as samford after four successful seasons he left to become an assistant at florida state then to west virginia where he'd be named head coach in 1970. when i was in west virginia i had a i had one losing season went four and seven and uh of course the fans get upset and they you know want to see me leave so i hung on and then we had a good year the next year i left to go back to florida state the one-time women's college had never even played football until 1947 and before bowden's return had won a total of four games in three years florida state when i came here well it's like all jobs when you're out when you're out changing jobs you don't want them good jobs you don't want them jobs where they're 11 at home you know because when you get you can't go one way it's down so the ideal thing is to get a job that has potential but is down so that's about the way i came to florida state when we came to florida state i really didn't feel like that was a big enough job for him i thought he was ready for bigger things i think in his mind he thought maybe he'd use it as a stepping stone when i came here was the idea that uh i wouldn't stay at florida state i'll come down there and get my get to see my old friends again and get back to alabama either auburn or alabama somehow and you know the funny thing about it is since i've been back i have then offered the job at alabama and auburn both in an informal way i was very tempted to go back to alabama in 1987 you know when when perkins left but they didn't offer the job i'm glad they didn't because they had i might have taken it instead bowden was creating his own winner the likes of which college football had never seen before [Applause] bowden became known as king of the road because he could never get any major schools to agree to come to tallahassee when i came here i adopted a schedule that was just nothing but on the road you know we had we had four games with nebraska away no return we had two with michigan away no return two with ohio stayed away no return three with arizona state no return uh four five with lsu no return nebraska is where bowdoin's seminoles in his first trip to lincoln in 1980 shocked the college football world 80 was the one i thought the game that really turned our program around got us on a national scale because back in those days people didn't go to nebraska and beat nebraska and we were we put it off the first year we played them and i think that kind of put florida state on the map i remember the game very well we were behind fourteen or three at the half and came back i think we shut them down the second half and beat them florida state won that game 18-14 and in 1985 in the huskers season opener at lincoln florida state once again found itself way down at halftime now men listen to me y'all have worked hard and you are you are better than nebraska you are better than nebraska now that's what i say are we going to let them beat us let's get out there and get on florida state came back to win that one 17-13 the last time nebraska has lost a season opener the win set the stage for an unprecedented run which would begin the following year 14 consecutive seasons of 10 wins or more and finishing in the national top five the first couple years were okay dad was a new face in town but florida state had had some really hard lucky years and no one was feeling especially optimistic but that third or fourth year suddenly we're in the orange bowl two years straight and suddenly there's bumper stickers you know saint bowden and daddy all of a sudden became this larger than life person in tallahassee now i'm in high school maybe a maybe a senior maybe a freshman in college at this point going to florida state and it was very exciting i mean i felt very special that elusive national championship would finally come after the 1993 season when florida state beat nebraska in the orange bowl but there was still an empty picture frame which had been sitting in bowden's office for years waiting for his first undefeated team that would be the 1999 seminoles who were number one wired a wire they beat virginia tech in a dramatic sugar bowl to cap a perfect 12-0 season professionally what am i most proud of oh you know one that i've been i've never been fired 51 years i've never been fired you know and it's uh and i've been on edge several times you know and i don't guess it's too late for that and bobby bowden is far from finished coming up next the ever changing acc and the only father-son rivalry of its kind later an annual family reunion unlike any other the only time all the bowdens coach together and will go inside one of bobby bowden's staff meetings we're back in a moment florida state had been an independent until deciding in 1991 to join the acc since beginning play there in 92 the seminoles have won 11 of the 12 league championships but now the conference has added miami and virginia tech with boston college following in 2005. i've always been in favor of miami being in our conference i really didn't think it would happen but when we joined the conference back in 1991 my recommendation to our athletic director was let's get miami in here we got to play them anyway let's get them in the conference they now make our conference football wise as good as anybody florida state has another conference game with unique intensity against clemson the only time in college football history father and son have gone against each other as head coaches the first time bobby and tommy bowden discussed their annual game while sitting next to each other was in the summer of 2002 after they had met three times at the end of each game coaches always go to each other what's that walk been like for you a jog for you and a walk for tommy no it's he runs to his