Q&A: Bobby Bowden On Spring Practice

Bobby Bowden spoke to the media today as a wrap up to Spring Practice:

Well we finished spring training last Saturday and had a good spring. Of course a lot of that is built around staying healthy. I think nothing hurts us worse than trying to get out there and have spring training than to lose a couple of kids for the year or they miss all of the spring training and cannot get better. So in that regards, I thought we did have a good spring training. We should be an improved football team next year. This is the first time in 31 years where I have practically replaced our staff which I hated to do but I did. We think we have a real good staff now. The kids seemed to respond to them pretty good and bought into them pretty good. We are all excited now. Now if we can just win some darn games."

Q: With all the changes that you made on the offensive side of the ball from a staffing standpoint what are the biggest changes that Jimbo Fisher and Rick Trickett have made in regards to turning that unit around?

Bobby Bowden: I think they have both come in and answered a challenge real well. Trickett gives us an offensive line coach about as good as anybody in the country. I think Jimbo gives you the same thing as a quarterbacks coach and an offensive coordinator. So now what has changed in regards to football, not much, all plays are about the same but the coaches do have a different style. I like what I saw. I let Jimbo have it all the way and I like what he did. He spread the ball all over the field instead of just maybe one area. I think we have improved our running game. It looks like it this spring. I hope we are an improved football team.

Q: Everything I have heard on Rick Trickett is that he is like a Marine drill sergeant, is that what you thought your offensive line needed in terms of toughening those guys up?

Bobby Bowden: Well I think not only that but our whole team needed it. We have seemed like we have gotten softer. We needed to get that element back and I don't know of anybody that brings it better than he does.

Q: How many text messages have you sent in your career to recruits and what you think of the NCAA's impending ban on that?

Bobby Bowden: Well, you know text messages is something out of my range - age wise -but our coaches have all been involved in it. I don't mind if they cut it out. I am surprised it has gone as far as it has. But it is like everything else, if everybody is doing it you better do it. So if they cut it out, it will be relative, we will all have the same opportunity still. I don't know if it is a good idea. We can't call them, we can't talk to them, and we can't see them but yet you can text them. That is just about the same so whatever they do there is fine with me.

Q: Do you think the NCAA does a decent job of keeping up with technology in terms of monitoring these kinds of things or is it constantly a game where this stuff will always change and there is always going to be something new?

Bobby Bowden: Well you know as old as the history of football there has always been somebody that moves a step ahead. If you cut this out, they will find another way to do it. I am sure if they cut out the text messages they will, us coaches, will come out with some other kind of messenger system. Again, if they do cut it out that is a start.

Q: Tommy Bowden has always said that he hasn't appointed a special teams coach largely because you never had but now you have gone ahead and done it. Why the change in that regards and what is the advantage for a staff to have a special teams coordinator?

Bobby Bowden: Well that is a good question. I will honest with you there is not much difference in it. You cannot have one guy coaching everything. You can have one guy in charge of everything but you still have to use all of your coaches to coach it. I have always and I guess Tommy does the same thing, I assign this coach the job of handling punts, this coach you handle kick-offs, this coach you handle extra points, and we have done it that way. Now why did I change? Because one of my coaches asked if he could take on that responsibility, Jody Allen said he would like to be special teams coach and so that is good so we put him in charge of it but still he has to use Mickey for punt block, Chuck for kick-offs, so-and-so for punts, but at least he will oversee it and probably do more breaking down of film of what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong. It really isn't a whole lot of difference.

Q: Do you think you will see an improvement on special teams though over time due to the move?

Bobby Bowden: It looked about the same. We went through it this spring for the first time and it looked about the same – we kept missing field goals and stuff like that. I do like it under one guy because you can talk to him about any deficiencies that you have and you can expect him to get with the coaches and make those corrections.

Q: What has it been like to have Chuck Amato back this spring after he had beaten you a few times?

Bobby Bowden: He beat us four dangum times. If you can't beat him, hire him. I just feel lucky to get him but kind of unlucky for him because he lost his job at North Carolina State. After working with us for 18 years, working with Mickey Andrews for 18 years, he knows what to expect. You know he is one of the sharpest coaches I have ever been around and so I am glad to get him back on our team.

Q: In mentioning Trickett and Fisher, what is it about guys with ties to West Virginia being as it seems that state has been a real cradle for coaches?

Bobby Bowden: Isn't that amazing. John Lilly, our tight ends coach and head recruiter is also from Beckley, West Virginia. I have seen Jimbo ever since he was a player. He played for my son Terry and I used to watch film on him. He then started coaching for Terry and went to Auburn coaching with Terry and he kept up with us a lot. He patterned a lot of stuff after what we were doing and so I have been able to watch his progress. Then he goes to LSU and is very successful there. I felt like that when we made our changes this year that this is my last shot. I am 77 and I doubt I can go past 87 so I had to hire people who could get the job done. That doesn't mean we are just going to walk in and start winning games but I know this, we will be heading in the right direction. Having Jimbo and Trickett, and Trickett used to coach for Terry too at Auburn so I have kept up with him through the years. In fact, this was the third time where I had an opening where he and I have talked about him coming to Florida State but it has always been where I couldn't afford him. This year thanks to our administration I was able to pay whatever it took to get the best and that is what we think we have done.

Q: Just wondering how much the landscape of college football in the state of Florida has changed with UCF and USF moving into the D-I level and if there is still enough talent in the state for all of the big three to compete for a BCS bid and a National Championship in the same year or does one have to go down for another one to go up?

Bobby Bowden: Well I think there is still enough material to go around. Maybe when it was the big three, Miami, Florida State, and Florida, you would be more fortunate but I think we are probably still able to get the top kid more because if you come to Florida State, Florida, or Miami you have got a chance to play for a National Championship and things like that. So now is there enough kids to go around, well yeah because the state just keeps growing. They figure that the population of the state will double in another 10 or 15 years so there will always be people coming in here and helping us to furnish these athletes for these programs. I am glad to see the University of South Florida and Central Florida and our FAMU's, Bethune's come up in football as well as those schools down in Miami but if you can dominate the state of Florida you are going to win. If anybody would be lucky enough to get the top 15 out of the state they are going to win. That is kind of hard to do but that is still the key to it. There are still a lot of kids.