Florida State Has One Too Many Problems

What in the world is going on with head coach Bobby Bowden’s Florida State football team?

One second they’re up. The next second they’re down.

One minute we’re talking about Myron Rolle winning the Rhodes scholarship, the next minute we’re talking about 5 wide receivers catching fists instead of passes.

Then we’re talking about a big win over Maryland, but somehow Bert Reed and Cameron Wade are turning themselves into the Leon County Jail. While the arrests stem from that fight from 2 weeks ago, it’s still an issue, especially now that the team consists of two players on the roster that are currently out on bail.

You have to wonder how all of this is happening to the winningest college football coach ever? Has the luster of his Hall of Fame career worn off so much that even the players he recruits don’t have enough common sense not to act foolishly in a Bobby Bowden football program?

Maybe that’s just it. Afterall, coach Joe Paterno has gone through similar incidents at Penn State in recent years. He too has had disciplinary issues with unruly players who truly don’t know what it means to be able to play for what is perhaps one of the top 5 head coaches in the history of college football.

But why? Is it not the reputation and standing of a man like Bobby Bowden that got them to come to Florida State in the first place? Bowden has done nothing to tarnish his image—at least not publicly. So why the immature behavior by some of his players?

Perhaps there is something about Bowden that makes players lose that fear of God that all football players should have for their coaches. Not to say that players shouldn’t have a working relationship with their coach, but in my dealings with good football coaches, the most common characteristic among them is the fact that when they tell their players not to do something, they don’t do it.

I had several coaches throughout highschool—different ones for each sport. I remember my football coach, a very good coach with the respect of all the players, told us to make sure we didn’t go out at all on Halloween because he thought we’d do nothing but get into trouble. Needless to say, right after he told us that I asked a teammate what we were going to do that night. He said he wasn’t doing anything because he didn’t want to mess around and get caught. So I asked another player, and he said the same thing. Fast-forward to basketball season, when our basketball coach told us not to go out on New Year’s Eve, an event far less celebrated by teenagers. After he told us that, I went into the locker room and not only did my teammates have plans, but they in fact were throwing the party themselves.

Want to guess which coach put the better product on the field/court?

Of course, it was the football coach. But Bobby Bowden is very successful! Even despite having more than a fair share of unruly football players on his FSU squad.

So is it old age?

Does he just not care anymore?

Do the athletes run the school?

Who knows?

But I do know one thing. Florida State football won’t be Florida State football for much longer if it continues like this. Sure, Myron Rolle makes the entire program look pretty impressive right now, but when that fades and the off-field issues continue, then what?

As good of a coach as Bobby Bowden is, he doesn’t appear to be much of a disciplinarian. And even the most talented of programs (i.e. Miami) have fallen victim to troublesome kids and a lack of discipline within the program.