mother she's your wife she's not my mother until she cheers for me i don't claim her tommy do you find yourself discussing things like retirement more than you used to or encouraging it perhaps i don't discuss it to his face but i'm bringing it up behind his back no i don't mention it while he's around it's it's when he's just a recruit just to recruit he's not around but the strains of winning and losing cannot be laughed away what's the hardest part for you losing well you know and like you say in our it's ours is our profession is pretty much black and white it really does come down to wins and losses period and it'll happen it'll happen a lot of times when least expected but right now we've got the upper hand we've had it for he's not the only team we've had the upper hand on and we don't plan to let up you know i mean it's not like oh well we'll just let up no we don't do that either but tommy beats us you're going to be better tommy did beat his father in 2003 and as bobby predicted it came when least expected florida state was back on top of the conference and clemson had been struggling but the tigers dominated 26-10 and tommy not only saved what had been a job in jeopardy but earned acc coach of the year honors and a new contract if he never needed a win it was that one and he got it of course the bad thing is my son wins the most important year of his career and i can't even enjoy it because he's whipping me it could have been a better scenario for me and it wasn't for him but again he's had plenty of wins he's had plenty of success he's at the end of his career i'm trying to maintain mine so he needs to share some of his wealth still ahead all the bowdens including bobby talk about how much longer he'll coach and we'll hear about some of the biggest influences in coach bowden's life both on the field and off but up next how bobby bowden has dealt with troubled times and he's had more than his share in recent years if you don't have some adversity hit you you ain't gonna be worth nothing you know you can't check character until you've had some adversity in recent years bobby bowden has certainly had his character tested florida state's unprecedented run of success has brought his program plenty of attention and not all of it wanted keeping up with the times has meant a lot more than just dealing with athletes there's been increased agent activity and decreased time coaches can be with players when i first got in coaching all you did was coach all you did was coach you studied film coach got on the field and coached the players now you you've got to keep them out of trouble so now you're in your i mean 24 hours a day you got to keep them out of trouble yet they took your dorm away from you they took your training tape away from me used to be so easy when we had them up there to know what they were doing know where they were you know not knowing some players whereabouts brought bowden trouble after his first national championship during the off-season in 1994 it was learned that several seminole players had gone on a shopping spree in season with some prospective agents at the time it was asked how coach bowden or a member of his staff could not have known about it what about that coach and well that's one that made me so mad because sports illustrators claim that i knew see and that when they came in and interviewed me and and told me about it i promise you that's the first time i've ever heard of it now paul i've got a lot of weaknesses and i've got to make a lot of mistakes in life but one of them is not lying i don't lie i don't believe in lying my word i want my word to mean more than anything you know and so when i tell a guy no i didn't know that's it no we did not know none of us do all american linebacker derek brooks did not go shopping but took things from a player who did i could say i invaded my certain fans i could say you know a whole lot of things but they were making excuses and i'm not up to make no excuses because you know he gave him to me and i took him and i could have made a decision not to take him but i didn't you know some people have made the statement they ought to be kicked off the team they should never be able to play if they were involved florida state should have made a statement not going to play you know i don't you know my biggest my biggest concern that we were not going to be fair to these boys they are students at florida state university they're trying to get a degree they're playing football they're bringing us millions of dollars you know what and because somebody gave them something again they didn't steal something somebody gave them something i'm going to take their career away from them we're trying to build young men you know people make mistakes in life you get punished for them then you go on with your life bowden suspended the players involved for two to four games at the next season and after an investigation the ncaa cleared florida state of any major charges daddy always did what he believed was the right thing to do and criticism or no criticism he held true to it and didn't compromise what he believed and that's i think that's become very difficult for public figures let's just say i don't bow down to public opinion you know because i know how the public is much of the public turned on florida state during the 99 season when wide receivers peter warwick and lavernia's coles were both arrested after taking huge discounts from a clerk at a department store kohl's was kicked off the team while work was suspended with all the attention since he had been a heisman trophy candidate since pete was a heisman trophy and such a whole prof profile of people would like to make it think oh you showed favoritism that's about about laverne's coast