Florida State president T.K. Wetherell's public vote of confidence for Seminoles football coach Bobby Bowden on Wednesday delayed the inevitable.
It appears that Bowden's career is all but finished at FSU. It won't be today, despite the calls from the chairman of the school's trustees and two Florida newspapers after the Seminoles dropped to 0-2 in the ACC with Saturday's 28-21 loss at Boston College. But when Wetherell said the situation would be "re-evaluated" at the end of the season, you don't need tea leaves to predict the outcome of that sit-down.
Not that Bowden's worried, however.
"If I was 40 years old, I'd be shaking in my boots, but I'm 79," Bowden said Wednesday. "I've been through it."
Unless Wetherell follows Bowden out the door, Jimbo Fisher will be Florida State's next coach. Fisher has been the designated "coach-in-waiting" since 2007 and is the choice of FSU trustees chairman Jim Smith -- who spoke out Monday -- to step in and finish the 2009 season.
"We've got too many bosses out there," Smith told The Associated Press.
Smith couldn't be more right. The dynamic between Bowden and Fisher is confusing enough. Then you sprinkle in longtime assistant coach Mickey Andrews, who's running his own fiefdom on defense, and executive head coach Chuck Amato, who's Bowden's top confidante, and there's no saving that spoiled personality bouillabaisse.
Given that Wetherell signed off on Fisher's current contract, which calls for the school to pay Fisher $5 million if he is not the head coach by January 2011, the end-game is inevitable. But is the 44-year-old offensive coordinator the right choice?
Fisher is considered a bright mind and capable of directing an offense, but he has never been a head coach. With Florida closing in on a third national title in four years and Miami back in the top 10, Florida State cannot afford to pay for on-the-job training.
The $5 million buyout for Fisher would be a pittance compared to the price of mediocrity. The best thing Florida State could do is start over.
It has been done before. Bowden turned a floundering independent program into an annual national title contender. From 1987 to 2000, FSU finished among the top 5 nationally for an unprecedented 14 consecutive seasons, with national titles in 1993 and '99.
The program has regressed, but it can get back with the right coach. There are two conspicuous connections for FSU to consider -- Texas coach Mack Brown (FSU class of 1974), and Georgia coach Mark Richt, a top FSU assistant from 1990 to 2000.
Maybe Wetherell has done his due back-channel diligence, and Brown and Richt have declined, but that's the caliber of coach that should succeed Bowden, not a career assistant.
The Orlando Sentinel compared Fisher's first 31 games at FSU to the final 31 games under former offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden, Bobby's son and the program's scapegoat who was fired in 2006.
According to Sentinel writer Andrew Carter's research, FSU's rushing numbers under Fisher are up (about 50 yards a game), the passing numbers are down (about 25 yards a game), and the scoring numbers are virtually the same. More important, the won-loss record is identical at 18-13.
Maybe Bobby Bowden is too old to get the job done, but the prescribed alternative doesn't promise much of an upgrade. Wetherell would be wise to consider a "re-evaluation" of his own.
Now or never for Renner
If North Carolina's going to burn the redshirt for freshman quarterback Bryn Renner, now's the time to give the freshman a look.
The Tar Heels (3-2, 0-2 ACC) face lower-level Division I team Georgia Southern on Saturday, then they have a bye week which would give them 12 days to prepare Renner for Florida State on Thursday, Oct. 22.
UNC coach Butch Davis said Wednesday that junior T.J. Yates is the starter. However, he didn't rule out using Renner, one of the top quarterback recruits nationally in his class, if Yates continues to struggle.
"Right now, I couldn't answer that," Davis said. "We don't have plans to [play Renner], at this particular time."
The thought is that Renner, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound freshman from Springfield, Va., is more athletic than Yates and could make more plays with his feet.
The Tar Heels have scored a combined 10 points in their first two ACC games, both losses. While Yates hasn't been the second-coming of Tim Tebow, he also hasn't had much blocking.
It would be a risk, both physical and mental, to play a rookie quarterback behind an offensive line offering such limited protection.
At 3-2, UNC's season isn't over, but the odds for a Coastal Division title are long after an 0-2 start. Even if Renner is another Philip Rivers (excuse the intra-rivalry comparison), the Heels win, at best, five of their final seven games.
At 8-4, that puts UNC back in the mid-level bowl mix in Charlotte, Nashville or Orlando. Is that worth burning a season on the back end of Renner's career?
Good call
I've covered some of the ACC officiating mistakes in this space, so it's only fair to point out one they got right.
At the end of the first half of Virginia's 16-3 win over North Carolina, Virginia had a 20-yard touchdown pass called back for having an ineligible receiver downfield.
Given the commotion on the timing -- the Cavaliers were in hurry-up mode with 50 seconds left in the half -- and the fact that the action of the play was on other side of the field, the penalty easily could have been missed by referee Ron Cherry and his crew.
UVa had split out two receivers wide left, both on the line of scrimmage. The inside receiver is considered "covered" and ineligible. The flag was correctly thrown, and UVa ended up with a field goal instead of seven points.
