Bowden, "Bobby" (Robert)
Football
b. Nov. 8, 1929, Birmingham, AL
After playing freshman football at the University of Alabama, Bowden went to Howard College, where he was a Little All-American quarterback in 1953. He then became a graduate assistant coach at Peabody College and, after earning a master's degree, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach.
In 1959, Bowden became head coach at the school, which had been renamed Samford University. He had a 31-6 record there in four seasons, spent three seasons as an assistant at Florida State, and then became offensive coordinator at the University of West Virginia in 1966.
He became head coach in 1970 and posted a 42-26 record in six seasons. Bowden then returned to Florida State as head coach and installed a wide open offense featuring a passing attack and a variety of trick plays. He had a 5-6-0 record in his first season, 1976, but was 10-2-0 the following year and has never had a losing record since.
When Bowden's son Terry became head coach at Auburn University in 1993, it set up one of the year's most interesting sports stories. Florida State and Auburn were both undefeated after eight games of the season. However, Florida State lost to Notre Dame in its ninth game; Auburn went on to an 11-0-0 record, but wasn't recognized in polls and wasn't allowed to play in a post-season bowl because the program was on NCAA probation.
Florida State has had eleven top ten finishes during Bowden's tenure and has been in the top four in eleven consecutive seasons. His 1993 team won the mythical national championship by beating Nebraska, 18-16, in the Orange Bowl, and his teams were ranked second nationally in 1987 and 1992.
Through 2001, Bowden had a 323-91-4 record. He ranks second all-time in victories among NCAA Division I coaches and his .778 winning percentage is 18th.