nobody asked me about laverne's coast he was out immediately because it had happened over and over and over people were accusing bowden of putting the best players on the field at all costs despite his track record proving that to be untrue in 1995 bowden allowed a talented receiver named randy moss to join the team despite moss having had a misdemeanor battery his senior year in high school bowden forced moss to red shirt his freshman year and ordered him to stay clean moss tested positive for marijuana in 1996 and was kicked off the team without ever playing a down we all make mistakes to condemn a guy to kick him out of football forever or in college forever because he made a mistake that's not right if he makes a mistake over and over and over he's out do you know of any players on my team that's made mistakes over and over and over that are still here ain't none but bowden would find himself continuing to deal with problems from the serious like quarterback adrian mcpherson stealing blank checks and getting kicked off the team to the foolish like quarterback chris rix leaving his car in a handicapped parking space now now we're in charge of parking fines god coaching has changed in it it's unfair for us to make him go through that because some of the things have been you know our false players not taking responsibility for their actions and he stuck his neck out for us right or wrong whether you liked him or not whether you agreed with him or not or not whether it was the politically correct thing to do or not daddy always stayed true to what he believed and i ju and never compromised his beliefs and that's what i'm most proud of still ahead a look at how bobby bowden being a hands-off head coach is little more than a myth we'll also see a side of his family few get to see but up next some of the greatest influences in bobby bowden's life meaning there may be more generals than coaches bobby bowden was born in birmingham alabama where his high school coach whose name was kenny morgan was a major influence in his life for nearly three decades bowden has returned to birmingham every year to raise money at a golf tournament in the name of his high school coach bowden's alabama roots run very deep he did go to alabama as a freshman but did not stay long before bear bryant got there then coach bryant came in there about 10 years later right when i was in beginning my coaching career and i was able to follow his progress and he he was kind of my favorite of all of them then people like bobby dodd people like bud wilkinson guys that were daryl royal was always one of my favorites daryl royal at texas always one of my favorites you know but no one matched the bear who bowden did get to know i had a relationship with him that coach bryant came to alabama in 1958 okay a year later in 1959 i became the head coach at stanford university in birmingham so i'm up here looking for players and guys that maybe can't play for him could play for me so he used to let me come down alabama during spring training close all the doors let me go out and watch him practice and give me the name of 10 15 guys that he was wanting to leave he said you see if you want any of them i'll call them and i recommend they go to your school you know so i had that relationship with him about four years and got a lot of my players at samford from transfers from alabama that was my relationship with coach brian i was not one of his boys because i'd never played under you know but he was always pretty good to me through the years bowden has always been comfortable being himself for many reasons not the least of which was learning how there was no one way to get things done i remember when i first started coaching this is back in 1963 which means i had been coaching really for 10 years i i went up and visited the green bay packers and vince lombardi was a head coach and i would go out on the field just watch every move he made you know and and he was boy he was active and tough and and rough and hands-on man he might grab a guy you know and then we left there and and on the way back to west virginia stopped by the cleveland browns now you had paul brown as the head coach now paul didn't hardly speak over a whisper so you had two guys head coaches completely different the way they acted on the field and yet both of them were completely successful so i i you know even as much as i learned i mean even though bear brown was one of my favorite coaches ever i never tried to act like bear bryant you know and i noticed a lot of the guys that coached for him all tried to be like him and you can't be somebody you're not bowden's life was also greatly affected by world war ii and to this day he is constantly reading about it the japanese attacked pearl harbor when he was 12 years old then in 43 i was stricken with a rheumatic fever back in those days it was very serious it was a heart disease so i had to go to bed for uh six months i spent in the bed i mean i couldn't even get up go to the bathroom you know so anyway during that time there was nothing to do but lay there in bed and listen to the radio because all the news was world war ii is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them i can remember the invasion of north africa with patent patents course mac arthur's emergence as great generals of world war ii those two stood out probably more than anybody as i've watched him as a coach it has it has been a part of his development he has looked at not coaches as his mentors but as generals as his mentors the organization the handling of men the handling of reserves the strategy they're so similar i've learned so much reading about military plans that i've used a lot of it in my coaching it would be staff or staff morale or team