A win for UTEP’s football team this weekend against Alabama-Birmingham would set up a possible sweet November for the Miners.
But it also might help fulfill a rumor that’s been making the rounds on message boards and blogs throughout the southern United States. That is, that current Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden will be at the helm of the Blazers next season.
The Chopping Block, the Orlando Sentinel’s place for Seminole news and commentary, had a blog post today that addressess that rumor.
Sentinel writer Andrew Carter asked Bowden about the rumor after Tuesday’s practice. To which Bowden replied, “I have heard that ... I’ve even had people from Birmingham call. I don’t know where it started — there or here or what.”
Bowden went on to say, “Oh, boy. You know, you hear so many different rumors, you get immune to them.”
At no point did he deny the move. Read the entire post here.
You can say what you want about Bowden, whose Seminoles have struggled this season. But his teams are always ready to play. They scrap and fight and play an entire 60 minutes. That tenacity has helped Bowden bring two national titles to Tallahassee and has led to an amazing 27 consecutive bowl appearances.
With UAB (2-5) sliding this season, it’s not impossible to think that Blazer coach Neil Callaway might be on the hot seat, especially if a legend like Bowden is considering a move to Alabama.
And what a wonderful thing that would be for Conference USA. Two coaches who have won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award in UTEP’s Mike Price and Bowden. And one coach, Skip Holtz, who keeps getting closer to those accolades.
This all makes Saturday’s matchup between UTEP and UAB important because it could be the last easy win the Miners will get on the Blazers if Bowden is strolling the sideline in years to come.
Again, it’s all rumors. But stay tuned.
Should Bowden take the Job after being run out of Florida State conference USA would have an impresive coaching lineup including coaches who have come from BCS confrences or taken their teams to BCS Bowls including
Central Florida: George O'Leary
UTEP:Mike Price
UAB: Bobby Bowden
SMU: June Jones
then add in the hot up and comming coaches:
Houston: Kevin Sumlin
East Carolina: Skip Holtz
Southern Miss:Larry Fedora
Tulsa: Todd Graham
With coaches like Tommy West, and Mark Snyder on the hot seat just imagine the big names out there looking for a coaching position that could wind up in Conference (Second Chance) USA. Steve Krapthorne, Dirk Koetter, Dan Hawkins, Gary Barnet are a few names of proven coaches who will likely be on the market.
Posted by: Chris | October 28, 2009 at 02:02 PM
Bobby Bowden coaching UAB would be totally shocking. I could see Tommy Bowden. That would mean that UAB would have a former national champion and legendary coach in football to go along with Mike Davis who took Indiana to the Final Four a few years ago in hoops. Not bad, but I doubt it.
Posted by: Lorenzo | October 28, 2009 at 02:20 PM
Proven coaches and Dirk Koetter in the same sentence? WTF are you smoking?
Posted by: DevilsFan | October 28, 2009 at 03:36 PM
If so, what a sad and desperate move by Bobby. He's really obsessed with that final #.
Posted by: BadgerBowler | October 28, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Ha, BadgerBowler! If Bowden does indeed end up at UAB, then can JoePa be far behind someday at Marshall? He could drive down there and still keep his house! Ha !
Posted by: Orangefever | October 30, 2009 at 08:23 AM
On another subject, what the heck is up with Ohio State taking on NMSU this Saturday? That's not even funny.
Posted by: Chris Lopez | October 30, 2009 at 02:38 PM