There’s a Bobby Bowden documentary debuting Sunday, focusing on how the College Football Hall of Fame coach turned Florida State into Florida State.
Part of the Seminoles’ success in those days was not losing talented players who ran afoul of the law. That tended to happen a lot, relative to other major programs of the day, but Florida State managed to hang on to most of those players, often turning them around into contributors on the field. That strategy was simple, as Bowden remembers: turning felony charges into misdemeanors.
“Back in those days, when a boy gets into too much trouble it starts as a felony. If a boy has a felony, he can’t play, nothing I can do,” Bowden told USA Today. “So you try to get it reduced down to a misdemeanor, and unless it’s a terrible thing you usually can. I think (the movie) shows how I’d give them second chances if I can. Some boys would get in trouble so bad I couldn’t do nothing. I’d lose ‘em. But the worst thing is I didn’t want to kick them back out on the street. They don’t need to be out on the street. I’d try to save ‘em.”
Though the quote can easily be read cynically, the focus of the film -- The Bowden Dynasty: A story of Faith, Family and Football -- centers on Bowden’s sincere belief second chances were crucial in saving the young men in his charge as players and as people.
“I could probably name a whole lot of players who turned out real good, you know it?” Bowden said. “There’s always the exceptions but gosh, I don’t know many of them that came through our program. I did have some players where you can’t save ‘em. You have to let ‘em go. People wonder, why do coaches defend their boys? Well, you know, Ann and I had six children and if they got in trouble I’d sure want somebody to give them a second chance.”
While his intentions may be genuine, it’s also a genuine fact that, say, Jimbo Fisher would be roasted alive if he gave that exact quote today.