Bobby Bowden's legacy isn't measured in wins and losses, neither is Dabo Swinney's

When college football fans debate the greatest coaches of all time, championships and win totals are certain to be at the top of the list. But yesterday, as Dabo Swinney spoke about legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden’s legacy, it became clear that arguably the best coach in ACC history isn’t being chased by Swinney regarding wins and losses.

“As a coach, if I can have 25% of the influence on my players lives like he's had on his, man, that's gonna be a life well lived for me,” Swinney said while speaking of the late Coach Bowden who died this past weekend at 91.

"Had a chance to call to talk to Coach Bowden a couple of weeks ago and (it is) pretty special to be able to verbalize what somebody means to you, especially when you know what's coming,” Swinney said of his final conversation with the iconic coach.

“I actually sat in the endzone by myself because we were having meetings over there. I didn't think about it till I walked away and hung the phone up that I was sitting in the endzone where they ran the Puntrooskie,” Swinney recalled.

The Puntrooskie-- perhaps the greatest trick play in college football history took place in a 21-21 game with under two minutes to play in 1988. Bowden, a notorious trickster, pulled a rabbit out of his hat, stunning the Death Valley crowd.

“In 1988, with the game tied at 21 and just 90 seconds remaining, Bobby Bowden called the infamous "puntrooskie" play and faked a bad snap on a 4th down to draw the Clemson punt-return team off guard. The snap went to upback Dayne Williams and he slipped the ball to Leroy Butler. Butler ran the other direction with the ball and went 78 yards to set up the game-winning field goal as FSU toppled the 3rd ranked Tigers on the road.” – via Prinstantreplays.com

The ACC wasn’t known as a football powerhouse after forming in 1953, but when Bowden’s Seminoles arrived in 1992, the Atlantic Coast Conference landed one of the greatest programs in the modern era. 

Florida State was barely a blip on the radar as football schools go when Bowden took over in 1976. However, Bowden didn’t take long to turn Florida State into an all-time powerhouse, finishing ranked inside the Top 5 for 14 consecutive seasons while hoisting two national titles.

“He was a great, great football coach,” Swinney noted. “Set the standard for a lot of people for a long time, and you see the love of his players--  and his staff. What he did at Florida State, just building that program, it's just incredible-- from nothing, literally nothing and made them a destination place.”

During his tenure at FSU, Bowden finished with an astounding 315-98-4 record, and his run in the ACC of 29 consecutive wins and nine consecutive titles (1992-2000) is still unmatched. 

Part of Bowden’s success came from being a great motivator, and Swinney noted that even in his 90s, the former coach still had what it takes.

“Forever grateful for the opportunity to spend time with him. He came and did our chapel in 2019. We spent about an hour in my office together and his message at 90 years old standing up in front of our team-- he threw the cane away-- and it was like he was back leading the Seminoles in the 80s,' Swinney recalled. ‘The energy that he had in that moment speaking to our team, it was a very powerful moment.’

But that wasn’t the first time Swinney got to sit down with Bowden, as a recruiting visit alongside then Clemson coach Tommy Bowden presented a unique opportunity in Tallahassee.

© Bart Boatwright-USA TODAY Sports

Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden shares a laugh with his father and Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden before the start of the game Saturday, November 8, 2003 at Clemson's Memorial Stadium.

“I'll never forget in '05 Tommy, and I were recruiting, and he goes running in the office and says, 'Yeah, I'm coming to see Daddy.' We’ve got Clemson paws on. It was a surreal moment. We just bust right in and walk into Coach Bowden's office,” Swinney said.

“I'm like, 'this is happening.' We're sitting there and, 'yeah, you know, Dabo,' and he's like 'yeah, boy sit down.' He was watching West Virginia tape, sitting there with his feet kicked up, and the next thing I know, Tommy gets up and leaves. He just walks out. He goes, 'I'm gonna go say hi to all the guys.' He just leaves me. It's just me and Bobby Bowden. We just had this really cool conversation.”

Three years later, Tommy was out at Clemson, and Swinney was tabbed as the new head coach. It didn’t take long before Swinney got a call from Coach Bowden to congratulate him on the job.

“One of the first calls I got that night was from Bobby Bowden. He was just saying, 'Hey, I just want you to know, all the Bowden's are behind you.' That's the type of man he was. That's the type of class he was. Then to have to play him three weeks later-- he wasn't as nice to me that day-- but just a class guy.”

As far as records go in the ACC, Swinney is making a run towards the unprecedented conference numbers that Bowden put up. Still, those numbers aren’t the focus for arguably the two greatest coaches in league history.

* Chart includes ACC years only

“As a coach, at the end of the day, it's not going to be the X's and O's we knew,” Swinney said. “It's always gonna be about the hearts and souls we grew. Nobody did that better than Bobby Bowden. I think his purpose in life was very clear, and that was 'to know him, and make him known.' That was it. And he won a few games along the way, but he never forgot his purpose. He never forgot what his purpose was.”

So now college football fans celebrate a life well-lived. A life in which as influenced each of us in different ways as we rooted for or against one of the greats.

“What a great man, what a great example. I think I'm the luckiest coach in the country, to be quite honest with you, because I got to learn from Coach Stallings-- I spent seven years with him. I never met Bear Bryant. I never met Tom Landry. But I was influenced by both of them through Coach [Gene] Stallings because those were the only two bosses he had in his whole career,” Swinney noted. 

“Then working six years for Tommy-- influenced by Bobby Bowden-- so for me to have the influence of all those coaches through mentors. I mean, I'm the luckiest coach in the world."

“He has had a huge impact on me. I loved him before I knew him. Sometimes you really love people-- you think you do-- and then you get to know him, and you go, 'oh gah, he's a jerk.' But when I got to know him, man, he's even better than you can perceive. That's special. Such an example to all coaches, everywhere.”

While Swinney may eventually match or exceed Bowden’s success on the gridiron, which might be-- as Coach Bowden might say, ‘Darn near improbable,’ – having a greater sense of humor than the legendary coach is flat out impossible.

“Even at the very end, he had an unbelievable sense of humor. The last thing I told him before I hung up the phone-- it was really hard to hang up the phone-- but the last thing I told him was, I said, 'Alright, Coach. If you get to heaven before me, just maybe, every now and then, just help me get one in balls through the uprights.' He goes, ‘Boy, you don't want my help, I had a tendency to be wide.' I just died laughing,” Swinney said.

“That's classic Bobby Bowden.”