Bobby Bowden is pushing 80 and lost more games last year than he once typically lost in four.
Rabid fans forced the departure of his offensive coordinator, who happened to be his son. And rival Florida won the national championship.
Still, none of that has dampened the Florida State coach’s optimism. On Wednesday, Bowden said he plans to remain the head Seminole until he wins a third national championship or it becomes clear to him that will never happen.
“If I didn’t think we could, I would probably go on and get on out,” said Bowden, whose Seminoles play at Colorado on Sept. 15. “But I still think we can. If I find out different, then it’d be time to go.”
He begins his 32nd season at Florida State with 366 career coaching victories, three more than Penn State’s Joe Paterno, and with a new offensive staff headed by former LSU coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who will be responsible for calling plays.
Despite last season’s 7-6 mark, the poorest since Bowden’s first year at Florida State in 1976, the Seminoles are favored by the media to win the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Atlantic Division.
And while he’s confident the coaching changes will result in improvement, Bowden still defends his decision to hire son Jeff Bowden as offensive coordinator six years ago. The offense foundered, at least when compared to the Seminole juggernauts of the 1990s, and the younger Bowden resigned under pressure last November.
“It just got down to where everything that happened was blamed on Jeffrey,” said Bobby Bowden, who turns 78 in November. “But that’s the nature of the job.”
But Bowden didn’t stop with just replacing his son, bringing in young coaches Dexter Carter and Lawrence Dawsey, both former Seminoles, along with a couple of veterans – offensive line coach Rick Trickett from West Virginia and former assistant Chuck Amato, who was fired as head coach at North Carolina State.
Bowden acknowledges that he’d like to amass 400 victories and stay ahead of Paterno, who will be 81 in December.
BYU: The school extended football coach Bronco Mendenhall’s contract through 2011.
“Bronco has done a tremendous job of re-establishing BYU’s tradition of football excellence and leading the program back to national prominence,” athletic director Tom Holmoe said.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Mendenhall is entering his third season as coach of the defending Mountain West Conference champions. After a 1-2 start in 2006, the Cougars won 10 consecutive games and were undefeated in the conference, grabbing their first outright league title in five years.
Mendenhall, who was an assistant before BYU promoted him to replace Gary Crowton, is 17-8 in two seasons as coach.
Linebacker Terrance Hooks pleaded guilty to misdemeanors for kicking in two apartment doors while searching for someone who threw water balloons at his girlfriend.
Hooks, who is suspended for one game because of his arrest April 7, pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and criminal trespass. In return, prosecutors dropped burglary charges.
Utah: The school’s men’s basketball team is dropping the black from its uniform and adding a reference to the “Muss,” the student cheering section.
“Our colors are red and white,” new coach Jim Boylen said. “Black is not one of our colors. I’ve received a ton of letters from alumni requesting that we take black off the uniform. I agree with them.”
Shorts worn at home games will have a reference to the team’s motto, “U, Us & The Muss.”
New Mexico State: Senior forward Tyrone Nelson has been dismissed from the basketball team after pleading no contest to charges stemming from an August 2006 robbery of a pizza delivery man.
Nelson, 21, was set to be tried this week on charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and bribery. Under a plea deal with prosecutors, he avoided a trial and possible jail time. He was ordered to serve four years’ probation and perform 100 hours of community service.
