Bowden joined 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia with Mike Missanelli to talk about the passing of Joe Paterno, his long race with Paterno for the most wins ever, the legacy of Paterno as both a coach and a man, and to clarify his previous comments about Paterno and how he initially handled the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.

On the passing of Joe Paterno:

“My wife told me he had passed away. I was saddened to hear that.  When all of this stuff came up – all of it at one time – I was wondering how in the world he can handle it.  It seems like everything hit him at one time.  I sure hate it.  I mean a guy that had the most illustrious career of any college coach that I know of – there have been some great ones – but none of them had a career like he had.  I tried to keep up with him.  I couldn’t keep up with him.  But, gosh, I just can’t believe he’s gone now.”

On his race with Paterno for the most wins ever:

“I wanted one more year. I was trying to keep up with Joe a little bit. We never discussed the race. To me I was in a race. Joe won more games than Bear Bryant. I came along and won more games than Joe. Joe came along and won more games than me. I was competitive with it. Joe never mentioned it. I don’t even think he cared. Now I know he must have, but he would never say anything.”

On Paterno as a coach and man:

“He had the image of the perfect coach. Joe was one of those guys if there were 50 coaches in a room, and they’re debating something – some of them feel this way, some feel that way, some feel this way – Joe could end that by making a statement because everyone believed in what Joe said. Usually when he spoke that was the end of the question. That’s the impact he had on other coaches. Even on me. Here I am 62 years old (speaking about 20 years ago) and I’m looking up to him. That’s the way I felt about him.”

On Paterno’s legacy:

“Of course Joe not only coached football, he tried to make a man out of you. And tried to teach you values. I think that’s the thing they’ll remember. Now let’s take people that do not know him. All they know is what they’ve heard on the television or on the radio or in the newspapers, yes, they will take the bad part and remember him by that. But that’s not the majority.”

On his previous comments regarding Paterno and how he handled the Sandusky situation:

“Well I can take away from it. I was not quoted correctly on that. I wouldn’t have made a statement like that, as much as I knew Joe. I was making a speech up in South Georgia. Somebody had asked me what did I think about Joe? And I said I feel kind of like what Joe said when Joe said “I wish I would have done more.” So they put in the paper that Bobby said Joe should have done more. Well I wrote Joe a letter and told him that’s not what I said.”

Listen here to Bowden with Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia

Jimbo Fisher has told his team they must live in the now and worry about the things they can control daily. He also claims that the SEC never contacted Florida State about leaving the ACC and the university is very happy in the conference they are in. As for the starting quarterback for the ‘Noles? E.J. Manuel has a vote of confidence from Fisher and feels the junior quarterback is going to play extremely well this season.

Jimbo Fisher joined WQAM in Miami with Joe Rose to discuss preparing for the Oklahoma Sooners this season, his initial thoughts on the scandal at University of Miami, being happy in the ACC, how he keeps his team focused when they have National Championship aspirations and E.J. Manuel having what it takes to be lead FSU with great quarterback play in 2011.

How do you prepare when you play Oklahoma this season because you have a few easy games to start off the year before them?

“I think the good thing about us is that we have good players on our team also. We do good on good at different parts. In other words when we do our inside drill and we do our scout work and we go do six minute with the good guys and keep the fastball alive. We do the same thing on 7-on-7 and we do the same thing with the team. We are always and I never want to get away from that fastball look of everything that goes on. Even no matter who you are playing during the week just having that edge to go against real good people and real fast people. We can go against our own people.”

What were your thoughts when you heard all the scandals that were going at Miami a few weeks ago?

“Well I was disappointed because I know Miami has a great program. We have a lot of respect for Miami. Some of the great games that Florida State and Miami have had. Like I said I actually don’t know all the details with all the things going on because we have been locked up here in camp recently, but I was disappointed just for the fact that Al Golden is a great guy and Miami is a great university and hopefully they’ll be able to work those things out.”