morale or offensive scheme or defensive scheme it would have references throughout from rommel from patton from sun tzu my view was that he built his whole philosophy on coaching around the general's philosophies leading the war and it's affected everything he's done in his life probably raising his children too bowden is particularly proud that florida state is home to the institute on world war ii and the human experience it includes materials received by tom brokaw after publication of his greatest generation books and gives florida state one of the largest collections of letters from american participants in world war ii but all of these influences on bowdoin rank far behind his spiritual influence this thing's more important to me in football my my god is my family is football is not important enough to me to trample on people i won't do that for football he was there for me uh when i decided that it was time to turn my life over to christ and he really you know was the one that kind of walked me through it i've tried not to keep it a secret you know i've never felt like that that god or my savior wanted me to keep it a secret that i was you know or that i am and so i've tried to every time i speak i try to give a testimony of some kind he's a great man to be around i mean he's very he's a very strong christian and i mean he tries to influence us and make us help us make the right decisions in our life i mean it's just it's like it's an honor to just even know somebody like that i mean to know that there's actually people like that in this world with all this craziness that's going on it's been an honor to be able to play under him growing up my dad has always mentioned him as a living legend and i can remember when my brother was being recruited that i asked coach about and if he'd still be around uh it was when it was time for me to come to college and he told me if he was alive he'd still be here and you know he's held up to that promise and so i'm glad i've had a chance to play on him he's been a great coach and a great spiritual mentor to me coach bowden is getting used to people asking him how much longer he'll be around coming up some of the most revealing comments he's made on the subject the fans said hey you got to get out i'm just not happy i would have to get out we'll see how this family that plays together stays together but up next behind the scenes with coach bobby bowden who is still coaching [Music] after more than 50 years of coaching and nearly three decades at florida state there is a perception that bobby bowden is a hands-off head coach who delegates all coaching to his assistants that is not the reality behind closed doors father we thank you for another beautiful day and the opportunity to come to work and thank you for the good health you've given us i've been blessed because i've been with a man that gave me an opportunity to coach tell me what he wanted but didn't tell me how to do it this is very important when i'm fixing to say very important and it's yet it's fundamental there's a difference between hands off and not knowing what's going on uh coach bowden if you watch him work i think you would say well he's a hands-off coach but if you were in the staff room or you were in the past by meetings or the pass by meetings on the practice field of what he sees and what his expectations are it's amazing what the man sees he coaches us he coaches us in our meetings every morning turnovers now man we can't just wish turnovers away we can't wish him away you know we have got to make it happen he's just got a unique demeanor in the way he handles his coaches in that in that he'll he'll make us make a suggestion one time he may have to reaffirm it the second time but you better hope it doesn't get to that third time and we all understand that bowden's form of delegating does allow his coaches to coach but he's involved in the game plans and watching opponents game tape every week one two three he's there now they're doing it constantly because i'm tied up with other things you know but i look at more a lot when we play somebody like miami i look at a whole lot more film than i would look at if we were playing duke get you some juice man and sit down at practice bowden makes his points and sets the tone for the day no missed assignments now did we have some last week yes did we get in trouble when we got them yes no penalties no penalties and men especially foolish penalties turnovers turnovers create fumbles defense create fumbles get interceptions offense protect the ball bowden spends the first part of each practice on the ground with the players keeping his eyes on a number of things but he spends most of the time up in his tower where his eyes are on everything the thing about the tower otherwise when you're down here on the field you can only see what's right in front of you you've got no idea what's happening back over here or way up there you know but once you get on that tower all you do is turn all the way around you see everybody you know and the coaches and the boys are all amazed at what i see a lot of times i go in and tell them about they wonder how in the world you know it it's unbelievable you go into staff meeting and you think you know he'll ask you a question you'll say how did he see that you know so i mean he he very well knows what's going on all the time the other thing we we kid around about is when he's up in this tower and that pencil gets moving on that notepad because you'll wonder which which group he's writing it about it's unbelievable how how observant he is whether he's up on the tower or on a practice field or at the game another bowden trait has been the ability to adjust with the times young people may have changed over the years but