End Of An Era: Bobby Bowden Set To Retire Tuesday

The speculation over whether Bobby Bowden would actually end his legendary coaching career at a press conference on Tuesday is, for the time being, over: The Tallahassee Democrat has learned that Bowden is set to announce his retirement by way of a statement Tuesday.

As part of his retirement, Bowden is expected to be offered a non-coaching position at FSU for an unspecified amount of time. In addition to any settlement compensation that may be negotiated as part of his retirement, Bowden is also entitled to $1 million upon his retirement as part of a clause in his coaching contract that was agreed upon at least 10 years ago.

It is unclear if Bowden will coach the bowl game or not, but sources have said if he does coach one last game then the Gator Bowl may try to select FSU for its Jan. 1 game.

Bowden's retirement comes after 34 years, the second-longest tenure in college football -- Joe Paterno waves grumpily from the top of that pile -- but Bowden didn't merely endure. He dominated. His teams were the toast of college football in the 1990's; he had 14 consecutive seasons of 10 wins or more; and his FSU aura inspired the movie "The Program," which high school football players the country over now watch at team dinners when they run out of other football-related movies. As Bowden himself might say, darn right that's a legacy.