Bobby, It's Time To Do The Right Thing

It's time.

It's time for Bobby Bowden, who is Florida State athletics, to do a far, far better thing, which is saying something given all he has given FSU, college football and plain folk everywhere.

It's time to go.

I take no pleasure in saying that. None.

But the other shoe has dropped. The NCAA shoe. And it's steel-toed.

Florida State gets four years' probation, will lose football scholarships and may forfeit wins for major violations in that whopping academic cheating scandal that involved no fewer than 10 FSU sports. We'll get to just how this will affect FSU men's golf in a moment, but ...

Bobby, do the right thing.

Step away.

At the very least, set a date.

Make it sooner rather than later.

The race with Joe Paterno is over. Paterno's late rally has him up 383-382 in all-time wins, but Bobby might have to fork over victories, perhaps as many as 14, and that's all she wrote unless Joe Pa was using steroids from 2002 to 2005.

I always thought Bobby deserved to go out on his own terms.

I still do.

Only he should change his terms.

It's time to do the right thing.

What's left to do? Is this story really going to get better? Anybody who loves Bobby will always love him. Anybody who doesn't is never going to come around anyway. He's 79. He keeps waiting on one last magical season. When? FSU is just another log on Urban Meyer's fire. And to stay now just seems so small.

I don't think Bowden needs to step down because of age and being out of touch - most coaches, regardless of age, are out of touch in bad times. They see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear. This isn't an age thing or FSU thing. But it has come down to doing the right thing.

The fighter in Bobby will stay. His worshippers will tell him to stick to his guns; don't let them make you run, Coach; no sir. The FSU athletic department will fight like crazy to keep these wins from being stricken from Bowden's record, probably harder than it fought for institutional control before this scandal.

If FSU didn't know there were cheats playing - if Bobby didn't know - why take wins away?

Because that's the way it works.

What did Bobby know and when did he know it?

It doesn't matter anymore.

You can't be the name and face of a program one day, then just minding your own business the next. Bowden has lived that forever.

But he would never stand taller, or for more, if he said that even if he didn't know a thing about any of this, ultimately, he is FSU football, and in the name of it, he was stepping down, if not now, then after one final season. Now sounds better.

I take no pleasure. When Bowden asks you about your momma, he means it. When he gives a guest sermon at a church, he means it. When he tells a story, it stays told. That part of his legend is real. That part is a treasure.

Can anyone make him quit? No one can or should except Bobby.

And he should.

Stepping down would speak to a man secure in his legacy, but who realizes that the thing about being bigger than a program is the moral imperative that you be its guardian, a father figure, through and through. Bowden could make the call, and turn it into a dadgum majestic call at that.

He has two national championships and millions of fans. There's a statue of Bobby Bowden and a stained glass window of him at the football stadium where the field is named for him. But in the name of what's right, he should do the right thing.