their place in bowden's eyes has not it's almost like a myth until you actually meet him i'm from a kind of little small area in georgia the high school i went to a small and he came up and took the home visit he came to school and uh it seemed like everybody in the school you know came outside just to they didn't even want to like touch him i really you know i'm saying shake his hand but just to see and just know he's he is real so uh no it was big time when he recruited me and he came to my house i mean i was as like a 17 year old kid and i'm like i got coach bowman in my house and sitting on my couch and he's talking to my parents and i'm like this is amazing i tell the parents when i'm recruiting when i say look when your son comes to florida state i'm gonna have to be his daddy i say y'all ain't gonna be here you know mama you ain't gonna be here daddy you're not gonna be here but i've gotta take the responsibility of your son and that's what i'm gonna do when i first met him he came into my house kicked his shoes off you know walked in the kitchen got him something to eat so i mean he was like a grandfather figure from day one he's always wanting to teach us something about life and and you know as far as getting our spiritual aspects you know going in the right area so i mean he's definitely been a father figure and at florida state father knows best but then it's the same way at home sometimes up next a look at the bowden family and that's when we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on a cruise he was very embarrassed we'll see a one-of-a-kind football camp for young players who get coached by all bowdoins all the time and later how much longer bobby bowden plans to coach hear what his wife children and he have to say on the subject we're back in a moment [Music] bobby and ann bowden have been married for more than 50 years were you high school sweethearts yes oh yes i was a cheerleader and he was a football player this is when we were dating yeah we were we were in love you know there's nothing like young love to be a head football coach you have got to have a head coach or wife you got to have a coach's wife and not not all ladies can handle that there are times when i feel like i'm not big enough for the job because there are a lot of demands on a head coach's wife coach's wife has to be very independent she has to do her own thing and not wait oh gosh you know you can't sit there and wait for him to come hold your hand i'm not dependent on him to you know hold me up i'm not an ultra organized person but i must have done something right to raise six kids and got through all of this the six kids are two girls and four boys three of the sons becoming football coaches but i didn't encourage them to go into coaching because i knew that there's there's i know how fickle people are you know and uh uh being being in a business where if you make a mistake nobody knows about it and being a football coach where you make mistake in the world knows about it that's two different things just keep it in perspective it's not life and death no matter what happens your family still loves you your priorities are in order you you got to take it serious sure so your livelihood but again you've got to put in perspective and playing with him and being around him has helped us keep in perspective the bowden boys and their father have been able to work with each other one week each summer on the campus of troy state at their annual bowden academy for high school and middle school quarterbacks and wide receivers the thing that i drew up on the board last night in the meeting it doesn't matter where we line you up you're going to wear on your release to the number i'm the only one that actually got the chance to coach with dad i know tommy and terry both really wanted that opportunity and it just it it never came as they were coming up ready go one two three throw now it's a chance to be together that's how we started a chance for us instead of being always coaching other people with other coaches work together spend time together we've actually got some recruits out of this thing so that doesn't hurt either but mostly a great time to be together in a profession that pulls us apart the one way this really helps us as coaches is we're dealing with high school players and junior high school players and you have to start teaching again stand tall say we're throwing to the right as we put our weight off that left foot reach back hard push one eye straight down eyes straight down begin to turn as you cross over step and throw you know we've had some great quarterbacks come through there's quite a there's several up in pro football tim coutts name one and peyton manning came through his camp what about here at camp how much recruiting's going on depends on who you're airing this to you're not allowed to recruit during these camps but we have been known to have breakfast lunch and dinner with specific campers peyton manning or tim couch or some of those some of those guys all joking aside the acc has decided not to allow these types of camps anymore making the summer of 2004 the final bowden academy that means the bowdens will have to settle for their annual family vacation in panama city florida for the time of year they're all together and they are all together we go over there for two weeks uh our children our six children 21 grandchildren their their spouses and ann and i and we've done that for ever since we can remember our parents always encouraged us to pursue what we wanted to pursue to move out and go on spread out and we all did so when we come back together it is so special for the guys the vacation means a lot of golf which is very competitive no no no no [Applause] oh you flew me release