Bobby Bowden addresses departure
NEW YORK -- Bobby Bowden says he had always had a good relationship with former Florida State president T.K. Wetherell, but after Bowden's ouster last season, the friendship likely is beyond repair.
Bowden, who embarked on a nationwide tour Tuesday to promote his new book, "Called to Coach: Reflections on Life, Faith and Football," told The Associated Press he also doesn't want Florida State, where he was the head coach for 34 years, to "spread the story that I voluntarily, happily resigned."
The men's connection began 47 years ago, when Wetherell was a wide receiver under Bowden, his position coach at Florida State. But after Wetherell, who became the university's president in 2003 and stepped down in 2009, forced Bowden out last season, the friendship appears substantially damaged.
Bowden told the AP Tuesday: "I doubt I'll have a relationship with T.K. anymore."
Wetherell on Monday told the Palm Beach Post that he still considered Bowden a friend, but acknowledged the relationship is "strained."
"That's the business he is in and that's the business I was in," Wetherell said, according to the Post. "I would love to have the opportunity at some point to reconnect, play golf, have a barbecue. I think it's going to take some time to get there from his perspective."
Bowden announced his retirement -- in what was more of a forced resignation -- Dec. 1 last year, an unceremonious end to his tenure with the Seminoles, which included 33 straight winning seasons and a 14-year run of top five seasons that ended in 2000.
Jimbo Fisher, the designated coach-in-waiting, took over after the Gator Bowl, Bowden's final game.
Wetherell and athletic director Randy Spetman had asked Bowden, 80, to return to FSU as an "ambassador" for the football program, but Bowden declined.
Bowden said in December he had told school officials he wanted to coach in 2010, but "that was out."
