CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Bobby Bowden spent 57 years standing on the sidelines coaching football. Retirement is a different game.

The 80-year-old Bowden, who left Florida State after the Seminoles beat his former West Virginia program in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1, has spent the last two months flying around the country and beyond “making talks,” as he phrased it Thursday morning in Charleston.

“Last Sunday I was in Brazil, and the Sunday before that I was in Hawaii, and that’s the way it’s been,” said Bowden, who spoke at the Louderback Leadership Prayer Breakfast at Christ Church United Methodist. “Travel, speak, everywhere. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and now West Virginia.”

In Bowden’s mind, there’s no reason to spend his life after coaching on the sidelines, too. Thursday’s speech was the first of two he scheduled in the state on the same day. He left Charleston for Morgantown, where he spoke at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes function in the evening. He was to meet with approximately 30 of his former Mountaineer players today.

Read more

Post to Twitter