release backspin my family is special my family is so much like just any other family don't turn your back on any other dolphins yeah don't turn your back follow follow up for kill now so follow them down the fairway into the woods follow through in our game means follow everybody else through the woods to where they hit the ball so they don't shoot tommy's the worst unbelievable the best christian's the worst cheater look at that he's hot he's coming out of a shoe this coaching family has certainly settled into florida we love being here so i think we've found our home and we've got some property that we're thinking about building and we're planning to build them and maybe retire too which is just part of what's coming up next the bowdens on two subjects with little public comment until now the record and retirement to ask you about retirement i don't know whether to ask how long do you think he's going to keep coaching or more importantly because it's you how much longer do you want him to keep [Music] coaching now that bobby bowden has reached his mid-70s retirement is a subject that seems to follow him everywhere i don't remember a day of my life where i considered or thought about or planned for oh good i'm going to retire next year or two years or three years you know every time i've signed a contract four years five years it still wasn't the idea that was the end of it i hope he can finish up and have enough healthy years to get out and enjoy some things in life that he enjoys doing but i've seen a lot of people and i suspect he might be one of them for whom he's lived inside that stadium so long i'm not sure he ever wants to walk out of it i kid about that but it's probably true that everybody asked me how long am i going to coach i said maybe they ought to be asking anne yeah he always says that he uses me as a correct sometimes as an excuse maybe i think he would if i insisted if ann said hey you got to get out i'm just not happy i would have to get out to ask you about retirement i don't know whether to ask how long do you think he's going to keep coaching or more importantly because it's you how much longer do you want him to keep coaching i'm ready today you know but i don't know how happy he'd be i think the whole thing will depend upon health health and winning enough ball games always felt like that would be the big issue how much longer do you think he's going to keep coaching you know that's just the million-dollar question i think because it's a year to year thing just until he he feels like he's not getting it done you know until we're not playing up to our level and competing the way we should be and and i guess when he feels like he doesn't have a message and i don't i don't see that day being anytime soon i know you've told me in the past when classes come in new kids come in you feel like they're with you for five years are you still feeling that way which means you're five years at least with them that's what i'm always shooting for you know i feel like if there's ever a day i can't see that uh and yet and yet who knows what lies ahead next year or the next year next year but as far as my desires are uh if a boy comes in this year it's my desire and my aim to be there until he graduates everybody always says well he'll win one more national championship and then he'll go they don't go and i'm like oh no no no no if he wins one more that will just that will be that will fuel his fire to stay you're not inclined to pull the plug in no i'm not no as long as he wins and winning is something bobby bowden has done more than any other coach in the history of 1a football entering the 2004 season his 342 wins are three more than joe paterno paul i don't even discuss that really i don't know joe joe is such a good friend of mine he won't talk about it until the camera goes off no he doesn't mention much but you know it's got to be important him and coach turner both you know uh renewed contracts and got extensions so they're they're they're in it till they until they die on the field it's kind of fun you know it's kind of fun it's not something you plan for it's something that just happens i never cared up until he got real close and then i'm sure joe paterno's family feels the same way and whoever the next person is if they ever come along once they get right on the cusp you think gosh i'd hate for it not to work out you know that that record's one you reflect back on and maybe one day it will mean a lot but you know joe paul's still coaching you know so it's the battle still goes on you know i can't imagine joe paterno or my father making a career out of football one of the most competitive businesses uh you can be in and want to come in second i like joe enough to not care a whole lot and i think joe's a very i think both of us are very happy in the in the boat we're in uh with the people we're in with you know but you're happy that it belongs to you and i'm guessing you'd like to keep it well yes no doubt about it you'd like to keep it and uh and uh and so may if it happens it'll happen but i promise you paul it's not something i would lose one minute of night's sleep over bobby bowden has made a mark on college football that will last forever even if someone was able to average 10 wins for 30 years and in the current major college environment that's impossible he would still be years and years away from catching bobby but number of wins is only one of the ways to measure his greatness and to those who know bobby bowden best it may be the smallest measurement of [Music] all [Music] you

Channel: Paul Crane

Views: 1,118

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Id: AoQIcqiqBWo

Length: 44min 26sec (2666 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021