Tuesday Carousel: Bobby Bowden Update

A second meeting was held between Florida State front-office types and head coach Bobby Bowden Tuesday morning...

The 2:15 team meeting is still on as originally thought.

University president TK Wetherell was quoted in the Tallahassee Democrat as saying he hoped that Bowden would remain with the university in an emeritus capacity after announcing his expected retirement.

Wetherell also said that he is anticipating a Gator Bowl appearance for the Seminoles against West Virginia- a game that Bowden would coach.

3PM UPDATE: Florida State University has issued a press release

“The bowl game will be my last game as head football coach at Florida State,” said Bowden. “It’s been a great 34 seasons.

“I’d like to thank my wife Ann and my family for their love and support. There were a lot of nights when I was on the road and not at home at the dinner table. We all know that’s part of it.

“I’d also like to thank the coaches and their families who helped build the program into something that is special. You can’t have a successful program without players and we have been blessed to have young men who are winners both on and off the field. I want to thank them and their families for committing 4-5 years of their lives to me and to FSU.

“Finally, I’d like to thank the University and FSU fans who have supported the Florida State program. We’ve got one more game and I look forward to enjoying these next few weeks as the head football coach.”

WCTV's Elton Gumbel has a look at the man who would be king...


And Mike Vasalinda looks at the end of an era in Tallahassee...

Bobby Bowden To Retire Tuesday

From the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper...

Corey Clark and Jim Lamar report:

Bowden ((pictured, thanks Tallahassee Democrat)) is expected to announce his resignation by way of a statement to be released Tuesday, sources told the Democrat.

As part of his retirement, Bowden is expected to be offered a non-coaching position at FSU for an unspecified amount of time. In addition to any settlement compensation that may be negotiated as part of his retirement, Bowden is also entitled to $1 million upon his retirement as part of a clause in his coaching contract that was agreed upon at least 10 years ago.

It is unclear if Bowden will coach the bowl game or not, but sources have said if he does coach one last game then the Gator Bowl may try to select FSU for its Jan. 1 game.

Bowden’s retirement means Jimbo Fisher will become the first head football coach FSU has hired in 34 seasons.

If this is indeed the case, it's a crappy way to go out for sure...
The entire "Coach-in-Waiting" concept is a joke, and a lot of people would venture to say that the FSU "Coach-in-Waiting" is one...

This means that Jimbo Fisher will clean house on one side of the ball- not his own...

FOSG Lee Gordon from WCTV-TV in Tallahassee has your evening update which still contains maybes and possibles for Bowden...

Monday Carousel: Bobby Bowden Update, Tuesday Retirement...???

Okay, here's what we found out...

We know about the 10AM meeting Tuesday where Coach Bowden is supposed to address his future on the sidelines at Florida State. He had a meeting with university President TK Wetherell and AD Randy Spetman that lasted about an hour Monday.

Sources close to the program have told OSG Sports that what Bowden will be wrestling with the remainder of today is the following:

1) A reduced role as Head Coach in 2010
2) Jimbo Fisher will be making the decision as to who replaces retiring DC Mickey Andrews. Fisher also will have control over making wholesale changes to the defensive coaching staff in general.

((Read what you want in to the idea of Chuck Amato being retained there...))

3) It was implied in the meeting with Wetherell and Spetman that next year will be Bowden's last as Head Coach- regardless of success level.

Bowden would get his "farewell tour."

Boosters of the Florida State program are, understandably, divided on the issue. There is the side that wants Bowden gone after whatever-mediocre bowl FSU will play in before New Year's Day. There are also those who want to give the man his farewell ((considering what he has meant to the program)) and not have it end on an ugly note.

That is the Bowden Family decision for your Monday evening...

And, yes, we're still holding off on our Mickey Andrews info until all this calms down and we can put a garnet and gold bow on this whole proceeding...

7PM UPDATE: WCTV-TV in Tallahassee is reporting the following

Florida State has scheduled a team meeting for 2:15pm where it is expected that they will inform the players that Bobby Bowden will step down as head football coach at Florida State.

However, a meeting is still scheduled for the morning between Bowden and members of the University. As of now, no decsion has been made on Bowden's future, but an announcement should come after the morning meeting.

FSU's media relations department says that an announcement could come on Tuesday in the form of a press release, but nothing has been scheduled where Bobby Bowden or any other member of the team will address the media.

TK Wetherell Steps Down ((Maybe))

((HT: WCTV/Tallahassee Democrat-Blackburn))

Florida State President T.K. Wetherell is declining to discuss a report published this afternoon that he will announce his resignation at Wednesday’s trustees meeting.

The Associated Press, citing two unnamed sources, said Wetherell will be telling the board that he wants to retire.

There have been rumors circulating on campus that the colorful Wetherell, 63, was planning to step down after 6 ½ years as president at his alma mater. He has said repeatedly during the past two weeks that he is focused solely on preparing the university’s budget for Wednesday’s trustees meeting.

“The president said he doesn’t want to discuss his personal plans,” FSU spokeswoman Browning Brooks said.

Wetherell has received treatments for prostate cancer, but his doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville last week gave him “a clean bill of health,” according to the AP report.

“I think his health is good,” Brooks said.

Tallahassee attorney Jim Smith, chairman of the board of trustees, also did not want to discuss his longtime friend’s plans.

“T.K. is a dear friend of mine and I’m going to let T.K. make whatever statement he wants to make on Wednesday,” Smith said.

In March, Wetherell led a vigorous campaign on behalf of the State University System for improved funding from the Legislature, which was threatening to slash FSU’s budget by as much as $72 million for the coming fiscal year.

