August 20, 2002

Gene Williams (Dot Com)

Terry Bowden on his father passing the Bear

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With a win over Iowa State on Saturday Seminole Head Coach Bobby Bowden will pass football legend Paul "Bear" Bryant on the all-time wins list. He currently stands at 323 wins which is only four wins behind Penn State's Joe Paterno who leads with 327 victories. Son and ABC Television analyst Terry Bowden was in town Tuesday to watch Florida State's practice. The younger Bowden talks about what it will be like to see his father pass Bear Bryant, what it will mean to him and his family, how Bobby is compared to Bryant and the battle with Joe Paterno for the all-time title.

Did you ever think when Bear Bryant set the all-time wins record that your father, or anyone else for that matter, would ever break it?

It will shock you sometimes how life changes. I was a graduate assistant at Florida State when George Henshaw left and I got to take over recruiting. I was in Birmingham, Alabama the day he died recruiting a kid from Banks High School. I just got a call for my first head coaching job... After that I thought I want to break that record. I'm 26 and I want to break that record. That was great for the first 16 years I was coaching but it's funny chasing your dad. I didn't answer your question but I'm not sure dad ever thought of breaking that record at that time. Everything almost had to be planned. He went to a small college early and got a lot of wins then goes to Division I without getting fired like I did. I think dad just wanted to be a football coach. The fact that he won't retire doesn't suggest he was after that. I don't think there's any way he or Joe Paterno thought that they were going to pass Bear Bryant until the last stages of their career.

How much will this mean to him?

I've been around Alabama and there are guys that played for Bear Bryant and they are like he's a god to them. Then there are guys who didn't play for Bear Bryant like my dad. My dad respects him, he likes the fact that he won wherever he coached, the way in which he did it and the way he ran his program. He was a much more objective fan of Bear Bryant. He'll be the first to tell you, and he's very sincere, there will never be another Bear Bryant. A guy that won six national championships and to do what he did. You can coach longer and maybe get more wins but might not have the impact on the game he did. To be honest with you I think because Joe Paterno has beaten the record and there's another goal out there it would be nice but it just puts him in a category with three or four coaches. He's still number two if he gets the next win.

Bryant's wins and Paterno's wins were with programs that were already established and had won national championships. That wasn't the case with Bobby Bowden and Florida State.

The hardest thing for me is to sound objective when talking about my father comparing him to other great coaches. I think about where my dad has had to coach and win, in fact he has 22 wins that don't count. The fact that he's not six-five and looks like John Wayne, the fact that he's not a English major and he really downplays himself to the point where he's not looked at as some type of John Wayne or Schwarzkopf type of personality. I'm not sure he'll ever have that kind of image. But I think in time looking back on his impact on young people, on the game and the way he did it he'll be as big as all of him.

Is that maybe why he doesn't seem to have the same mystique that Bear Bryant had?

Dad has chosen to live his life in a way that takes away a little bit from himself and who he is. I think personality doesn't lend itself something people can idolize... Paterno plays that thing a little more. He reads the classics, he built a library and walks home after practice and dad sits in a golf cart and tries to keep from falling asleep.

What will this accomplishment mean to your father?

I think to his whole family it means a lot. More to us than it does to him. Probably to my mother than to any of us. She's been with him the entire way and knows the good and bad of it. I'm a little reluctant to let it mean that much because there's still some time. I'm very serious when I say Joe Paterno and my dad both have been head coaches for a long time and didn't get in this business to come in second. Somebody is going to come in second in this deal. You just wonder if the two guys are just going to hang on and hang on and see which one wins. I hope there's a nice ending to this thing for both coaches.

It doesn't look like he's ready to retire anytime soon?

No but I don't think Joe is either. Joe has to get his program back to a winning program like he wants it. Joe has just as much energy as my dad.

Was it difficult for you to watch Bobby have the down year like he did last season?

I worried more for Tommy than I did my dad. My dad isn't going to get fired, he's going to retire one way or another. I worry for my brother and his struggles, I never worry about my dad. Honestly near the end of the season I said we are going to find out when my dad is all about. People around the country said 'Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden you guys are over the hill. You've lost it, you aren't winning any more and no more dynasty.' Will he have another year like that? If he does than I would have to be objective as an analyst and say that the thinking now is that he's on his way out. So after the season I began to think this is a critical year for dad and his coaches. This is not a young staff. This is a staff that needs to prove that they all have energy.

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