Clemson to honor Bobby Bowden in matchup against Florida State

The show of respect for late Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden continues, as another ACC team will pay tribute to him this weekend.

Bowden died in August at the age of 91, and Clemson will honor Bowden when the Seminoles visit Tiger Stadium on Saturday. The event is of personal importance to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. 

“Excited about honoring Bobby Bowden and all he meant to this league, the game of football, so many young people, and this game, the Clemson-Florida State game” Swinney said at a Tuesday press conference. “It’s just the right time to honor him.”

Swinney, Bowden overlapped in some capacity in many phases of their lives

Swinney knew Bowden very well. The Clemson head coach has made clear the level of respect and admiration he has for the FSU legend who turned an afterthought program into a national powerhouse for several decades. 

Both Swinney and Bowden were born in Birmingham, Alabama and have ties to programs in the state. Bowden played a year of football at Alabama before transferring to Samford in 1949, and Swinney played wide receiver at Alabama from 1990-1992. Additionally, Bowden and Swinney’s mother attended the same high school.

The year 2009 was bittersweet for both men. It was Swinney’s first full year as the head coach at Clemson and Bowden’s final year in Tallahassee. Of course, Swinney took over the reins as interim head coach at Clemson in 2008 from Bowden’s son, Tommy. Tommy’s father was one of the first people to call Swinney when he got the job.

Prior to taking the head coaching job, Swinney worked under Tommy Bowden beginning in 2003.

“When I come to Clemson in ’03, that was one of the things I was really looking forward to, to be honest with you, was like ‘Man, I’m going to get a chance to meet Bobby Bowden,'” Swinney said Tuesday with a smile.

The national title-winning head coach proceeded to tell a story about a time he went into the elder Bowden’s office in Tallahassee while with Tommy, and how Bowden paused his film watching to have a conversation with the younger assistant. Bowden took an interest in Swinney’s past, and the two had a great conversation for around 20 minutes.

“I already had a high respect for him and high thoughts of him, but when I met him, he even far exceeded who he was,” Swinney said. “He was a very kind man. He loved his players. He loved Florida State, and I think he’s a coach that truly knew his calling and his purpose.”

Terry Bowden, one of Bobby’s other sons, was a graduate assistant under Swinney at Clemson from 2019-2020 before becoming the head coach at Louisiana-Monroe this year.

Swinney and the elder Bowden faced off twice, once while Swinney was the interim head coach and then in 2009. They split the meetings 1-1; each coach won at their home stadium.

Of note for Saturday: Tommy Bowden will be in attendance. He has not been to a game at Tiger Stadium since he left Clemson.

The game between the 3-4 Seminoles and the 4-3 Tigers kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Clemson is a 10-point favorite as of Tuesday morning.