Hey NCAA, Bobby Bowden wants his vacated wins back too

The NCAA’s decision to restore Joe Paterno’s vacated wins left Bobby Bowden wondering, “what about me?”

“I’m all for Joe getting his hundred wins back and me getting my 12 back,” Bowden told the Orlando Sentinel.

Bowden, the long-time Florida State head coach, had 12 victories taken away from the 2006 and 2007 seasons by the NCAA due to an academic scandal that the FSU coaches were not implicated in. Paterno, the long-time Penn State coach, had 111 victories taken away as part of the NCAA’s (now mostly rescinded) sanctions related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

When those Paterno victories were vacated, it made Bowden the all-time winningest coach in major college football. Bowden felt uneasy about that distinction.

“It always felt like there should be an asterisk beside it,” Bowden said. “When I would give a speech and be introduced as the all-time winningest coach, it never felt right to me.”

If Bowden’s 12 wins were restored, his total would reach 388 – still 21 behind Paterno’s 409. For Bowden, it’s not about the record; it’s about the inconsistency the NCAA has shown with issues like this.

“The NCAA has been very inconsistent about how they take away victories,” Bowden said. “It’s not like we were trying to cover anything up. We did everything in our dad-gum power to get to the bottom of that situation.”