Who’s Your Coaching Hero?

Who’s Your Coaching Hero?

We all have heros. One of mine just so happens to be Florida State University’s longtime Head Coach Bobby Bowden.

Let me give you a few stats to ponder. He’s the winningness coach in the history of Division 1A

Me and my number one coaching hero, Bobby Bowden.

Football, with 18 seasons of 10 or more wins, 29 bowl games in 32 years at FSU, including a current streak of 26 in a row. In addition, he is a 2006 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, has 12 ACC Championships, and is the only coach in NCAA history to lead his team to 11 consecutive bowl victories (1985-95). Under his leadership, Florida State has won more than 84 percent of its ACC games since joining the league (108-20).

I almost forgot, he coaches at the number one school for producing successful NFL players, has two National Championships, two Heisman Trophy Winners, an unprecedented straight AP Top five finishes from 1987-2000, 30 Super Bowl Championships won by former Seminoles, and 34 First Round Draft Picks too.

Now for the real reason why Coach Bowden is my all-time coaching hero.

He has this incredibly unique ability to make each individual he meets feel welcome and comfortable. There is a true sense of genuineness about him that is likened to a caring father. His expectations of his players are real and attainable, and all along the way, he is encouraging his players to play hard and exceed those expectations.

Coach Bowden has a true love for the game, especially its physical intensity. He has always promoted tough hitting play, but never a cheap shot.

You may remember in a certain 1997 Sugar Bowl appearance in New Orleans where FSU would go on to lose to the University of Florida. Losing that day was bad enough, but the pre game whine fest put on by Florida’s head coach at the time, Steve Spurrier claiming that the Seminoles were cheap shots, often making late hits on their opponent’s quarterbacks.

Obviously furious to have to sit and explain that his defense plays to the whistle. Bowden just replied, "If they are late hits, where are the flags?"

A man of character is what kind of a man Bobby Bowden is. Not perfect, but humble, not shy, yet not boastful, a man of word and deed all in one. Coach Bobby Bowden, is my coaching hero.