Bobby Bowden Good Quotations

The Bible is big in my teaching. It's a wonder the ACLU didn't get after me pretty good. I really kept thinking they would. I took my boys to church. I took my football team to church. I only did it two times a year. Before I signed a kid, I'd write the parents and I'd tell that parent we were gong to take your son to church twice.

I don't expect Joe to hang it up (retire), to be honest with you, ... He's still young at heart. He still seems to be in good health. I think this really rejuvenates him.

I didn't like it a bit. So, we've had a pretty good little talk this week about that. It's one of those things that better not happen again.

(Lee) has trouble when he tries to guide the ball. He's got a good enough arm that he just needs to drop back and fire it.

I always felt like a dominating defense has to start out front, and they are a good front. Typical Joe.

I always felt like this is good for him. When I was a coach at West Virginia they were trying to run me off. They wanted to fire me. I went through all that 'bye-bye Bobby' stuff, all that moving-van-in-the-front-yard stuff.

He was having losing seasons. It's amazing. But it goes back to that old quarterback position . . . and getting good quarterbacking.

He has come out and run some and thrown the ball in drills; nothing live. He's getting some good work and that's what he needs to try to get himself back in there.

He's had good preparation, ... He's been exposed to some very good problems and he's come out on top. We've come out on top.

He's got a year under his belt and 12 games under his belt and that makes a big difference. Experience is so valuable when it comes to making good decisions.

Like I told my kids, what a great game to build (upon) going into next year. I thought our kids played about as hard and about as good as we could. If we could have eliminated penalties I think we might have won the game.

Some guys practice pretty good and then they get in a game and they're a different person. These guys got talent. It's who can eliminate the error.

Starting against such good defensive teams is really a good start, but also you're going to learn more,

Jeffrey has handled it good and he's handled it better than I would've thought. Hey, there's nothing you can do about it. You can't win.

Our penalties continually punished us and continually took away good play after good play that could have won the game. We're not good enough to do that. Some people might could. We might have done (so) in the past. We've got to eliminate the penalties.

I thought our kids played about as hard and about as good as we could. If we could have eliminated penalties I think we might have won the game. I don't know how many holding penalties we got in the red zone. It seemed like every time we got to the red zone there was a holding penalty, even in the playoff in the end. We were our own worst enemy in that regard.

That's the one good thing about this game: There's always one more that's even bigger, ... That's what this is coming up.

Well, I just think he's had an amazing year for a freshman, and if we could have protected him all year, there was no telling what he could've done. But when he's had protection, he's thrown about as good as you can ask.

That's the way I see it, he's ahead right now. Xavier has got unlimited potential. Xavier must maintain patience, and I think he will. He and I talked about that. Don't throw every egg into your freshman year. Gee whiz, you got four dang years. I think from here to there he's going to be way up there. I think both of 'em will. But it's a good problem. It's a problem, but it's a good problem.

Tommy can play anybody good. It should be a good football game.

There are changes. Just like all times, there are good boys and some who are mischievous.

We've got to figure out what our problems are. If we can get our quarterbacks ironed out, we've got a chance to be a pretty good team.

And we're not good enough to do that, ... You've just got to continue to remind players, it's not worth it, it's not worth it, it's not worth it. You do try to get them to be aggressive, but the aggression has got to shut off at a certain time.

They all did good jobs. Now, I felt like Jeffrey had the very same potential that they had. I still do. And Tommy and Terry felt the same way. So I really had no doubts that he would do the job.

Boy, it is tough and it might even be unfair ù especially to be an offensive coordinator. But I want somebody I can trust. If I can't be at work or I have to go out of town, if I'm sick, I know he's going to be there working. But boy, being your son, it is tough. But it's good for him, because when he goes to coach... you have to learn how to handle it. It makes you tough.

Both teams are going to find out a lot about their quarterback. It's a tough start because both (quarterbacks) are going against good defenses.

Once you get over the rope burns, it wasn't bad. It's been a very questionable mood outside of our staff. We had so many good years back to back that people expect it all the time. We have lacked consistency for the last few years. I think the hardest part of my job is winning enough games to keep people happy.

That's just something that's really good for them to know; how they stand with them.

There's some good hitting out there. I wouldn't run (with) that stinking ball.

Weatherford has a long way to go before getting over the hump, ... This game will be another dimension, because this is his first game on the road. These quarterbacks (Weatherford and Xavier Lee) are going to be good one of these days. But for now, they lack experience.

Weatherford has really gained from the first game of the year until the 13th game of the year. I coached against Joe when I was up at West Virginia and I saw those teams that dominate Eastern football. This team is as good as any of them and he hung in there with them.

The one thing that concerns me the most -- other than that they are good -- is that they are a mature football team.

I keep saying they're both No. 1, ... You all (media) can see as good as I can as to what is happening out here.

If we were 11-and-0, if you still can't win this darn game here, you don't even win the championship. So here we are 7-4, they're 10-1. It looks like you got no business being there with those guys. Yet whoever wins that game will be conference champion. That part of it is good for somebody like us.

I hope the big thing they take is that they coach by the rules and don't take any shortcuts, ... We need good coaches - good people to be coaching. They have such an influence on these kids. A lot of them don't have the home life, the structure they would like to have.

I want them all to play, ... Every week I have one of them in the office. That's a good thing, if they can be patient.

I really felt like Boston College would bring this kind of credibility to our conference. With where it is located and all the press there is, I thought it would be real good for our conference. And here's an example.

I just saw that this morning and I don't like it. Gee whiz, I don't know what it's saying. You gotta trust your athletic department. You gotta hire good people, then you gotta trust 'em. If they don't do the job you get somebody else. I don't know what in the world that means.

Can't you tell the difference between being a freshman and a sophomore with a year under his belt. He just threw very good (Friday).

It's amazing how close they've been. If just that one thing had happened good instead of bad, we'd win. That's just the way it is.

The elite is sitting up there with no losses, ... Then you got the good guys. We just got thrown down with the good guys. Now we just got to win games and go from there.

At least it's a good problem, ... It might not be a problem. It might be cut and dried for us.

They did what you expect freshmen to do. They needed some confidence. They needed something good to happen but it didn't,

They played like freshmen, ... Maybe they learned something. The only thing I didn't like was our quarterbacks couldn't hit a receiver. If we can get our quarterbacks ironed out, we've got a chance to be a pretty good team.

They got a pretty good feel on it. But still, a lot of times you do too much and somebody will blow something.

It's always disappointing when you lose, especially when you get off to such a good start, ... You're like, 'Oh, boy, here we go.' But then you lose three in a row and everybody wants to know what happened.