Bobby Bowden

Bobby Bowden

Robert Cleckler "Bobby" Bowden (born November 8, 1929) is a retired college 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 announced his retirement from FSU on December 1, 2009, just weeks after his 80th birthday. His final coaching appearance was 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. A March 6, 2009 NCAA ruling requiring Florida State to "vacate wins for any games in which an ineligible player participated," threatening to remove as many as 14 of Bowden's wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons in relation to an academic scandal; Florida State appealed the ruling. The NCAA upheld the ruling on January 5, 2010. Upon final investigation by Florida State University it was determined that Bowden was to vacate 12 wins, bringing his final career record to 377–129–4. At the time, this placed him second to Joe Paterno, coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. However, sanctions handed down by the NCAA as a result of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal caused all of Paterno's wins from 1998 to 2011 to be vacated, reducing his total to 298.