Are you happy in the ACC? Do you like where you are right now? Do you want to go to the SEC?

“I’m very happy in the ACC. I think we got a great conference. I think we got a great league. It is very competitive and there were no talks between…there was no contact between the SEC to us or anything else. We are very pleased to be in the ACC and that’s where we are going to be and representative.”

How do you keep this team focused? This team has National Championship aspirations. Do you take it day-by-day?

“We take it a game at a time. We have a saying here that we call ‘now.’ That’s what we are kind of trying to live our life by. We always want to have a great attitude. The attitude determines how you go about your business every day and the second thing is ‘now.’ Now means living in the now. Control what you can control. You can’t worry about what they are saying about you in the future and worry about what happened in the past. What are you doing right now to prepare yourself for what is going to happen to you? So control what you can control and that’s what we are tying to do by living in the now.”

Are you completely sold that E.J. Manuel has all the goods to be the starting quarterback?

“Yeah I do. I think he’s going to play extremely well. I was just talking to the coaches last night when we left practice I thought he threw the ball extremely well yesterday. He had great knowledge of blitz pickup and the things he was doing. He was making all the right calls and getting in-and-out of the right plays and showing great presence. There’s always a moment or two when anybody plays that they don’t do anything right, but I feel totally comfortable with him in charge and what’s going on and decisions he makes and his ability to compete on the field and put his personality on our team.”

Listen to Jimbo Fisher on WQAM in Miami here

SEASON SUMMARY

Alabama wins its second championship in the last three seasons – and the SEC’s sixth straight BCS title – by topping Oklahoma in the BCS Championship 56.5% of the time and by a score of 27.6 – 23.1. Despite losing ultra-efficient quarterback Greg McElroy and receiving threat Julio Jones, Alabama is stacked. The Crimson Tide appears to have the best offensive line, running back and defense in the nation. Generally, the most likely team in the country to go undefeated is a non-BCS-AQ school (like TCU, Boise State, Houston, etc.). This year, that distinction goes to the SEC’s best.

In other BCS Bowls, the inaugural Big Ten Championship game winner, Wisconsin falls to new Pac-12 champion Oregon in a Rose Bowl shootout 41-31. Boise State, led by Kellen Moore, carries the flag of the BCS non-AQ schools into the Sugar Bowl where the Broncos take out SEC runner-up South Carolina 27-25. ACC winner Florida State shuts down Big East champion West Virginia 23-14 in the Orange Bowl. And Big 12 runner-up Texas A&M spoils Brian Kelly and Notre Dame’s return to a BCS game with a 31-26 victory. Perennial BCS Bowl contender LSU and offensive power house Oklahoma State may not make BCS Bowls despite being top ten teams (two teams from the SEC and Big 12 are already in), but the Tigers and Cowboys turn the Cotton Bowl into the next best match-up, one that LSU wins 37-30. Stumbling from last year’s ranks, defending champion Auburn faces Houston in the Liberty Bowl, while TCU makes the Las Vegas Bowl against Cal. And finally, in an interesting rematch from last season’s Sugar Bowl, Ohio State and Arkansas lose their starting quarterbacks, yet improve over the season to ultimately meet up in the Outback Bowl.

Team recaps, Power Rankings and Preseason Over/Under Win Total Picks are also available at PredictionMachine.com. Here are projected conference championship and bowl results for every game:

BOWL SUMMARY

Conference Championship Results

In the wake of the troubles at Ohio State, Bowden has emerged to say, like many others, that it’s just not possible to run a completely clean program. His at Florida State fell under NCAA scrutiny multiple times, including once in 1993, an event that he talks about during the following interview.

Bowden says he spent at least one week every year bringing in several different types of speakers to avoid his players getting into trouble, but when it came down to it, it was all about whether his players were honest or not. He sounds pretty glad to no longer be guessing whether they were truthful or not.

