The Bowden Way (out)

In so-called "big-time athletics," it's certainly not uncommon for separations of school and coach to leave a trail of bitterness and hurt feelings.

Coaches move on to bigger and better things. Or schools decide to move in a different direction. Or coaches retire.

The retirement route would seem to be the smoothest option, but the case of Bobby Bowden's departure at Florida State shows that's not necessarily the case.

Bowden is promoting his new book, written with ESPN's Mark Schlabach, and I'm trying to figure out how it's a revelation that Bowden thinks he was forced out at Florida State.

Did anyone out there actually think he did this by choice?

Anyway, it's interesting to note the similarities of how the three most famous Bowdens departed Florida State (Bobby), Clemson (Tommy) and Auburn (Terry).

With Bobby and Tommy, everything culminated with Monday-morning meetings with their superiors.

In Bobby's case, president T.K. Wetherell and athletics director Randy Spetman arrived in his office two days after yet another beatdown at the hands of rival Florida.

”When T.K. and FSU athletic director Randy Spetman arrived at my office on Monday morning, I knew the news was not good,” Bowden wrote in the book. ” ‘Bobby, this isn’t going to be pretty,’ T.K. told me.”

Bowden then recounted how Wetherell gave him two options: The first option was to return to Florida State as an “ambassador coach” in which he would have no on-field duties in practices or games. Bowden quickly rejected that offer.

“What’s the other option?” Bowden asked.

“The other option is that we won’t renew your contract,” Wetherell answered.

Four days after an ugly loss at Wake Forest, Tommy had a visitor in his office: athletics director Terry Don Phillips.

What unfolded from there is a matter of he-said, he-said.

Tommy claims he was essentially fired.

"I never quit or resigned in my life. ... 'I went to work that morning fully anticipating coaching that day -- and that night. He came to my office ... and then the discussions started."

TDP maintains he did not fire Bowden, instead telling him he'd be shown the door at the end of the season if the 3-3 Tigers didn't win their division.

Then there's Terry, who made the huge early splash at Auburn but ended up starting 1-5 in 1998.

Not sure if there was a Monday-morning meeting in this case, but the story from Terry is that influential booster Bobby Lowder told him he'd be fired at the end of the season. Terry resigned.

In the Orlando Sentinel, Wetherell responds to Bobby Bowden's "revelations" in an e-mail to columnist Mike Bianchi.

(Now fancy that: A university president who actually acknowledges the existence of a grubby sportswriter. Who'd a thunk it?)

“I haven’t seen anything that is new in his book or the papers,” Wetherell wrote in his e-mail. “There were basically two options and neither were going to come out good. The whole idea of an Ambassador Coach made no sense to me or him when we talked through it but I told some of the Board of Trustees and Boosters I would present it—but was not committed to it and didn’t think Bowden would want it either. To his credit, he dismissed all variations of it right off the bat.

”That left option 2 — not renewing his contract. It is not all that complex—just that simple. Option 3 of one more year or 400 wins (which probably would mean 2 more years) would not have moved the program forward and hindered the Presidential search that I knew was coming so Bobby chose to announce his retirement. End of story — end of friendship.

“I suppose the question that needs to be asked/answered is FSU’s football program better off today because of that action? It will take a while to get that answer. I hope they will win some games this year—challenge for the State Championship, ACC Championship and maybe in time a National Championship. I hope the enthusiasm will return to the program and I hope Coach Bowden will come back to FSU in time and accept the rewards he deserves as a true Seminole and college football icon. Time will tell.”

Like Bianchi, I give Wetherell props for putting the well-being of his football program above the wishes of a good friend who appeared determined to chase a coaching record.

Is Florida State better off today than it was when Bowden was napping during practices and appearing generally clueless during games?

There's a reason Jimbo Fisher is overhauling just about everything inside that program. Because under the 80-year-old Bowden, things had stagnated to the point where Florida State couldn't just wait around until the old man decided he wanted to hang up his whistle.

Moving right along...

