OPINION

By Tom Dienhart

updated 10:35 p.m. ET March 11, 2008

Tom Dienhart

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It's raining on Bobby Bowden. Figures.

At least it's a warm rain. And it's only the statue of Bowden outside of Doak Campbell Stadium, a monolithic tribute to Florida State's gridiron granddaddy.

Students scurry by. None stop to gaze. Why should they?

As he embarks on his 33rd spring practice as architect of one of the most fabulous programs in college football history, Bowden cradles his dynasty.

It's dying.

The Seminoles are shells of what they once were, bogged in a morass of what must seem like mediocrity. The colossus that went 109-13-1 in the 1990s — that's 13 losses in an entire decade — while winning eight ACC crowns and two national championships has morphed into a less intimidating 69-34 wannabe this decade.

Fear the spear? Forget it. Wake Forest — Wake Forest! — has beaten the 'Noles each of the past two years.

Talent: Is it an issue?

Florida State is Ali vs. Holmes ... Willie Mays with the Mets ... Joe Namath with the Rams. It's sad. Even sadder: A recent academic scandal is draping the athletic department with a cape of shame as the Seminoles prep for the start of spring practice Monday.

Those inside Florida State's Moore Athletic Center on this damp winter day insist we have it all wrong, that things aren't that bad. But perception matters more than reality. And the perception is this: Florida State is floundering.

And there stands Bobby Bowden. Right or wrong, good or bad, a cold, hard finger of blame jabs him in the chest. Because he is Florida State. This is his child.

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"I believe the reason that FSU has struggled at times in recent years is very simple," says former quarterback Chris Rix. "In my opinion, it has been the result of a combination of being outplayed as well as outcoached."

Dadgummit, it isn't supposed to be like this for iconoclastic legends cast in bronze.

But the end is near for Bowden. And the last sentence defining his glorious career figures to be punctuated with a period — not the exclamation point that used to define the program.

Florida State will rise again. There's too much history and money in the program for it not to. The school has taken steps to right a listing ship, hatching a succession plan late last year that will eventually result in offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher's becoming head coach. If it doesn't happen in three years, Fisher will be owed $2.5 million. If he bolts before then, Fisher will owe the school $2.5 million.

"You have to believe in yourself and what you're doing," says Bowden, who signed a one-year contract extension in the offseason for approximately $2.5 million. "I think I have another run in me."

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