Florida State to Offer Bowden Lifetime Contract

Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden will be offered a lifetime contract at a substantial increase in pay to make him the highest-paid college coach in the state, school officials said Thursday.

“I think it’s obvious Bobby Bowden has made an outstanding contribution to the football program of this university, and the adjustment in the contract will reflect that,” acting athletic director Bob Goin said.

The new agreement, in the works for several months, will pay Bowden more than the $440,000 annual salary that Steve Spurrier will receive as the new Florida football coach.

Bowden’s present package, a five-year-rollover contract with a $111,427 base salary, totaled about $300,000 annually.

Bowden, 60, has a 122-40-3 record in 14 seasons at Florida State and is 195-72-3 during a 24-year coaching career. The Seminoles have won 33 of their last 37 games, including four consecutive bowl victories.

Bowden, a native of Birmingham, Ala., has a 9-3-1 record in bowls, and the Seminoles are unbeaten in their last eight bowl appearances.

“We want to have him here until the day he decides not to coach anymore, and his contract shows that,” Goin said.

And Bowden plans to be around for a while. On his 60th birthday in November, the coach said, “I’d like to go as long as I can, or at least as long as I have good health.”

Bowden has been put on a diet to help reduce an elevated cholesterol level, but he has generally had excellent health and often maintains a pace that his younger assistants find challenging.

After Florida State night games, Bowden tapes his statewide television show as late as 2 a.m. and then arrives at 8:30 a.m. for his weekly breakfast with reporters after home games.

Bowden will leave Saturday for Tokyo, where he will coach the East team in the annual Japan Bowl all-star game.