"Bowden Calls Winston an Embarrassment": Agree or Disagree?

By Scott Drew on May 18, 2015

The current buzz around Florida State University’s campus is Bobby Bowden’s latest comments about Jameis Winston. In a radio interview with ESPN’S Paul Finebaum, Bowden agrees with and reiterates the point that Jameis Winston was “an embarrassment in many ways to the University.”

This is definitely not the first time that Coach Bowden has been quoted saying something negative about the Heisman Trophy winner.

Due to the multiple blunders Jameis Winston made in his personal life while playing for FSU’s football program, the different media outlets have had plenty to talk about. Whenever one of these issues came to light in the media, Coach Bobby Bowden always seemed to have something to say.

Now that Jameis Winston has been chosen as the number one pick of the 2015 NFL draft, a lot of these old issues are resurfacing. The different news outlets are taking advantage of the opportunity to bring up old, but popular, stories, like the crab legs incident. Jameis Winston doesn’t even seem to be making an effort to avoid this. In fact, he instigated a lot of the rehashing of these old stories by celebrating his draft pick with an instagram picture of him eating crab legs the night of the draft.

While stating that he believed that Jameis Winston is “an embarrassment,” he also said that, “it’s a consensus among Florida State fans and boosters.” In an attempt to see if this is true, I proposed the following question to multiple Florida State University students and alumni:

“Do you agree with the statement made by Coach Bobby Bowden claiming that Jameis Winston is an embarrassment to the University?”

Jenny Decker, a junior at FSU, said that, “every time Jameis Winston appears in the news, I cringe. I am afraid that he has gone and done something stupid that will make Florida State look bad. So do I agree that Jameis Winston is an embarrassment to the school? Simply put, yes. I am just glad that he can no longer do his childish acts on our campus.”

I asked a recent FSU graduate, Alan Babchin, what his opinion on the subject was. He responded with, “ an embarrassment? I think that is too harsh of a word. Sure he messed up a lot, but he is human and we all make mistakes. It is just unfortunate that his mistakes had to be laid out in the limelight.”

When I asked Nicky Minski, a senior at FSU, this question, she brought up a very good point. She quickly said that, “Bowden has never even met Jameis Winston! How can he form an opinion on someone that he has never met?”

Bobby Bowden, left, and Jimbo Fisher, right, celebrate Florida State University’s victory over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl following the 2009 season, Bowden’s final game as head coach of the Seminoles. 

It is important to note that Bobby Bowden’s coaching career at Florida State University ended in 2010, thus allowing Jimbo Fisher to take the lead. There has never been any bad blood between these two head coaches, and when Finebaum asked Bowden what he thought about the way Fisher handled Jameis and his issues, he had this to say;

“Well, I think he handled him like most coaches would — there’d be some that would be more strict. He could have been suspended a little bit more for his actions, you know. But Jim is faced with what all head coaches are faced with and that’s having a great player, and trying to save him through problems.”

Finebaum and his show did a good job of making Bobby Bowden look bad when they tweeted only part of the interview, which just so happened to be the part calling Jameis Winston an embarrassment.

Paul Finebaum’s tweet following his interview with Bobby Bowden

The remainder of the statement about Winston made by Bowden was somewhat positive. He said, “the good news is he’s young enough to get over that. But he’s got to do that. He just can’t make those junior high school decisions that he made when he was in college.” This statement reminds me of one he made to ESPN in October of last year. He said that, “he felt Winston was immature and does things kids in grammar school would do.” It seems as if Bobby Bowden cannot stop looking at Jameis Winston as a child.

Even in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, Bowden brings up this idea of Jameis as a schoolboy. He said, “I think he will do it, and I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t. He just made mistakes that a grammar school guy would make.”

It is statements like these that drive negativity into college sports, whether the negativity is intended or not. This results in fans being put into uproar one way or the other.

Unfortunately, media coverage has become an integral part of the professional sport industry and that coverage tends to get more viewers when the subject is negative.

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