Bobby Bowden

Who is Bobby Bowden?

Robert Cleckler "Bobby" Bowden is a retired American football coach who holds the NCAA record for most career wins and bowl wins by a Division I FBS coach. He coached the Florida State Seminoles football team from the 1976 to 2009 seasons. During his time at Florida State, Bowden led FSU to an Associated Press and Coaches Poll National Title in 1993 and a BCS National Championship in 1999, as well as twelve Atlantic Coast Conference championships since FSU joined the conference in 1991. After a difficult 2009 season and amid questioning fans, Bowden was fired by FSU President T.K. Wetherell, just weeks after his 80th birthday. But he was allowed to make his final coaching appearance in the 2010 Gator Bowl game on January 1, 2010, with a 33–21 victory over his former program, West Virginia.

Bowden finished his career first in all-time wins by a Division I-FBS coach with 389 wins. On the day of March 6, 2009 NCAA ruling requiring Florida State to "vacate wins for any games in which an ineligible player participated," threatened to remove as many as 14 of Bowden's wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons in relation to an academic scandal.