TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - November was a long month for Florida State’s Bobby Bowden.

His once-perennially ranked Seminoles (7-4) were winless, skidding out of the polls for the first time in four years after being manhandled by Clemson and Florida and a close home loss to North Carolina State.

And now fan Web sites, television and radio talk shows and some Florida newspapers are calling for the 76-year-old coach to fire his offensive coordinator — who happens to be his youngest son. The younger Bowden has been responsible for the Seminoles’ offense the past five seasons and it has never been as good as those over the previous 15. Not even close.

Bobby Bowden, the winningest coach in major college football, has called his son’s critics “cowards,” adding fans “better be glad I’d like to keep this job.” Bowden, stuck on 358 wins, has two years remaining on his $2 million annual contract.

The state has an anti-nepotism rule, prohibiting bosses from supervising their relatives in government jobs. It’s designed to keep family members from showing favoritism, especially when it comes to jobs like the $124,655 position enjoyed by Jeff Bowden.

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But the school circumvents the policy, which is frequently ignored, by saying young Bowden reports to defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews and not his father.

Under Jeff Bowden, Florida State (7-4, 5-3 ACC) ranks 42nd in total offense and 39th in scoring offense nationally going into Saturday’s league title game against fifth-ranked Virginia Tech (10-1, 7-1).

Veteran Seminole radio color analyst Peter Tom Willis, dismayed at some of the play calling this season, said the Seminoles had “a high school offense” during one broadcast. A quarterback for Bobby Bowden in the late 1980s, Willis has long been a fan favorite for his candid observations.

Florida State President T.K. Wetherell, who inherited the situation, is a former Seminole player. He is reluctant to intercede because of his long-standing fondness for Bobby Bowden, who was his position coach 40 years ago.

“When we were 5-0 nobody was talking about it,” Wetherell said about the team’s fast start this season. “It’s really dependent more, in my mind, on performance. I’m sure that’s what coach Bowden is looking at.”

Bowden is not the only coach promoting family members.

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Joe Paterno’s son, Jay, is quarterbacks coach at Penn State and Steve Spurrier has his son, Steve Jr., on the staff at South Carolina, where former coach Lou Holtz actually demoted his son Skip from the offensive coordinator’s role.

However, not all states have nepotism policies.

Florida does, but it’s not impenetrable.

Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin and Florida A&M basketball coach Mike Gillespie have sons working for them while Florida A&M women’s basketball coach Debra Clark has husband John as her assistant.

But being offensive coordinator at Florida State is far more high profile.

Fed up with the offense’s performance, Wetherell last year held up pay raises for its coaches.

Bowden also replaced veteran offensive line coach Jimmy Heggins and quarterback Chris Rix, a four-year starter blamed for many of the problems, graduated.

The problems, however, are back, leaving former players concerned.

“I’m not going to forget the three losses to teams that are not ranked,” said Tampa Bay Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, a former Seminole All-American who now sits on the school’s board of trustees.

“I tell people all the time, Florida State has been humbled,” Brooks said. “But now that we’ve been humbled, what are we going to do about it?”