Florida State Football: Bobby Bowden Set Seminoles Back by Hanging Around

As the Florida State Seminoles prepare to take on the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners today in Tallahassee, the shadow of legendary coach Bobby Bowden still hovers over the program that he helped bring to national prominence when he took it over in 1976.

While Bowden was one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football, the final few years of the Bowden era should have been cut instead of allowing him to stay with the program until 2009.

Yes, it’s very easy to say in hindsight that Bobby Bowden's final seasons with the Seminoles should have ended around the 2005 or 2006 season.

Even though some think that the coach did a good job in his final years, Bowden really set the program back a little bit in those seasons by allowing Florida and Miami (FL) to pass up Florida State in the recruiting rich state of Florida.

You can also add in the cheating scandal that resulted in Bowden and Florida State vacating 12 wins during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, including the Emerald Bowl win in 2006.

As this is a sensitive subject, with Bowden’s former in a marquee game today against Oklahoma, do you believe Bobby Bowden set FSU back in his last seasons in Tallahassee as head coach?

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