One of the proudest moments of my journalism career came in Bobby Bowden’s final news conference as the iconic coach at Florida State University.
It was after he had awkwardly been forced into retirement by former president T.K. Wetherell but was allowed to coach in a career-ending 33-21 victory over West Virginia in the 2010 Gator Bowl.
In the news conference after that Gator Bowl, Bobby was thanking the media for all of their coverage of him and his program over the years — even columnists like me who sometimes criticized him when he lost a big game or when one of his players got arrested or when he hung on too long as FSU’s head coach.