TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Bobby Bowden says he has not made a decision about his coaching future at Florida State and plans to meet with university officials again today.
Bowden told The Associated Press at his home Monday night that he is still sifting through “options” presented to him when he met with Florida State president T.K. Wetherell and athletic director Randy Spetman for an hour earlier in the day.
“Yes, there are options,” Bowden said from his home office. “One of them is to be the head coach.”
The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper and reported Bowden, the second-winningest coach in major-college football history, is expected to announce his retirement today. And Mike Freeman of CBS Sportsline confirmed the report with a school official.
When asked about the reports, his wife, Ann, told AP that nothing had been finalized — “that’s why they’re meeting tomorrow.”
Bowden said that no time had been set for the meeting, and Browning Brooks, director of communications for the university, said no news conference has been scheduled.
Bowden turned 80 on Nov. 8 and is in his 34th season at Florida State.
After Florida State lost its regular-season finale to Florida on Saturday, Bowden said he had to do some soul-searching before deciding whether he would return in 2010.
There are questions about how responsibilities will be divided next season between Bowden and coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher — especially when it comes to hiring assistant coaches. Fisher, the team’s offensive coordinator, receives $5 million from Florida State if he’s not the team’s head coach by January 2011.
Earlier this year, Bowden had strongly suggested he wanted 2010 to be his last season. But Bowden, whose 388 career wins rank second only to Penn State’s Joe Paterno among major-college coaches, has also said he could not return as a head coach with no authority.
Bowden has been on a one-year rollover agreement with Florida State for several years, but that ends after the 2010 season. The winningest coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Bowden’s teams put together one of the most dominant runs in college football between 1987 and 2000 with 14 consecutive finishes in the nation’s top five and a pair of national championships.