In The Post and Courier, my friend Gene Sapakoff has a column on the importance of Dabo Swinney's staff remaining intact entering his second full season.

Huge, indeed.

One quibble, though:

Maybe this isn't a good thing. Maybe there is a reason why other schools didn't come after an assistant or two sometime following the Music City Bowl victory over Kentucky.

Other schools did come after an assistant or two ... or three or four.

Kevin Steele told Swinney he was gone to Tennessee ... then reconsidered.

Charlie Harbison had the defensive coordinator job at Florida if he wanted it.

Dan Brooks turned down an opportunity to return to Tennessee.

Might've been one or two others as well...

Maybe Jim Grobe is just an optimistic guy, but Demon Deacon fans have to like the reports they've been getting from Wake Forest's camp.

The Deacs lost four senior offensive linemen who combined for 126 starts, but Grobe seems to like this year's line better.

Grobe likes the size and mobility of the offensive line, which he considers to be the most athletic of his 10 seasons as the Deacons head coach. But he likes the collective attitude even more.

"I had some issues last year with that group and this year I think we've got not only some talented guys, but we've got just a better chemistry," Grobe said.

And:

"I don't want to make too big a deal of that because we've always got great kids," Grobe said. "But I think sometimes you are more concerned about your play personally than the play of the team, and that's certainly not true about everybody. I will say it is always true of a few on every team. I don't care what team it is, you've got some guys who are more focused on ‘me' than the team.

"But I just sense that this team has a great feeling about it, in that I think guys individually want to win the job, but they're not wishing their buddy plays terrible so they can just get the job handed to them.

"And this is a team that understands we don't care who plays -- the best guy plays. So because I think our guys are getting that, they're competing hard but they're competing in the right way."

It felt strange picking Wake Forest to finish last in the Atlantic this year, because I've always been an admirer of Grobe's coaching ability. Starting to second-guess that pick just a little.

Remember this name: Lamar Miller.

The stud Miami tailback had an 83-yard touchdown run in the Hurricanes' most recent scrimmage.

Randy Shannon has said he could use a three-tailback rotation with Damien Berry, Mike James and Miller.

Here's the skinny on Miller:

What we know: He's fast, probably No. 2 on the roster behind receiver Travis Benjamin. Miller, a scout team sensation last year, has continued to display big-play ability in the preseason. He broke off an 83-yarder in Monday's scrimmage, and will also play a huge role on special teams as a returner. The UM staff has said they want him to be this year's Berry, instead injecting speed into the equation.

The unknown: Miller has yet to prove he can run between the tackles, doing most of his damage on the outside. We know he can outrun defenders, but can he run through them. He's also experienced fumble problems at times during practice. There were a few cases he was forced to hold a ball on the sideline as punishment for committing a turnover.

In Raleigh, a piece on LB Terrell Manning saying he feels like the "old me."

And the old, pre-injury Manning was pretty good.

At Scotland County High, he made an astounding 219 tackles as a senior in 2007. He was ranked the No. 3 player overall in North Carolina by Rivals.com, behind only E.J. Abrams-Ward of Thomasville and Spencer Adams of Mathews Butler.

In Chapel Hill, looks like T.J. Yates still has a slight edge in the Tar Heels' quarterback derby.

North Carolina coach Butch Davis called senior T.J. Yates his "starting quarterback" today but left open the possibility that freshman Bryn Renner could get the start in the No. 18 Tar Heels' Sept. 4 opener against No. 21 Louisiana State.

Both quarterbacks will continue to work with the first team, Davis said, but Yates, who has 31 career starts, continues to lead the competition over the talented redshirt freshman.

"T.J. has the one distinct advantage that you can't take away from him, ... that he has been in games before and he has played in big games," Davis said. "I love the competition. I love the way Bryn is pushing him, and I think that will continue certainly throughout the year."

Stewart Mandel says Boston College has BCS sleeper potential.

Man, is B.C. getting a lot of love this preseason.

Sorry, but I'm not sipping the Kool-Aid just yet.



LW