Bobby Bowden joined KDUS in Phoenix with Chuck and Vince to discuss the recent events at Ohio State and how that situation was handled, how much time he spent trying to make sure things like that didn’t happen at Florida State, how much it hurt him when they did occur, if paying athletes would take care of the problem or if some of them would always want more, why it’s not possible to run a completely clean program and how he’s loving life without the pressure of being a coach.

On NCAA violations in college football and the recent events at Ohio State:

“A coach can be perfectly clean and his program also, then he can have one kid that’s dishonest that can go out and hurt the whole program. It’s amazing. Ohio State is one of those jobs you don’t have to cheat. They’re going to come there anyway. Whether they did or not is not for me to say, but I’m very surprised.”

What did you think of how Ohio State handled the situation?:

“When I first read about it in the paper, the first thing that occurred that some of the boys were selling jerseys. I can sympathize with Coach because that can happen anywhere. There were times at my school where I had to say, ‘Hey boys, you can’t do that.’ And I had to run and check and be sure they wasn’t signing autographs and getting paid and things like that. … As a coach, we have to get the message across to those boys. But again, if they are dishonest, you’re going to have problems.”

When he was a coach, how much time did he spend making sure these things weren’t happening?:

“We spent a lot of time at Florida State, especially the first two weeks in the summer. The school usually was not on and you had those boys all day long. You could meet with them as many times as you want. I would spend at least a week bringing in speakers. I’d bring in a policeman to talk about the laws of the community. I’d bring in educators to talk about academics. I’d bring in preachers to talk about the values. … I think most schools do that. But again, it gets down to the individual. Where Coach [Tressel] made a mistake, and it really surprised me … is he should have reported that thing immediately to his people and maybe he could’ve survived and they could’ve straightened it out.”

How much did it hurt him when his Florida State program got caught up in scandals?:

“We had a similar situation back in 1993 when we won our first national championship. We had agents come to Tallahassee from way out there, I think they were from Las Vegas. … They came and went by our boys’ apartments and talked to them and took them out to supper and took them to a store where they could buy anything they wanted. Some of our kids did and I didn’t know anything about it. Then we found out and we had to suspend boys and do things like that. So it can occur to anybody. And of course they really come after the teams that win it.”

Would paying college athletes take care of this problem?:

“I think it would help. My answer is yes if they are honest. If they aren’t honest, nothing helps. … When I was in college back in the 40s and 50s, scholarship was room, board, tuition, fees, books and 15 dollars a month. Fifteen dollars back then is probably worth about 100 today. I have always felt like these football players should [get all of that] and 100 dollars a month. Of course I recommended that, but you can’t do it because you’ve got 18, 19, 20 other sports.”

But even if players would get paid, wouldn’t there be some that still always wanted more?:

“That is as old as history as. Like I say, you’ve always got dishonest people. When you’re dealing with 100 boys, they’re not always going to be choirboys.”

Is there any way to run an entirely clean program?:

“No. And by that I don’t mean that some coaches purposely try to break the rules. I mean, I don’t care how good you are. Let’s just say it’s raining and one of your boys has to go to school and he’s two miles away and some booster drives by and sees him, picks him up and carries him to school. Well, that’s a violation. … You can’t cover all that stuff. It’s going to happen. What you have to do, what do you do about it? Well, you self-report it. You’ve got to turn yourself in. If you turn yourself in for something like that, they’ll usually excuse you and don’t let it happen again.”

Given all of this, is there part of him that is glad he’s out of coaching and doesn’t have to deal with this anymore?:

“You know what, I did want one more year. I only wanted one more year and didn’t get it. But you know what, I coached for 57 years. … When I retired a year and a half ago, I could just feel the pressure come off my shoulders. I didn’t have to worry about boys, I didn’t have to worry about ‘Are they getting in trouble?’ I didn’t have to worry about ‘Are we going to sign John?’ I didn’t have to worry, ‘Is this girl pregnant?’ I had to worry about the 2 o’clock football. It’s a lot of pressure off when you get out of it.”

