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Focus back on football for FSU

AP file photo (2005)

With son Tommy no longer coaching at Clemson, it's easier for Bobby Bowden to prepare for the Tigers.

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By PETE IACOBELLI

The Associated Press

Published: November 7, 2009

Updated: 11/07/2009 12:19 am

CLEMSON, S.C. - No more half orange-half maroon sweatshirts, divided loyalties or hurt feelings. College football's most famous family no longer has to sweat the Bowden Bowl.

Since father Bobby and son Tommy first faced off in 1999, the yearly Florida State-Clemson matchup turned from a celebration of the family legacy into a game no Bowden looked forward to. These days with son Tommy retired, father Bobby is glad the focus is back on football when the teams play at 7:45 tonight at Death Valley.

"It does take that part away," FSU's longtime coach said.

It's the first trip to Clemson since 1997 in which Bobby hasn't had to out-scheme his second-oldest son. And it was not always the happiest of family reunions, Bobby acknowledged. No matter the stakes for Florida State, "still, your boy's on the other side coaching," Bobby Bowden said.

Few saw potential problems in 1999 when Bobby led No. 1 Florida State, the eventual national champion, to play his son's new Clemson program in the first father-son battle in Division I. TV cameras tracked the Bowdens from the high school game of Tommy's son the night before to a prayer meeting on Saturday morning.

Tommy's mother, Ann, donned a half Florida State-half Clemson sweatshirt in the stands. By the time the Seminoles capped the Bowden-palooza with Bobby's 300th career victory, most all Bowdens, even Tommy, left with smiles on their faces.

The good feelings didn't last.

Florida State won the next three in blowout fashion, increasing the heat on Tommy's tenure. When Clemson turned things around in 2003 with a 26-10 win over the third-ranked Seminoles, it was the FSU coach who dealt with critics, a few who concocted the crazy notion Bobby threw the game on purpose to save his son's job.

The back-and-forth got so bad, Ann didn't attend the last Bowden Bowl at Clemson in 2007. "I just didn't have the heart to sit out there and see one of them lose," she said last fall.

Despite winning four of his last five against Florida State, Tommy couldn't keep his job, leaving at midseason in 2008 with the Tigers all but out of the Atlantic Coast Conference race. The school says the change was Tommy's suggestion. Tommy said he was forced out.

So with emotions raw last November, Clemson interim coach Dabo Swinney thought he might get a cold shoulder from his old boss's dad in Tallahassee. Instead, Bobby was supportive and gracious.

"You can imagine the awkwardness with it being his son that's no longer here," Swinney said. But "he has just been tremendous, just very encouraging and complimentary."

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