Instead, FSU took a $43 million cut in revenue from the state – for a total of $82 million in reductions over the past three years. FSU last week unveiled a proposed budget for the 2009-10 school year that calls for as many as 200 faculty and staff layoffs.

A former politician who became speaker of the House, Wetherell spearheaded funding of the FSU University Center, to which his name is attached. He was president of Tallahassee Community College from 1995 to 2001.

Here's your coverage from our friends at WCTV in Tallahassee...

FSU Heading To State Supreme Court

Sources close to the Athletic Department at Florida State University have told OSG Sports that the University plans to take their case challenging the NCAA to the Florida State Supreme Court for appeal and evaluation.

Steve Ellis of the Tallahassee Democrat caught up with TK Wetherell mid-week and here's the Q&A on that particular issue before sources disclosed that particular wrinkle in the Seminoles gambit...

How long do you expect the appeal process (on the NCAA vacating wins penalty) to go?

Wetherell: “I think they get 30 days (to respond) and we get some kind of response. Then I think the infractions committee gets a response and we get a response to that response. So it's probably in the middle of the summer is my guess.”

What did you think of the appeal (report)?

Wetherell: “If you read that thing it’s pretty darn compelling to me. “We had an understanding with the NCAA. It’s just that simple. … I think it’s fair game to debate how many scholarships, how long the probation and all of that. But all of this eligibility stuff, that was a very clear understanding. “Nobody went down that path without a total understanding. I don’t know if anybody has ever gone to Indianapolis (during the process of determining student-athletes suspensions ) and sit down for four hours and say – ‘All right, let’s all work through it together so we all have the right deals.’ “That’s what frosts me about it.”

The other issue is the funding (for the NCAA process and appeal).

Wetherell: “This is all private money…"

Those of us at OSG HQ think that, regardless of how this ends up, it's the end of the Bowden Era- whenever that ends.

The case will go from the State Supreme Court to the US Supreme Court.
It will get kicked back. They aren't going to want anything to do with it.
The Seminoles and the NCAA will haggle, hem, and haw but the end is nigh.
If the wins are taken off the books in football, there is really no reason for Coach Bowden to hang around two years AFTER Joe Paterno thinks he's going to retire to make up the difference.
Even if Bowden knew nothing of what went on- which is a very distinct and real possibility- it still falls on his head and on his watch in the eyes of the NCAA.
And that's where everything ends- Indianapolis.

NCAA Rejects FSU Proposal

From Heather Dinich at the four-letter:

The NCAA turned down Florida State's proposal that a "blue-ribbon committee" be formed to review the policy of vacating wins as a form of punishment, and that the policy be suspended from use while it is under review, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.

T.K. Wetherell, president of Florida State -- which on March 6 learned of its penalties resulting from an investigation into an academic cheating scandal -- wrote the NCAA a letter, dated March 17, in which he made the proposal, according to the Sentinel.

But NCAA president Myles Brand, in his response dated March 20 and reported by the Sentinel, said the Committee on Infractions already was reexamining its "entire penalty structure," and that any recommendations for changes would be sent to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors for consideration.

In the meantime, Brand wrote, "It would be arbitrary to suspend only the vacation-of-wins penalty and impractical to suspend them all."

The Sentinel also reported that in Brand's March 20 letter, Brand acknowledged receiving official word that Florida State intended to appeal the vacation-of-wins penalty levied by the NCAA.

Those of us at OSG HQ still thin Florida State is in a boatload of trouble...
Nothing's changed...

FSU Hires Outside Council For Appeal

Florida State will appeal part of an NCAA punishment that would strip the school of victories in 10 sports, including as many as 14 in football.

The university president called the penalty "excessive and inappropriate."

Football coach Bobby Bowden has 382 career wins -- one fewer than Penn State's Joe Paterno, the major college leader.

"The coaches had no involvement," Florida State president T.K. Wetherell ((pictured, thanks Mike Ewen/Tallahassee Deomcrat)) said Tuesday. "To hold them responsible in this case is simply wrong."

Bowden has not commented on the NCAA sanctions and was not immediately available after Wetherell's news conference. Wetherell said the university has hired a former administrative law judge, Bill Williams, to represent Florida State in its appeal. Wetherell sent a letter Tuesday to NCAA president Myles Brand to advise him of the appeal.

"The penalty requiring the university to vacate wins is excessive and inappropriate," said Wetherell, adding that part of the sanctions was unwarranted. "Our case is compelling, it is so compelling you simply can't go in any other direction."

A former Seminoles football player, Wetherell said it's unfair to more than 500 athletes and 52 coaches who were not involved in the cheating.

The school accepted the loss of scholarships in 10 sports and a four-year probation the NCAA announced March 6. That's in addition to stripping the school of victories in which any of the 61 athletes involved in the academic cheating may have participated.

The cheating occurred mainly through online testing for a single music history course in the fall of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters of 2007. It included staffers helping students on the test and in one case asking one athlete to take it for another.

Florida State lost to Kentucky in the 2007 Music City Bowl without two dozen players, including several starters, who had taken the class. Many of the same athletes were held out of the first three games last fall as well as part of their punishment.

Steve Ellis, Senior Writer for the Tallahassee Democrat, continues:

The school has 30 days to appeal, according to Wetherell. If the appeals committees rules against FSU, the school will have 90 days to identify those losses in 10 sports over the 2006 fall, 2007 spring and 2007 fall seasons.

“The coaches had no involvement,” Weatherell said. “If you look at the organizational charts that were placed there were no line, dotted or connect, between the coaches an the academic side. That’s by design. To suggest they then be penalized is simply wrong and unfair.”

Here's WCTV's coverage with Lee Gordon ((busy boy these days...))