Listen to Bobby Bowden on KDUS in Phoenix here

Jimbo Fisher joined 1270 the Team in Tallahassee to talk about whether he surprised they beat Florida the way they did, Christian Ponder’s great game against Florida, and whether the players felt the emotion of the fans during the game against Florida.

Whether he surprised they beat Florida the way they did:

“I thought we could win the game but to do it as decisive as we did and for our kids to play as well as they did that was a great thing for them.  The thing that I am happy for is our players, but our seniors, for what they have been through during their time here and to be able to walk off the field with a victory against Florida in their last game.”

What winning the turnover battle meant for the team in beating both Florida and Miami:

“There is no doubt.  We won the turnover battle, we won the special team’s field position, we created big plays and we stopped big plays.”

Whether Christian Ponder and the offensive line called out Florida’s blitzes before each play:

“They did, and he sets all of the protections.  Our lineman have got to block them, which they did a tremendous job, but he puts them into position telling who has got to do what by his calls and what goes on and I could tell everybody that you don’t realize what the guy does.  It is not all in numbers and we saw when receivers ran good routes, which I thought we really did the other night and we can protect him, like I said he is as good as anyone in the country and I was happy for him to go out in the way that he played.”

On Christian Ponder’s great game against Florida:

“He really did, I mean he was almost flawless in the game and for him to have a chance and for him to lead us to an ACC Championship is great.  It is what he wants to do and like I say, you will never hear him brag about himself or anything and he will come back to work this week and work his tail off and get those guys to play well around him.”

His thoughts on the fans showing up to the game and packing the stadium and whether the players felt the emotion of the fans during the game against Florida:

“I did and it made a difference in the game and for them to not to want to come to the game and have a good time.  I don’t understand that no matter who you are playing and that is what we have got to have every time we play in this stadium.  We held our court every time this season except one time and that was; we got down to the last play and didn’t make it.  That atmosphere and that environment, you want a better program?  Come to the game.  That creates.  The recruits are here.  They were amazed at what was going on.  That brings better players.  That brings recruiting.   It energizes your team.   I mean it is what it’s about, that atmosphere is what it is about.  To have a weekend in Doak Campbell, I don’t know anything better. That is my thing to our fans next year: Let’s do this every week.”

Jimbo Fisher on 1270 the Team in Tallahassee with Jeff Cameron

After getting throttled by Oklahoma in week two, it looked like the Florida State was once again just a middle of the road team. However, they have now rattled off four straight wins, including opening up a can on one of their rivals this past weekend. The ‘Noles smoked the U and knocked them out of the top 25. In the process they sent a message to the entire nation that football is alive again in Tallahassee.

Jimbo Fisher joined The Team 1270 in Tallahassee with Jeff Cameron to talk about the big win this past weekend against Miami, how this win can fuel them for the remainder, whether or not he felt the Hurricanes quit, and what he thinks of Christian Ponder so far this season.

On the big win this past weekend:

“It was. It’s a rivalry game and we all know what Miami can do. With the way they have played all year and for our kids to go down there and play the way they did, it was a huge victory for us.”

On whether or not this can fuel them for the rest of the season:

“I think it can. I think they understand the caliber of opponent that we had. But they understand now that by what they’re doing on a day by day basis it allows them to have a chance for success. Now you still have to carry it to the game and you still have to have it come through and they did that. I’m happy for them because they’ve worked hard. I’m happy for our players that they can experience the joy of winning a big rivalry game because of the way they have played in practice.”

On the idea that Miami might’ve quit:

“I don’t think they quit. That game was very competitive in the fourth quarter. It was 31-17 and they had the momentum, but we were physical and we knew we had to be physical. When you play Miami, if you’re not physical, they will embarrass you. They’ll jump all over you, but our kids were physical in all aspects and in all positions. We were physical all across the board.”

