Bobby Bowden Sunday Media Q & A: Part 1-Jeff Bowden Resignation

This is Part 1 of Bobby Bowden's regular Sunday media conference. The first part revolves around questions regarding Jeff Bowden's resignation. In this Q & A, you see a coach that is bitter and who blames the media and the fans for his son's resignation. Never mind the won/loss record the past 5 or 6 years. I wonder if Bobby looked up in the stands Saturday to see how many fans were not at the game.

Q: This has probably been one of your tougher weeks in the coaching business.

A: I don't know if it was tougher or if it was a relief. It might have been a relief. Seeing your son pounded year after year after year – every blame goes on him. It might have been a relief.

Q: Jeff certainly appeared that way.

A: I'm sure it was. It was a tremendous load. The years that I've been coaching, 54 years, it hasn't changed. You go into the season with great expectations and then you get tied up in coaching. You have highs and lows and you don't realize it. You don't realize what's happening. Then the season ends and there is a big relief off your shoulders all of the sudden. The relief of the stress of having to win every Saturday and having thousands of people be able to evaluate you publicly. That's a lot of pressure.

So, I think it's a relief. Jeff should be relieved. It probably affected me that way, too.

Q: With the way this turned out and looking back on it, would you have done it again?

A: Knowing what I know, I would. But knowing what y'all know, I wouldn't. It just got steam-rolling and there it went.

Q: But you had to know it would have to be that way with public perception? That if things went wrong, he would be the easy target.

A: No, I didn't think of that. There are so many cases where coaches have their families working for them. The Stoops brothers all worked together. There are a lot of other coaches who have their sons as coordinators. The thing is, you have to win. When you win, it handles everything. Lose, and somebody has to pay.

Q: Did you really mean it when you said he did it behind your back?

A: He did. I didn't know it was happening. After we played Wake Forest, Jeff came by the house. I didn't get home until real late because I have to go to press conferences and to the television show and the radio show. I finally get home and Jeff was there at the house. It was on his mind that he wanted to resign. No, I don't want you to resign. Let's stay through the season. We've got next week and the next week. Let's see what happens. Don't do it. That's when we talked and he left.

Then Monday at about 10 that morning, he came into my office. I thought he was going to say, 'Okay, everything's fine.' But he said, 'No, I've already talked to Dave Hart. I'm going to resign.'

Q: What time was he at your house?

A: It must have been about 2. It was pretty late. The game started at 8 . . . it was close to 2. He was there. One of my other sons was there. My wife was there.

Q: Did it come out of the blue to you? Or do you think he had been thinking about it?

A: I think he had been thinking about it.

Q: What did your other sons say?

A: I don't know how much they discussed it.

Q: Was Terry there?

A: No, Steve was there.

Q: Jeff said at his press conference that he thought this was best for you.

A: That's the thing about it, that he thinks he's doing this for me. He thinks he's hurting me and naturally y'all do, too. I don't.

Q: Even though you don't agree with it, does that thinking make any sense to you? There has been a lot of dialogue in the public that this has been hurting you?

A: I just don't like the public telling me what to do. It proves the pen is mightier than the sword.

Q: Did you realize it was wearing on him the way it was?

A: It was bound to. I've been through it before. I went through it when I was 40. Tommy's been through it. Terry's been through it. If you get in this business and stay in it long enough, it will get you somewhere along the line. You have to survive it.

Q: It seemed like his wife and kids were having a tough time, too.

A: That's always true. The husband can go to the office and be with the other coaches. The wives have to go to the store and get the groceries. The children have to go to school. My kids, when I was at West Virginia, they heard it.

Q: Would you like to see him get another coaching job eventually?

A: Not only would I like him to, but he will. He's too good of a football coach. Tommy went undefeated his fourth year as a college coach. It took me 40 years to go undefeated. Terry won the first 20 games he ever coached at Auburn. Jeffery is as good a coach as them.

You ask them and he's as good a coach as they are. The circumstances are different. But you've got to go through it and survive it. He'll survive it, no doubt about that.

Q: Why do you think with him here that it didn't work? Why do you think we're having this conversation today?

A: Because y'all ignited it. Y'all listened to [the Internet] and all that junk. You kept writing about it and it fans it and it continues to grow and grow and grow and it becomes a cancer. That's why.

How can you go out and coach a ballgame with nine coaches and blame one guy every time you lose? It's your fault. It's your fault. How can you do that? We don't do that as coaches. We don't place blame. We win. We lose. We tie. It's not, 'You lost the game for us.' A team can't operate like that. A team can't operate where it's, Okay, y'all lost the game today. If the offense played better, we would have won.

If the defense had played better, we would have won. If the kicking team had played better, we would have won. No, we're going to blame the offense. That's the way it is. That's the way it is all over the country. You can drive up the state of Alabama today and read the same comments in the press. Offensive coordinator. Go to Mississippi and hear the same thing. Go to the Jaguars over there and read the Jacksonville paper. Same thing. Read the Miami paper. Read the Dolphins. Same thing. I realize that.

Q: Xavier Lee had Jeff's initials on his face. A lot of players talked after the game about it being an emotional week for them and that they let Jeff down. Did you sense that?

A: I think they liked Jeff, just like I do. A lot of people don't think about it, but when you have a staff the main thing is chemistry.

Everybody gets along good together. Nobody hates anybody. They all work good together. That's where you worry about breaking it up and bringing another piece of the puzzle in there. Will the chemistry be as good? Our staff has had great chemistry. So it wouldn't surprise me if the boys were concerned a little bit about it. It's nobody's fault. It's nobody's fault. It's just the way it is.