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OCTOBER 2000

CHARLIE BARNES

COACH BOBBY BOWDEN - HE'S OLD SCHOOL AND HE'S TOUGH

We had a blessedly uneventful summer for the most part. But, in late July, safety Derrick Gibson offered a young lady well, you know what they say he did, and the state's sportswriters who had been dozing in the sun like drowsy toads suddenly sprang to life.

And when it appeared that Bobby Bowden was not going to immediately toss Gibson's body from the top of the bell tower, the media stormed ahead with righteous glee.

I got several calls and e-mails from good Seminole Boosters who despair at seeing our university embarrassed again. An old friend from Atlanta was typical: "There is a column in the Atlanta paper by Terrence Moore titled "Dadgum Disgrace To FSU" concerning the litany of legal problems of FSU players [and] the response of Coach Bowden and the administration to Derrick Gibson's arrest, Janikowski's legal problems, and so forth.

"Charlie, I have some of the same concerns as Moore sets out in his article. FSU runs the risk, if these arrests continue, with the sometimes weak-looking response from Coach Bowden and the administration, of having loyal FSU fans being embarrassed rather than proud of their association with FSU. Will good recruits begin to shy away from FSU due to the negative publicity?"

That writer and you and I are all in the same boat. We're proud of our Seminoles, and we're concerned about any problem that might hurt the program. We don't like to be embarrassed by bad behavior, and we don't like to be compared to the school down the road. That school routinely and very publicly punishes misdeeds by suspending players for a game or two, usually the season opener.

However. However ...

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We've traveled a fair distance with Bobby Bowden, and I do trust his judgment. He's Old School and he's tough, and he probably feels it's wrong to lop off someone's head, especially a young someone, just to please the howling mob. Coach has taken the position that he will handle these things internally.

There's a good chance that as long as Bobby Bowden is here, we will continue to win. And as long as we continue to win, there are at least two things that will not change.

First, the media will not love and protect us.
The second thing that will not change as long as we continue the wonderful success we have had, is that every transgression, no matter how small, will be blown up to front-page status.

My guess is that of all the virtues in Bowden's experience, loyalty is the most valued. Part of his method in disciplining his players out of the public eye has to do with loyalty: his to the players and coaches, and theirs to him. Discipline in private does not mean lesser punishment. Hear the woeful tales of being turned over to Mickey Andrews at 6 a.m. to run stadium steps and perform other tasks as might amuse Mickey at that hour.

Recruiting may actually be enhanced because of the way Bowden handles player discipline. When he looks a recruit's mother in the eye and says "I'll discipline your son and I won't throw him to the wolves to make myself look good in public," she can embrace it as truth.

Potential recruits see Bobby Bowden as a man who will remain loyal to them as long as they abide by his rules. Everyone who can survive Mickey pretty much gets a second chance. No one gets a third.

There's another element in this mix, and that is Bowden's unflinchingly public acknowledgement of religious faith, and his use of morality to instruct his players.

Some believe that Bobby Bowden comes under greater criticism because of his Christian faith. I don't believe, and I don't know anyone who does, that sportswriters and news editors are an anti-Christian lot.
What is more likely true is that because Bobby Bowden adheres to a moral code based on religion - doesn't have to be Christianity - the impulse when one of his players breaks that code it to shout Ah-HA! It's Human Nature.

One last element here is the comparison to Florida, and Steve Spurrier's practice of making a public show of suspending players. I have no criticism of Spurrier's methods of discipline. It seems to me that both Bowden and Spurrier are consistent.
What is the key difference then? Spurrier's public suspensions tend to please the fans, and certainly the media. But it's also Spurrier's style to publicly berate his players' performance.

Bowden's assistants tend to stay for a decade or much longer; Spurrier's assistants tend to move on. Bowden's star players have been inclined to return for their senior year; the other fellow's juniors tend to turn pro as quickly as they can.

There is no criticism here. Both men are great coaches and both lead teams that hunt for championships every year.

In spite of the storm in the media over discipline, I'll cast my lot with the man who places a premium on loyalty and who disciplines his players within that context.