Bobby Bowden’s thoughts on USF

Posted Sep 20, 2009 by Brett McMurphy

Updated Sep 21, 2009 at 12:07 AM

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden had some candid remarks Sunday about playing the University of South Florida for the first time Saturday.

Bowden said whether it’s USF or another school, he expects the Big Three of FSU, Florida and Miami to become a Big Four or even a Big Five.

He also said playing USF “hurts our recruiting.”

He said if USF gets Leavitt “the facilities he needs, he will be able to have as strong a program there as you can find in the United States of America because of that (Tampa Bay) area.”

Finally, Bowden said FSU didn’t recruit USF QB B.J. Daniels out of Tallahassee Lincoln High School, but remembered he “was a winner. A leopard don’t change his spots.”

Here’s the entire Q/A with Bowden. Special thanks to FanHouse college writer Jim Henry.

Q: Do you ever foresee the Big Three will by joined by USF or one of the other Florida schools? Is there room in the state for a Big Four or Big Five?
A: It’s going to happen. There’s no doubt it’s going to happen. You take the last three years, hasn’t South Florida been ranked higher than us and Miami every year?

Q: Can that be sustained?
A: It’s hard to sustain anything. Who else sustains anything? Do they have a chance to sustain it? I think they would have as much as chance as anyone else.

Q: Florida is a game for awhile you didn’t want to play. Can u talk about that thinking?
A: Anytime a .. we went through it. It doesn’t seem as if Miami or Florida had to go through it. Florida was the oldest school playing football in the state. Then Miami came along 30 years later. Then we came along, Florida State College of Woman, Florida State University, then we had to start scheduling and nobody would place us. Miami was probably the first one who did. That’s our oldest rival. Eventually Georgia Tech played us. They didn’t want you to get any credibility because they have to compete with you. Here comes Central Florida, the same way. Here comes South Florida, the same way. You hate to be able to get the credibility with us – it hurts our recruiting. But yet it’s something that inevitable to happen and it’s happening now with South Florida. Does that bother me? No. Life goes on.

Q: Thoughts on USF?
A: I can’t think of a team that has made faster progress – has it been 10 years? More than 10 years? Coach (Jim) Leavitt has done a tremendous job. To me you have a wonderful spot for it to happen. If they will give him the facilities he needs, he will be able to have as strong a program there as you can find in the United States of America because of that area. You got Clearwater, you got Tampa, you got St. Pete, you got Orlando, what 50 miles away, you have all those people. That’s the advantage of coaching in the state of Florida. But they have made the quickest rise in my opinion – didn’t they go up to No. 2 last year, or the year before? That’s amazing. Anyway, they’ve just done a wonderful job.

Q: On USF coach Jim Leavitt:
A: Coach Leavitt has been up here and spent time with us before we knew we were going to play each other. He’s come up here and watched the program, come out to practice. I sure enjoyed having him here because he has done just a wonderful job. I respect the job he has done.

Q: On the game:
A: We had an open date and we went from school to school to school to school trying to close it. A lot of the schools we contacted didn’t have the date available, some of the schools we contacted said no we don’t want to play you. But South Florida had a date, they came up with a date and so we were able to put it together. It was about that simple.

Q: USF players FSU recruited?
A: I think we might have went after (WR Jessie) Hester. I don’t think we went after the quarterback (B.J. Daniels). We should be familiar with him (Daniels). He played here in Tallahassee. We should have a pretty good idea of what he does and what he does well. I am sure our coaches will refer back to what he did here. What scares me about it, he’s a winner. The thing I remember about him was he was a winner and that takes precedence over any other thing. I am sure our coaches will be able to refer through film or memory of what he did here in high school. A leopard don’t change his spots.