OPINION

By Dave Curtis

updated 5:34 p.m. ET Dec. 1, 2009

Florida State can't even get a firing right.

As reports surfaced Monday night that the 34-year tenure of Bobby Bowden would end via press release Tuesday morning, Bowden was talking about continuing to ponder his future.

And make no mistake — if Bowden indeed retires, he's using the wrong word. He was canned, shoved aside, and booted. This was a college football coup.

But this is not the first time FSU administrators and the most important man in school history showcased their miscommunication. For years, school leadership fostered an environment that allowed Bowden to feel as though he'd be coach forever. Even when it brought on Jimbo Fisher as coach-in-waiting, it established the end of 2010 as Bowden's unofficial departure date.

And then, a year too soon, Bowden's administration railroaded him out of a job. Thanks for the memories, old man. Leave the sunglasses and the bubble gum at the door.

The folks cheering this move will say that Bowden couldn't keep up with the modern game, and his presence prevented the Seminoles from returning to the top of college football. Here's the flaw in that logic — it's been awhile since Bowden was in control at FSU.

Ask the players in the program — Bowden gives the pep talks and does the press conferences, but doesn't play a major role in the game planning. Ask the assistant coaches, the guys with the most freedom in college football. They recruit players they want and strategize how they want. Watch the games, where Bowden rarely wears a headset and often looks more like an observer than a leader on the sidelines.

Most importantly, ask the future of Florida State football. Recruits have come to FSU for years knowing Bowden might not last until the end of their time in Tallahassee. The last couple of classes have shown up sure of it. Yet the high school stars keep coming, from Jacobbi McDaniel to Greg Reid to E.J. Manuel, who even on a tough day at Florida looked like a quarterback of the future.

Booting Bowden changes almost nothing. This year's problems at FSU started and ended with defense, and the coordinator change on that side of the ball was figured to fix those problems. Everything else would be status quo. Everybody would know that 2010 would be the final season for Bowden.

And with those certainties, the old man deserved one more year. He deserved to receive the laurels and honors he'd get throughout the ACC, as well as a nonconference game at Oklahoma. He deserved it as a return on the investment he made in the place: Instead of bailing for a higher-profile gig, he turned the Seminoles into, for a while, the highest-profile gig.

At some point, FSU officials must have envisioned turning Bowden's send-off into a seasonlong celebration. Instead, they've made it a surprise, at least to the man itself. This sad ending tarnishes a wonderful, 3 1/2-decade story.

No man has meant more to Florida State University than Bowden. On Monday, school administrators showed how much that means to them.

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