On the way Christian Ponder played:

“He did. I keep telling folks that he’s playing very well. We had a couple down the field throws and one we missed and the other two we just didn’t have quite the time to hold them. We gotta run a little faster and we gotta get just another half a second in the offensive line position. We had a chance to make a couple big throws in the passing game. Then he scrambled on both and made yardage. He’s playing great football people and don’t understand that. He’s getting us in and out of the right run checks, going to the right guy, not throwing into coverage and he’s playing winning, championship football. We don’t have to have him throw for over 300 yards. I was pleased with the way he played also.”

Listen to the Team 1270 in Tallahassee here

Even though Bowden has retired from football he is busier than he ever was coaching.  After making his living coaching football, Bowden has been flying around the world on the public speaking circuit giving motivational speeches to churches, charities, and corporations.  The underlying theme features his Christian testimony and spreading the word about teaching young people to do the right thing and make the right choices.  During his down time, Bowden still pays attention to what is going on at Florida State and the rest of college football.  While he doesn’t miss coaching and the pressures that come along with it, Bowden misses being around the young players and coaches that have kept him young and became part of his extended family for the last fifty-seven years.  Although his career at FSU didn’t end the way that he wanted it to, Bowden has no regrets or hard feelings and is excited to be sitting on the couch watching football games just like you and I.

Bobby Bowden joined WGFX in Nashville to talk about whether it feels strange to be retired and not on the football field, what he thinks the 1^st Saturday spent watching college football is going to feel like, and why he agreed to take the Florida State job when the program was in shambles.

Whether it feels strange to be retired and not on the football field:

“You know it doesn’t.  You know what, when I quit coaching in January, the bowl game with West Virginia, that was my last game so I retired right after that.  There was a tremendous load off of my shoulders that I didn’t realize.  For instance, a kid gets in trouble that is not my problem anymore.  A kid didn’t go to class that is not my problem anymore.  A kid flunks out that is not my problem anymore.  You lose this recruit here that is not my problem anymore.  So I realized the weight that was off of my shoulders.  I still wanted to coach another year but they didn’t want me to coach anymore.  So now I am not coaching football but I haven’t retired because I am spending my time speaking really all over the country.”

What he thinks the 1^st Saturday spent watching college football is going to feel like:

“I know exactly what it is going to be like.  I am going to love it.  I won’t have a worry?  How long has it been since I have been able to watch a ball game?  I will sit home and I’ll watch Florida State play, I’ll watch Alabama play, I’ll watch Tennessee play, I’ll watch Vanderbilt, I’ll watch it all day long.  I am really going to enjoy it, I will tell you that right now.”

Why he agreed to take the Florida State job when the program was in shambles:

“That is a good question, a very fair question.  Number one, I was raised in Birmingham, Alabama and went to school in Tennessee, coached in Florida, coached in Georgia and coached in Alabama.  I was an assistant coach at Florida State for 3 years under Bill Petersen.  Anne and I. Then I left there and went to West Virginia University for 10 years.  I went there as an assistant for 4 years and coached for 6.  We wanted to go home.  That was our home back down South.  So Florida State, 3-8, 1-10, 0-11, we were going to bowls up in West Virginia.  Why would you take that job?  Simply because we wanted to get home and I took it, not with the idea of staying, I didn’t want to stay there.  I thought we would go down and renew our acquaintances and I will end up back at Alabama or Auburn, my home state.  That was the plan but God didn’t want to go that way.”

How the entrance of FSU’s mascot Chief Osceola came about:

“No they didn’t have it before I got there.  Didn’t have anything that resembled it…  I will tell you exactly how it started.  I went to Florida State in 1976.  They had a 41,000 seat stadium and was averaging about 7,000.  That is a bad sign you have got to put people in the stands.  So anyways I come down there and realize that we have got to get this thing built up.  So my 2^nd year we were having a pretty doggone good year.  In fact, my 2^nd year we won 10 ball games went to a bowl and won it and got nationally ranked.  We were playing San Diego State in the next to last game of the year, San Diego State, we were heavy favorites.  I remember the San Diego newspaper, ‘The highest ranked team to ever play in San Diego’.  They killed us.  They beat us to death and they had this mascot, a Samoan.  A big, old, strong Samoan came up with a sirrang and had a flaming spear.  When the team came out he ran out and threw that spear into the ground and the crowd went crazy and the whole game he would take that spear and walk through the stands and people would rally around it.  My wife was with us, she said, ‘We need that.  We need something like that.’  So really she was the one that planted the seed, let’s get a mascot…”

How hard it is to keep in touch with all of the players that he has coached:

“It is hard.  They’ll contact me.  There is no way I can contact all of them, but a lot of times they’ll contact me and they will talk about the past.”

