11/17/2023 football Edit

Column: Has FSU's recent success helped to heal Jimbo-centric wounds?

Jerry Kutz • TheOsceola

Publisher

When Florida State celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1993 National Championship in October, more than 60 former players – and all the assistant coaches -- returned to hug each other and reminisce on the first-ever national championship. It was a joyous occasion, as it should have been, except for the conspicuous absence of the patriarch, the mentor, the guiding hand, in whose honor the field is named.

This Saturday, on Bobby Bowden Field, Doak Campbell Stadium will open its arms to welcome back nearly 70 former players from the 2013 National Championship team, which won the program’s third national championship 10 years ago.

While the 1993 coaching staff, which are retired from coaching 30 years later, was able to return, the 2013 coaching staff is still coaching 10 years later and unable to attend. But how would the Florida State home crowd respond if head coach Jimbo Fisher, who is no longer the head coach at Texas A&M, should choose to join his team in Doak?

College athletics, when done right, should be student-athlete centric and team reunions should be moments to celebrate. You don’t have to look far to find examples of reunions gone bad when coaches who left the program with hard feeling were greeted with the Bronx cheer upon their return (see Lane Kiffin, Tennessee).

That reaction is not what Seminole fans want for the players of the 2013 team or for the university. You want this weekend to be all celebration when the players walk out for their halftime presentation, and when they make the pre-game walk with the current Seminole team from the Heritage Fountain to the Sod Cemetery, where their 2013 National Championship win over Auburn is memorialized.

But, in a perfect world, those players would want their head coach to be there to celebrate and to reminisce with them, and to hug eachother's necks. Say what you want to about Jimbo but the returning heroes would love to share the moment with their coach who they have strong feelings for.

"He would get the biggest hug from us, 100 percent," former receiver Kenny Saw said. "That national championship would not be up there without him."

Shaw understands the fans' feelings but would also hope for their best.

"They cheer us on so I would hope they would cheer him on, too," Shaw said. "Every man deserves his flowers."

Former center Bryan Stork said the players didn't expect to see Jimbo this weekend when he was coaching and doesn't expect to see him this soon after his termination. "I think he probably needs some time to adjust as it is the first time he's ever been fired," Stork said.

"The good thing about our coaches, they just challenged us every week," Stork told The Osceola. "Jimbo, (Rick) Trickett, every position coach was always challenging the guys to get better. Just calling them out. That's what that whole year was about, was just the coaches getting the best out of you."

"Jimbo was a perfectionist," Shaw said. "And he made our coaching staff perfectionists. It was a lot of accountability taken on both ends as players and coaches. when it came down to executing in games. We had been over practicing and perfected it so much that games were easy."

How do you feel?

Is it too soon for you for Fisher to make an appearance?

Ten years of Catholic school catechism, and frightening, ruler-wielding nuns, beat the essence of the New Testament into me – to turn the other cheek – which was in direct conflict with the vindictive, never-forgive-or-forget nature of my Italian ancestry.

I’ll confess. When flipping through the channels with my remote, I’m more prone to stop on the Hallmark Channel than any other. I’m a sap, a sucker for a happy ending.

I want to believe the cliché “time heals all wounds” but there’s ample evidence in our wold today to refute that.

The evolving me, the one who learned to leave my vindictive baggage behind, would like to think enough time has passed – enough dark water has travelled under the bridge – to think we’re big enough for his presence not to be the Baby Ruth candy bar in Saturday’s punch bowl.

My read on the fans base is they are still Old Testament on this issue and not yet ready for to forgive or forget, maybe they will be by the 20th or 30th Reunion.

Is it time to move on?

While it may be too soon for the majority to turn the cheek, I do think the FSU fanbase collectively has begun to move on. These back-to-back 10-win seasons, and the prospect of making the College Football Playoff, have provided the proof-of-concept for what Mike Norvell is building the fan base needed to move on. More importantly, for many, is they’ve found a coach who embraces this university, the culture we value, his chops as a recruiter and a winner.

Recently, I saw a story written by ESPN about Fisher's tenure at A&M that read an awful lot like an article that could have been written about his tenure at Florida State. The well-written piece is accompanied by a video clip from the press conference announcing his termination that summed up what I believe to be the essence of his tenures at each university. Within athletics director Ross Bjork’s announcement, there were two sentences that resonated with me above all others. See if any of the following remarks resonate with you and I’ll share my thoughts on the back side of his quote.

“Something is not clicking. Something is not working. And therefore, something had to give for Aggie football to reach our full potential,” Bjork began. “Based on my experience, the best programs have competence. The program has an established identity. The program maximizes the talent. The leadership is fully integrated in the university, the athletics program, and its culture. I did not feel like we were meeting those standards of excellence and leadership.”

While each of those short sentences are essential to building a sustainable program, the one sentence that resonates most with me when thinking about FSU’s relationship with head coaches over the years is this one: “The leadership is fully integrated in the university, the athletics program, and its culture.”

Damn! I sat straight up when I heard him say that.

“Fully integrated in the university, the athletics program, and its culture,” is a mouthful because as Bjork said, is essential to building a sustainable program.

Fit isn't everything, but it is the most important thing

Yes, competence is a given. Maximizing talent is important but the most overlooked and underrated skill set in the collegiate space is a coach’s ability to harness the unconquered power and culture of the university, the athletic department and its fan base. Bowden and Norvell are similar in that each intrinsically understand they need others to achieve excellence and eagerly work to cultivate those relationships.

Bork’s sentence is the definition of a term — fit — which we throw around very casually but is more powerful than anything money can buy.