Florida State Beginning A New Life After Bowden
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Life after Bobby Bowden for Florida State's players has meant getting lessons in positive thinking as well as eating more beans and greens and less fried chicken and fast-food burgers.
For Jimbo Fisher, who succeed the now-retired Hall of Fame coach at Florida State, it's finally getting a chance to do things his way after three years as Bowden' offensive coordinator. During the last two, Fisher also held the newly invented and uncomfortable title of coach-in-waiting.
For Florida State's boosters and fans it's given them hope, if not expectation, that a younger coach with a more up-to-date approach can duplicate what's happened just down the road in Gainesville.
That's where Urban Meyer, an energetic and relatively youthful coach – restored national championship luster to the Florida Gators, the Seminoles' bitter rivals.
"I think we'll do significantly better this year," said Jim Smith, former chairman of Florida State's Board of Trustees. "In a year or two we'll be back in the hunt."
Smith, who last fall successfully pushed for Bowden to retire a year sooner than he'd planned, is encouraged by a highly touted freshman class and several promising early verbal commitments for next year. He's also excited about a high-powered offense that returns most of its starters, including senior star quarterback Christian Ponder. Most of all, though, Smith's encouraged by Fisher himself.
"It's all about coaching," said Smith, a former Florida attorney general and secretary of state.
For all of Bowden's success – two national championships, 14 straight top five finishes and 377 career victories – many Florida State loyalists thought he'd lost his touch.
Fisher has a long history with the Bowden family that includes playing and coaching for and with Bobby's sons. He says he plans to maintain the traditions and values the elder Bowden established during 34 seasons at Florida State. But he's equally clear that he's his own man.
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