A Quick Word On Bobby Bowden

I am not gung ho either way on Bobby Bowden and whether or not he should step down at the end of the season. I will say that some of the arguments from his supporters kind of baffle me though. One of the arguments I have heard repeatedly this week in the after math of the Seminoles losing to Boston College is that Bobby Bowden doesn't wear headphones during the game so it is not his fault what is going on.

Think about that for a moment.

People are seriously with a straight face arguing that because a head coach in a BCS conference does not wear headphones during the game and therefore does not coach much during a game he can't be held liable for his team's failures and thus should be allowed to keep his job.

Does that really make sense to anybody?

If anything doesn't that show that FSU doesn't really need Bowden because he isn't doing the coaching anyway? Again I am not saying he SHOULD step down, just that this particular argument is pretty damned stupid.

Another argument I have heard several times is that a few years back Penn State's Joe Paterno was also on the hot seat and people were calling for him to step down too. Yes, that is certainly true, but the second part of that story is that in the ensuing years Penn State changed their offense substantially, got some really good recruiting classes, and started winning a whole lot more on Saturdays.

Now what you don't hear from the people making this argument is that Florida State is a year away or "just wait till next year and Bowden will turn it around". No, you won't hear that argument because most people don't believe that. So basically they are holding Paterno up as a reason to let Bowden keep coaching, but they aren't willing to predict that Bobby will similarly turn around his program.

Its almost as if they are saying Bowden should be allowed to run the program into the ground if he wants to just on general principle.

Now I will say it again, I am not saying Bowden should or shouldn't step down as coach. But these two arguments for him to stay are nonesensical and really disrespectful to the players on FSU's roster. If these are the strongest arguments against Bowden leaving his supporters can muster, then maybe they need to really sit down and think this through some more.

I'm just sayin.