Bobby Bowden takes top spot in wins
John Swofford gave his state of the ACC address on Sunday morning at the ACC Kickoff in Greensboro, NC. “Currently, the winningest active FBS coach—Frank Beamer—and basketball coach—Mike Krzyzewski—reside in the ACC.”
Monday morning, NCAA president Mark Emmert announced penalties against Penn State, and former coach Joe Paterno, that strengthen Swofford's statement.
The NCAA vacated all of Penn State's wins from 1998 to 2011. The program will lose 112 victories. Joe Paterno's record got hit hard, too. He will lose 111 victories as a coach, going from 409 career wins to 298, and dropping from first to 12th on the all-time wins list. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden is now the all-time leader in FBS coaching wins. Coupled with Duke's Krzyzewski, who passed Bob Knight on the basketball wins list last November, the winningest all-time football and basketball coaches spent much of their careers competing in the ACC.
Bowden coached the Seminoles from 1976 to 2009, following six seasons at the helm of West Virginia. He won 389 games at the FBS level, 377 of which are recognized by the NCAA. He leads the ACC in all-time victories, conference wins, winning percentage, and won twice as many ACC titles as any other coach.
“He meant a great deal to college football in general, certainly to Florida State, and certainly to the ACC,” Boston College coach Frank Spaziani said.
“Coach Bowden and I had a personal connection,” said Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, who has also shared the athletics stage at Duke with Krzyzewski. “He was a teammate of my uncle in college, and we're from the same area. So I'm certainly thrilled for Coach Bowden.”
“Coach Bowden stood alone, regardless,” Cutcliffe continued. “Just like coach (Bear) Bryant, who's near and dear to me. It's a standard of greatness, not even of excellence. When you last that long in this profession, when you win that consistently for that period of time, it really doesn't matter whether you're tenth in wins or first in wins.”
“Careers that are great are defined by men like Bobby Bowden,” Cutcliffe said.
Perhaps the best tribute to Bowden came from the opponents tasked with stopping him.
“We certainly enjoyed competing against him, and we're certainly glad he's retired,” Spaziani said.
