LaVell and Bowden - Separate ways

Bobby Bowden and LaVell Edwards, two of the grand old gentlemen coaches of college football, once had enough in common to strike up a warm friendship, but they chose to spend their golden years in entirely different ways.

Edwards, who turns 79 next month, has been gone from the game now for — can you believe it? — almost a decade, and Bowden, who turns 80 in November, is still coaching football.

When Florida State comes to Provo this weekend, Edwards will be in the seats at LaVell Edwards Stadium, and Bowden will be on the sidelines. Both are happy right where they are.

"I don't even miss the Saturdays," Edwards says. "When I quit, I wasn't fed up or burned out; I just made up my mind it was time to quit and quit while I had good health. I wanted to serve a (church) mission and do other things."

"It's amazing," says Bowden. "As I was coming up, I figured by the time I was 60 I would be through. Then when I was 60 I thought I could go five more. Then when I was 65, I thought I could go five more, and that's the way it's been."

Who knows, maybe Bowden could coach till 90 or beyond. "He made the comment one time that when the Lord calls him home he hopes he's on the football field when he does," Edwards says.

Bowden and Edwards first developed a friendship early in the '80s. They served together on several all-star game coaching staffs and on several NCAA committees. As Nike-sponsored coaches, they and their wives were invited to Nike's coaches junket each winter, which is largely an expenses-paid vacation.

"We had a lot of nice times together," Bowden said this week. "We played some golf, but he's so good he can wear me out. I don't know anyone who didn't like or love LaVell."

(Ask Edwards who was the better golfer, he says, "I don't like to brag." But he did suggest one time that the FSU-BYU game be decided by the coaches' golf scores.)

Both coaches are humorous, affable, religious and popular among other coaches. Both managed to keep football in perspective in a profession noted for obsessiveness. When a Utah reporter asked Bowden about burnout this week, he said coaches burn out when their whole life is based on football. "I've tried not to do that," he said. "Football is not my priority; it is A priority. If (a coach) makes football his life, he's going to burn out."

Since Edwards retired, he and Bowden have lost contact with each other, but Edwards said this week, "I am going to call him this week and make arrangements to see him. We've known each other a long time. He and his wife are really nice people. They were a lot of fun to be around. They were in the group we tended to hang around with at the Nike gathering."