On Sept. 22, 2001, Bobby Bowden was the coach of a program that had finished in the top-five for 14 straight years. I was a 21-year-old intern assigned to cover a game at North Carolina that his powerful Florida State Seminoles, with all their mystique and swagger, were heavily favored to win.
It did not go as planned. In fact, it turned into a stunning, humiliating day for Bowden. In retrospect, the Seminoles’ 41-9 loss was a harbinger of the program’s decline that would eventually lead to a messy, forced retirement several years later. But on that day, to see Florida State get beat like that was unthinkable. It just didn’t happen.
I’m not sure exactly what I expected as I made my way down from the press box to the field that day as a young, inexperienced reporter, but what I found stuck with me forever.
LEGEND: Bowden died on Sunday at age 91
BOWDEN: His best players, wins and teams at Florida State
It wasn’t just Bowden’s class and grace and willingness to answer every question about the defeat he had absorbed, it’s that when the doors to the locker room swung open, every single player and coach followed his lead, sitting at their lockers waiting to answer for what had just happened. Total accountability. Complete transparency. Win or lose, you step up and take responsibility. A world that, in many ways, no longer exists in college sports.
Bowden died on Sunday at age 91, and we can safely say there will never be another like him.
I cannot say I knew…
