So the coaching carousel has started turning in a big way last week. A number of lower profile coaches lost their jobs last week, but there were a couple of others who were the subject of much debate due to the nature of the coach or the nature of the program they headed.
I expected one of them to go, but I wasn’t sure that both Charlie Weis and Bobby Bowden would exit the coaching ranks this week. Weis’ time South Bend was just a disappointment. His record was simply unacceptable in the eyes of Notre Dame administrators, and honestly from an objective observer’s perspective, he was more swagger than deliver. A school with as much tradition and history as Notre Dame deserves quality and they didn’t get anything near that from Weis. His firing was far from unexpected. The only real question was whether Notre Dame was going to eat the significant hit they would take by firing Weis
Bobby Bowden’s situation was vastly different. Bowden is FSU football. He built the program, put it on the map, and for a decade he made it one of the most dominate teams in the country. Unfortunately, since their national championship in ’99 the program fell into complete mediocrity. Mediocrity that was completely unacceptable to the fans and boosters of the school. In addition to the poor play on the field, some felt that Bowden had lost a little control of the team, as off the field legal and academic problems kept having a negative impact on the team.
Throughout a wildly inconsistent season, different factions debated whether the time for Bowden to leave FSU had come. Many fans and a growing number of boosters felt the time for Bobby to move on had arrived. Most in the media felt that what he did for the FSU program had given him the right to stay as long has he wanted. He should be able to leave on his own terms, they said.
Perhaps I’m a bit cold hearted, but I can’t get on board with the idea that someone gets to stay as long as they want, even if they are a living legend. I’m a huge fan of Bobby’s and what he’s done for FSU football, but his job is to keep this team winning and he didn’t do it. I think he let personal feelings hinder his judgment in keeping his son as his offensive coordinator of a bad offense for too long. I also have to question some of the recruiting decisions he made, because poor character in players seemed to be a bigger problem in recent years.
Probably the biggest problem I had is that I think Bobby (and his wife) started to believe that they were bigger than the program. It almost came to a point where Bobby thought he could do whatever he wanted, and his wife Ann almost made FSU not extend his contract based on comments she made in the media. When one person believes they are more important than the program itself, whether its a player or a coach, the team environment becomes toxic and a collapse ensues.
From here, we move on with Jimbo Fisher as the head coach. Jimbo has come in and done what he was hired to do and got the offense back on track. His first tastk, and its a big one, is to hire the best defensive coordinator he can. I believe that if we can get a solid defense again, we have the offense to win us an ACC championship with no problem. Unfortunately, that’s a big if.
