One day in his office, somewhere in his closing years as Florida State’s football coach, Bobby Bowden leaned back in the chair and pondered the concept of retirement with a thought only he could phrase.
He seemed to change by Wednesday in announcing he has a terminal illness. The great ones always adapt, don’t they? Bowden adapted from entering with a dream at Florida State to becoming a powerhouse, adapted from a young coach in the 1970s to a legend by the new millennium.
Now he’s adapted from worrying about retiring – he never wanted to retire, because he said Alabama’s Bear Bryant died quickly after retiring – to sounding at peace with his final event.