TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The field at Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium is named after Bobby Bowden and there’s a statue in his likeness that stands tall outside the building, but now the man who built FSU into one of college football’s greatest dynasties is fighting for his future amid his team’s worst start since 1983.

“I’m not ready to surrender,” Bowden said during his weekly booster luncheon Monday afternoon, two days after the Seminoles dropped to 2-3 after losing 28-21 at Boston College.
The loss was FSU’s second in a row, and it placed Bowden’s future in doubt.
Bowden’s wife, Ann, said Monday her husband has been betrayed by the chairman of FSU’s Board of Trustees and other boosters as pressure builds on the longtime coach to retire.
“I am angry,” Ann Bowden said. “I’m angry at some of our boosters that Bobby has worked for and supported, raised money for. And he’s been such a top quality person, such great character and everything for this university. And for them to turn their back on him like that—I don’t care if he is 80 years old.”
Bowden, who will turn 80 in November, is under a one-year contract that pays him approximately $2.3 million. He said after his team’s loss Saturday he would evaluate his future at the end of the season.
But Florida State trustees, including Jim Smith, the chairman of the board, are in favor of announcing an end to the Bowden era now. Smith told the Tallahassee Democrat on Sunday that Jimbo Fisher, FSU’s offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting, should assume head coaching duties at the end of this season.
“My hope is frankly that we’ll go ahead, and if we have to, let the world know that this year will be the end of the Bowden Era,” Smith told the Democrat. “I do appreciate what he’s done for us, what he’s done for the program, what’s he done really for the state of Florida ...
“But I think the record will show that the Seminole Nation has been more than patient. We have been in a decline not for a year or two or three but I think we’re coming up on seven or eight. I think enough is enough.”
Asked about Smith’s remarks, Bowden said, “There’s no comment I can make that’d be appropriate.”
Athletic Director Randy Spetman said the university is already “looking” at finalizing a head coaching contract for Fisher, who will be owed $5 million if he’s not named head coach by January 2011.