Mike Norvell has kind words about Bobby Bowden’s legacy

It is likely impossible to traverse Florida State’s campus without seeing something related to Bobby Bowden. On Thursday, current Seminoles coach Mike Norvell expressed the same sentiment when discussing the Hall of Fame coach’s legacy. 

“I think any player, any fan, any coach, when you step foot here on Florida State that’s the name you’re going to associate with our program,” Norvell said. 

On July 21, Bowden announced he had been diagnosed with a terminal health condition. The following day, his son, Terry, made public that his father has pancreatic cancer. 

When commenting on the situation, Terry Bowden asked that the public respect his father’s privacy, but inserted a little jab at his father that perfectly described who the former Florida State coach is.

“He doesn’t need a lot of phone calls, or a lot of people talking on the phone,” Terry Bowden said. “You know my dad; he has never turned down an interview in his life. He’ll be on his deathbed [doing] an interview the last minute he does it. But, that’s Bobby Bowden.”

Following the diagnosis, Norvell spoke to ESPN about the opportunity he has had to get to know the elder Bowden. 

“I am so grateful for the opportunity and the relationship that I have and been able to form with Coach Bowden,” Norvell said. “As he’s resting there at home, just to know we are thinking about you and just so grateful for the impact you’ve made and that you continue to make by who you are.”

Bowden’s resume is unrivaled in Tallahassee

Bobby Bowden amassed a 315-98-4 record during his 34-year tenure in Tallahassee. When he took over at Florida State, the team had gone 4-29 in its previous three seasons. By his second year, they won 10 games. Over the next 14 years leading up to FSU’s ACC debut, they won at least nine games nine times. When they joined their new conference, then-ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan commented how valuable they had become in the college football world.

“Their football team had more national television exposure last year than all our teams had together,” Corrigan said. 

Not only did he turn the Seminoles into a competitive program, he twice reached the pinnacle of college football, winning national titles in 1993 and 1999. Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006 before retiring in 2009.

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