Dear Jim Smith: Leave Bobby Bowden Alone

M-E-M-O

To: Jim Smith, Former Florida Attorney General and Gubernatorial Candidate and current Chairman of the Florida State University Board of Trustees.

From: Editor, T.A.H. Knower-of-all-Things-ACC-Related.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Shut up. Right now.

Seriously, here are a few points to ponder.

1) Hiring and firing the head football coach is the responsibility of FSU's president and athletic director, not the Florida State University Board of Trustees Chairman. We know what you will eventually say, that you were simply mouthing the words that the president and A.D. were thinking. Maybe you are, but STOP doing it, it doesn't help.

2) Don't lose perspective because you lost a couple of games that you think the Noles should have won. Remember your coach is the second winningest of all time. He's won 21 bowl games. He put FSU football on the MAP. His players are a bunch of 19 and 20-year- old kids, they screw up.

3) Speaking of "on the map," if it weren't for Bobby Bowden nobody outside of the state of Florida would know or care about Florida State. He has made the school MILLIONS and elevated both athletic and scholastic achievement for your university. Show a little respect.

4) Finally, get over the concept of dynasty football. It's over. The reason you see so many upsets in NCAA football these days is NFLesque parody. There are big, strong, fast kids everywhere. So many of them, in fact, that every major college has big league athletes. The days of the dozen dynasty programs like Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, USC, Alabama and Oklahoma ruling the gridiron world are OVER...Now, it's "any given Saturday."

In the immortal words of the Mighty Blaze; It is, what it is. The notion that you will hire a new coach and suddenly start to dominate national, regional or even Florida football is misguided and unrealistic. FSU created this "coach-in-waiting" mess, so find a viable solution (privately).

Good luck finding the next Bobby Bowden who will make you rich, make you famous, win a national championship and 21 bowl games. We wager neither you nor T.A.H. lives long enough to see Bowden's records eclipsed.

So if FSU loses this weekend to Georgia Tech, take a page from the Bobby Knight playbook and throw something at an underling, but leave your coach alone until the season is OVER.

Sincerely,
EDITOR and PUBLISHER
T.A.H. Worldwide Media