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.