Steve Spurrier on Bobby Bowden: 'One of the greatest coaches in history'

Former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier had kind words after the death of Florida State legend Bobby Bowden. Spurrier took to Twitter to honor the late Seminoles coach, who passed Sunday at 91.

“Bobby Bowden was one of the all time greatest coaches in the history of college football,” Spurrier said. “He’s the second winningest coach of all time behind Joe Paterno. We had some good battles during my 12 years at Florida. He won most of them and we won a few.

“I enjoyed our relationship after coaching as we served for Rising Stars which helps young men and women from difficult backgrounds go to college and be successful.”

Bowden and Spurrier faced each other 14 times as head coaches. Ultimately, Bowden came out on top with an 8-5-1 record. The Spurrier-led Florida Gators won a national championship in 1997 against Bowden’s Seminoles.

Below is a bit more about the late coach’s impact on college football.

Bowden on his legacy

In 2009, Mike Freeman wrote BOWDEN – How Bobby Bowden Forged a College Football Dynasty. In it, Bobby Bowden detailed how we wanted to be remembered.

“A lot of people in the past have asked me what about my legacy,” Bowden shared with Freeman.  “I’ve said this and that and I don’t like talking about it all that much, but I answer the question the best I can.  I want people to say, ‘He was one of the best.’ Not the best.  Just one of the best.  I want people to say I didn’t cheat.  We made some mistakes here, but I never had a win-at-all-costs mentality.  We had that dadgum Free Shoes University thing, but we didn’t know what the players were doing and anyone who says we did isn’t telling the truth.  I would’ve rather lost than be seen as a guy who won and cheated.  I guess I want my legacy to be we won and we mostly won the right way, and along the way, people had fun, and I treated people with respect and decency.  I was something Florida State could be proud of.  They’d say, ‘That dadgum Bowden was a good guy.’  That’s how I hope I’ll be remembered.”

Bobby 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. was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006 before retiring in 2009.