The Florida State Coup D'etats

by mlmintampa on Oct 6, 2009 1:00 AM EDT in Florida Football

Living in Tallahassee, and seeing the destruction of FSU football up close, has been very exciting (especially since I was at the USF-FSU game). But it's gotten even better as a FSU trustee has assumed control of the football program, like religious extremists or military commanders have done for centuries.

[FSU trustee Jim] Smith confirmed to the Democrat that Florida State president T.K. Wetherell and legal counsel Betty Steffens have been working with Fisher to finalize a contract for him as head coach.

"The president intends to announce we've negotiated a contract with coach Fisher," Smith said, according to the newspaper.

While Jim Leavitt, Urban Meyer and Randy Shannon are in control of three ranked teams playing great ball, FSU is being run by someone named Jim Smith. To say Bowden is a figurehead is to give him too much credit. Bowden is just hanging on and not giving a damn about winning or supporting FSU, which technically, is still an institution of learning and not just a football team. Not only that, FSU president Wetherell is on his way out. Between that and Bowden looking like the old man lost in the frozen foods section, Smith is Alexander Haig screaming, "I'm in control!"

The coup that Smith is trying to pull off will be epic in scope and probably finish with drunk frat boys pulling down Bowden's statue and the ACC having to send in representatives to establish a green zone around FSU's athletic facilities. Putting Fisher into power will not solve FSU's problems because this one trustee will have ultimate power. Also, Fisher sucks too. The problem with FSU is the same problem Notre Dame and Nebraska have had recently. They think since they have a history of success, they are owed success. Florida thought this too and hired Ron Zook. It took hiring outside the family and cleaning up the program for Urban Meyer to be successful. FSU appointing Fisher will just be a new puppet to attach to the strings. After he fails, there will be another coup and we will laugh, imagining FSU as a third-world country run by people who always think they are right, even in the face of another loss to an in-state rival.

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Is it wrong of me to feel sorry for FSU?

I don’t know why, but I can’t help but feel a tinge of empathy for the SOW. I think it’s because I can see what’s going to happen next. They’ll slowly push Bowden out, and the whiny bastard is going to complain every step of the way. That’ll inspire a huge national backlash against FSU for “firing” the “architect of FSU football”, and “a sweet old man as well” (I threw up a little typing that).

It’s not unlike the backlash we saw for getting rid of the cancer that was Zook. The national media said we (the fans) were impatient, we demanded too much, and we didn’t know how good we had it. Well, who was right? We were. Zook might get canned from a low level B10 school, and UF is on top of the CFB world. It’s too bad there’s no recourse we can take against all those “experts” who supposedly knew our program better than we did.

FSU football will never be relevant with Bowden at the helm, or even anywhere near the helm. They need to push him out in order to get better, but the sentimentalists at ESPN/CBS etc will crucify them for it. And for that I feel sorry.

Now I need a shower.

by Giant Catfish on Oct 6, 2009 2:12 PM EDT reply actions

Is it more accurate to say we feel sorry for FSU,

Or that we wish Bowden would hang around for 5-10 more years?

(Fountain of youth, anyone?)

by GoGators15 on Oct 6, 2009 3:05 PM EDT reply actions

I know you're gleeful...

…because you are talking about a man that had a winning record against your beloved Spurrier. But to say that FSU is being run by a guy that looks like David Letterman’s ugly older brother (http://trustees.fsu.edu/) is absurd. I should know, I went to FSU and splatted many brain cells on Tennessee Street every time we beat you.

There’s a perfect storm running FSU. It’s a parrticularly diabolical group of people in charge. And it’s not a cabal consisting of Ann Bowden’s knitting club, Chuck Amato’s consigliere and the Underpants Gnomes as reported by Mike Bianchi. It’s worse. Wetherall, Spetman & Bowden. TK is a boob and, while a gifted president of the Florida Senate, he was known for his ham fisted, bare knuckled approach to running things. Just what you want in a person chosen to run a university. Randy Spetman was chosen to replace Dave Hart (remember, the one who wanted to spank Spurrier and put him to bed, which may have happened later when the two met up in Key West). The only qualification Spetman has is that his arse is big enough for TK to fit his whole arm so he can operate him like a puppet. Then there’s Bowden. He reminds me of my beloved, delusional grandfather who used to wander about the back yard at 3:00 a.m. with a hammer trying to stop the squirrels from getting in the attic. He has good intentions, but he’s off his rocker. Yes, he built the family fortune and we’re all VERY grateful. But he doesn’t need to be in charge of the checkbook anymore.

I think that your point (and it did take me a minute to find one) about excellence being earned, not owed is very true. It has become more so ever since parity was introduced. Yes, you had your Zook Era, and we LOVED him. Then you replaced with Urban Meyer, who is the equivalent of a college football serial killer, very efficient but creepy to watch. He’ll stay in town until his blood lust is satisfied and then go to Notre Dame where he will feast upon those poor protestants and finally to the NFL..

To Giant Catfish – Thank you for your kind words. Now I know how bad this looks on the outside because we’re getting sympathy from a Gate! Oi vey!

Long Live The Seminole Nation!

http://s825.photobucket.com/albums/zz178/unclefestus/

by GonzoNole on Oct 7, 2009 5:41 PM EDT reply actions