For Bowden and Paterno, The Great Race Is Over

Pack up the tents, put the elephants back on the train.  The circus that has been the Jo Pa and Bowden race is now over.  Bobby Bowden has lost.

As the author, let me say that I have bias both pro and con for each of the contestants.  I have played a round of golf with Bowden and we talked about how he almost became the head coach at Alabama.  You'll never meet a friendlier fellow.  I like Bowden on a personal basis a lot.  On the other hand, I've watched over the years as Bowden's authority over the team diminished as he turned a blind eye to much of what was going on to earn the "just win baby!" mantle that others hung on him.

I have a bias towards Joe Paterno too.  I've heard him speak in person, but never met him.  However I have the greatest admiration for him for his work, his life, his ethics and what he's meant to the sport.  I also hate how he took some games from my beloved Crimson Tide over the years.

So with my pro and con bias out in the open let me tell you why I'm glad that both the circus has ended and why I'm glad of the outcome.  Plain and simple, it's because Jo Pa deserved it.

The title of the contest was most winning head coach in Division One A NCAA Football.  Bowden should really have not been in the contest according to purists like me.  31 of those wins were at Howard College, which was not a division one A school. (Nor is it today).  It has been renamed Samford University.  To many like me, those wins should not have counted.

Bowden has flirted with NCAA sanctions before and yet has had his record unscathed.  This time, the 14 games he'll be forced to concede will come home to roost on his record.  Though Florida State is officially asking not have these games taken from the record, such cases are rarely have this decistion overturned.

While Bowden was turning a blind eye to many disciplinary issues to try and get not only wins, but Championships, even die hard fans and alumni as well as former players themselves began questioning the practice.

Say what you may about Paterno, but no one, not even the most die hard opponent has ever accused him of being soft on athletes who run afoul of the rules that are set both the school and NCAA as well as Jo Pa's own rules. 

In doing this, the integrity of the man nor his program has ever been called into question.  The same can not be said about Bowden.

Though win count alone can never make a coach great, or even earn him the title of "Best Ever".  That is a subjective title, and one that I have Coach Paul 'Bear' Byant atop for his work at the University of Alabama.  

But 'Most Winning Coach in Div. I-A is an accolade that should go to the man who rightfully is the most winning coach that won the most games while in that division.  The fact that the NCAA fuzzed the line never made me question those numbers.

The adding of Howard University's 31's games was always an asterisk in my book, but now with these 14 games taken away, the official records will reflect the man who in my mind as well as others should have always been atop Bowden's.

While there is no debate over what each man has meant to his school and to football as a whole, the great debate over who has the most official wins is finally over.  And this time, it's refreshing to see that most deserving finally gets the accolades.