Bobby Bowden on WGFX in Nashville on the Sports Zone

Someday, whoever follows up Penn State’s Joe Paterno might have a taller task of stepping in. But for now, it belongs to Fisher and Florida State fans are excited about the new coach’s debut.

With Heisman Trophy hopeful Christian Ponder back and healthy under center, many pundits have Florida State pegged to vie for an ACC championship. And they’ll be in the national headlines early and often with nonconference dates at Oklahoma and against BYU.

Jimbo Fisher joined WJXL in Jacksonville with David Lamm to discuss the excitement surrounding his first year, what he’ll take from his years under Bobby Bowden and how he plans to bring back a championship mentality to Florida State.

On fans’ excitement surrounding Fisher’s first year:

“They are [excited]. Change brings hope or optimism. There’s an unknown factor, I guess. Everybody wants to go see what it’s like. What does Coach have to say? What is he going to do different? The unknown is what brings the excitement. … Hopefully it will continue all the way through the year.”

On how the offseason has gone:

“We’ve been very pleased. First thing you always say, two sets of parameters for everything. I love the attitude of our staff and our support system, our administration. Everybody’s been accommodating as heck. … And then the players, what we have done, everybody has a great offseason and everybody has a good spring and everybody lifts weights and runs and gets in shape. But to me, what sends a message, is some people do it, other people do it with a great attitude.”

On one thing that he will take from time under Bowden and use in his head-coaching career:

“The thing about Coach Bowden that always amazed me was the class and dignity and the way he handled every situation. He was very forthcoming in how he thought or what he believed, but the way he handled people, I think that’s what separated him. … I said he walked the sideline with as much class and dignity that anybody ever has.”

On one thing he’ll change from the Bowden regime:

“There was nothing that was significant in the change, just little things from people I’ve been around or organizational things that I thought we could help, a tweak and a turn here. There was nothing that really stood out. The biggest thing I took from him are the things he did well.”

On bringing back the championship mentality:

“You’ve got to create the goals, but it’s a mentality. It’s a way you walk, talk, eat, breathe, bleed. Everything you do has to be done the right way. You have to think that way knowing you’re going to make mistakes. It’s how you deal with the adversity and how you even deal with the success. … Your mind controls everything. You can have the most ability in the world in everything, but if your mind’s not right you can’t use that ability.”

Listen to the entire interview with Jimbo Fisher on WJXL in Jacksonville here

Florida State ended the year 7-6 and ensured Bowden of yet another winning season, which is his 33rd consecutive winning season as a football coach. This was the third time in the last four years that FSU ended with a 7-6 record. That run of mediocrity was the demise of Bowden as Jimbo Fisher is set to take over the program. Lets just hope for Florida State that Jimbo Fisher is the solution to this mediocrity and that he will get their football program back on the map.

Bobby Bowden joined Fox Sports Radio with Sean Farnham and former Seminoles QB Chris Rix to talk about winning his last game and how special it was, how special it was for he and his wife to go out with a win, and how his team played against West Virginia.

On winning his last game and how special it was:

“It was very special and very hard to put into words. When I arrived at the stadium with our team, we have never done the little walk-through that a lot of other schools have a walk-through where the fans gather and you walk down the middle of them. We have never done that at Florida State but they had that thing setup today and brought in about 300 hundred former football players and just fans and it was a very interesting thing. At the old stadium we might have had the biggest crowd ever there. They really did a great job of supporting me and my family and then on top of that we were lucky enough to win the game. Usually you get beat on those kinds of occasions.”

