I got word today that you're retiring from Florida State after 34 seasons as head football coach. This makes me sad. Very sad. As a Florida State fan for as long as I can remember, I came to both admire and respect you. Even when your program came under investigation for improprieties, you held your head high and never tried to cover up anything. Your honesty and class as a person made you one of the more memorable personalities in college football history, and there is no doubt that you will never be forgotten -- by anyone.
Yes, in recent years, the results on the field have slumped and the impossible standard that you set in the 1990s -- 14 straight years with 10 wins and Top-5 finish in the polls -- came back to haunt you. No program in history has been able to achieve such things, yet for some reason, people (both FSU fans and non-FSU fans) expected you to maintain that standard forever. When you didn't, and let's face it, no one could, people began calling for your head. They said that you were too old, that the game had passed you by, and that some "new blood" was needed in Tallahassee. Personally, I refrained from any such talk because I knew, no matter what, you deserved to be the head football coach at Florida State University.
The accomplishments and accolades speak for themselves, but it was more than numbers with you. Your charm, class, and ability to maintain your belief in faith and family above all else, including football, made you a better person than football coach...which is saying something since you have the second-most wins in college football history. Your two national championships are fantastic, but the way you were always there to encourage players, tutor young coaches, and take the heat away from your assistants was even better. These are the things I will miss most; not the winning and titles (which will be missed as well, obviously), but the fact that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that a man of class and integrity was leading my favorite program.
I hope you enjoy your retirement and all of the endeavors that follow your coaching career. I'm sure you will still make public appearances and the like, but I know you will take advantage of all the family time you will get now that the demands on your time are significantly decreased. I hope I'll still see you some, whether on TV for interviews or analysis, but in case I don't, let me just say thank you. Thank you for your accomplishments as a coach; thank you for your example as a person; and thank you for showing people how to do things the right way and stay loyal to who you are.
We will miss you, Bobby; far more than you'll miss any of us.
~~ Lank
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