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Tuesday, January 04, 2000
NEW ORLEANS -- The Florida State Criminoles will win the national championship tonight by more than a touchdown.
How sad.
Although it's easy to admire the talent Bobby Bowden has collected in Tallahassee -- Florida State won more games (108) in the '90s than any team won in a decade and will finish in the top four in the polls for an astonishing 13th consecutive season -- it's impossible to respect the program Bowden runs.
He should be embarrassed.
His players should be ashamed.
Criminoles, indeed.
This season alone, Bowden has had a backup defensive tackle, Bryne Malone, arrested for his role in a drive-by shooting. He has had his star receiver, Peter Warrick, and another player, Laveranues Coles, arrested for their part in the infamous Dillard's shopping spree. He has had a starting cornerback, Tay Cody, arrested for possession of marijuana. He has had a backup defensive end, Chris Walker, arrested for drunken driving.
The despicable lack of discipline has continued in the days leading up to the Sugar Bowl matchup against Virginia Tech. Three Florida State players -- defensive end Roland Seymour, cornerback Reggie Durden and kicker Sebastian Janikowski -- violated the team's curfew. Even four student managers got into the act. They were reprimanded after trying to steal a banner from New Orleans Arena after a basketball game last week.
Just about any other coach would be crucified for running such a loose ship. Bowden received a big raise and a contract extension in October that will pay him $1.5 million a year through 2004.
At Florida State, it seems, winning with shame is OK.
Bowden gets away with it because he's so likable. A Southern gentlemen. A good, ol' boy. A real charmer.
Saint Bobby.
Bowden is deeply religious. "Football is not the main emphasis in my life," he told nearly 600 members of the First Baptist Church of Covington at its 8:30 a.m. service Sunday. "I tell my team that. Football doesn't last forever. Put your life and faith in something that will be forever. That's Jesus Christ."
Bowden also is humorously self-deprecating when it comes to his inability to win the big game. His only national championship came in 1993. "I'm the guy who made all these other national champions possible. I made Fullmer a national champion. I made Spurrier a national champion. I made everybody one."
But Bowden also is the best spin doctor in all of sports.
That's a polite way of saying he's a big phony.
Certainly, Bowden is no different than a lot of coaches who sell their soul to win games. He's no different than Tom Osborne, who stuck with repeat criminal Lawrence Phillips to win a national title at Nebraska. His program is no different than the Miami program of the 1980s that was held up as the symbol of everything that's wrong with major-college athletics.
And to think, they used to look down their noses at Miami in Tallahassee.
"We're recruiting the same players that we did 20 years ago when we won the Sunday School award," Bowden said yesterday. "Character is very big in our recruiting.
"But boys make mistakes. That's been going on for 2,000 or 3,000 years. So why is this so alarming what's happening now? I'll tell you why. Everybody in the world knows about it now when you make a mistake.
"If you don't want everybody to know about it, don't be No. 1. Be No. 50."
If you think that's flippant, check this out.
"If I got a kid who commits murder, I've got to let him go. But if I got a kid who gets a discount" -- a reference to Warrick -- "I'm not going to send him to jail if I can help it. I don't condone it, but I don't want to kill my boy, either. I want him to learn from his mistake. That's what life is all about."
Bowden went on to deliver a long speech about being "the closest thing to a daddy a lot of these boys have," about how he's the only guy who cares about them as people and not just players.
"The easy thing to do is kick a boy off the team," Bowden said. "People love that. I get letters, 'Coach, you're so brave for kicking the boy off.' Yeah, but he ain't going to be anything anymore but a bum.
"That's why I don't listen to public opinion when it comes to my players."
Bowden has that right. And if his bosses don't care, why should he? You wouldn't change, either, if your bosses cared more about winning games and national championships and millions of dollars in television revenue than they do about honor.
But at the same time, we have the right to condemn what Bowden and his program represent. We also have the right to be sickened by the fact he almost certainly will go down as the winningest Division I coach in history.
Joe Paterno, 73, will break Bear Bryant's record of 323 wins next season. He has 317. But Bowden, 70, figures to outlast Paterno. He'll get his 304th victory tonight.
What a sad day it will be when Bowden passes Paterno, who has proved it's possible to win with class and dignity.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
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