On how special it was for he and his wife to go out with a win:

“You know it is very special Chris. As long as I have been coaching, this was my 57th season and I don’t think anybody has ever quoted that correctly. Some say 55 and some say 56 but actually this is my 57th season. My first season was 1953 and so you are ending your career and with your wife here and all of your family here and all your children and grandchildren here and a lot of your friends. It was very significant and we really appreciated it and again Jacksonville just turned the city inside out for us.”

Whether the win will make it easier to fly out to the BCS Championship breakfast on Tuesday:

“Chris there is no doubt about that and if anybody has been in coaching or who has played the game they know the exhilaration that you get from a win and they know the sadness that you get from a loss. You can bet your life that I will be that much more comfortable flying out to Los Angeles this week than some other weeks that I have been out there.”

On how his team played against West Virginia:

“Well you know our big problem this year has been defense. We simply haven’t been able to stop anybody. We have played several teams and they didn’t even punt. So the way this game started today I said oh my goodness here we go. The only chance that we are going to have is to outscore them. You know it is hard to go out and try to outscore people. You have to be able to stop them and I thought that it was the way it was going to be but then our defense just got better and better and better and just did a tremendous job and enabled us to win.”

Bobby Bowden on Fox Sports Radio to talk about his final game and how special it was

Bobby Bowden joined 790 The Ticket in Miami  with Dan LeBetard to talk about whether he felt like he was done wrong by FSU in the end, him being graceful about accepting FSU’s decision, what will his fondest memory be at Florida State, and what was his most crushing defeat.

Whether he felt like he was done wrong by FSU in the end:

“Well I was wanting to get another year but it was going to be this year or next year.”

Whether he is angry about how it ended:

“Well, disappointed I think that was a big thing. Ann and I talked about it and the one thing that we are not going to be is bitter. Just disappointed.”

Why he isn’t bitter and why his wife can speak her mind and he can’t:

“Well you know Ann says what is on her mind and if I knew what was going to happen I wouldn’t have had her interviewed. She didn’t want to in the first place but I had told her that I didn’t want anything discussed about my leave and of course once they got her going she wound up.”

On him being graceful about accepting FSU’s decision:

“Well Dan , I never believed in burning bridges because I just don’t believe in that. What is what is and like I said it is a year earlier than I had planned and that is the way the ball bounces. Yeah I don’t want to make it an issue at all. I just don’t want to do that.”

Whether he cried:

“No. Heck no! I don’t want to do that. If I can survive this next week I will get by without it.”

The host comes up with a plan that he should go somewhere else and coach another team as a family:

“Well at 80 years old I had told our president several years ago, I got a couple of more years on him, I am not interested in going until I am 85. Just a couple of more years. That is why everything was setup for 2010-11, January 2011. I was kind of surprised when this other thing came on but I received ample warning.”

On what will his fondest memory be at Florida State:

“Well I think it was the fact that I was able to stay for 34 years and there never was a day that I dreaded to go to work. I enjoyed going to work every day. I think that is the biggest thing. I think what would be awful is if you had a job and you dreaded to go to work. That never happened to me.”

Whether the biggest win would be the championship wins:

“Well those are good but not… I think the biggest win, I have said this before, I think the biggest win in the 34 years that I have been here was when we beat Nebraska at Nebraska in 1980 where they were number three in the nation and they were heavily favored and we went in there, back in those days you didn’t beat them there, lately they had been beat there. We won that and I felt like that kind of put Florida State on the map.”

What was his most crushing defeat:

“The worst ones would probably be the wide rights and lefts at Miami. Those probably hurt just as much as any. We have got beat worse than that by Miami several times and by Florida but when you miss field goals that not only loses you a game but maybe a national championship. Those have got to be the bitterest.”

Bobby Bowden joined The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz to talk about his retirement