Since the package is reported to be bigger than what is bound by his current contract I would assume that part of it is a confidentially clause. You get 3 or 4 million to leave, but if you or your family run your yap you will have to pay it all back.

who’s to say that there aren’t people out there who would have just as much ammunition to blast Bobby Bowden?

Maybe an expose of some sorts.

Charlie Strong is 49…

just saying

I don’t buy the 11 million number. You could set up your own law firm for that LOL

Even I agree with this. Well, I might take 24 hours to stomp on it.

I’ve been slowly losing respect for the man over the years, starting with the Jeff Bowden fiasco. What started as losing a trickle of respect at a time has now turned into a full-on gush. The floodgates have opened.

I think having him talk at Booster clubs and sit in the President’s Suite on game day are things we should hope happen. But if his crazy ass wife gets her way he’ll never be heard from again.

Any chance he wouldn’t return for the bowl game if it’s a quality opponent, to try to hand Jimbo Fisher a probable loss?

This one’s, like, totally true.

Naaah… that looks too SEC.

The Florida Times-Union

August 2, 2005

Tackling troubles — together

By MIKE FREEMAN
The Times-Union

Case number CR-03-BE-55-S: The United States of America v. R. Stephen Bowden.

People said Steve Bowden, the eldest son of football coaching legend Bobby Bowden, was a crook. People called him a two-bit con man. The truth, of course, is much more complicated. The case is less about a Bowden boy gone bad than it is a father and son trying to help one another.

An Alabama man named James Michael Hanks, while working for others, recruited Brian Burgdorf, a former Alabama quarterback, and Steve as sub-promoters of The Millennium Fund, billed as an investment chance for the privileged few, according to the government.

A joint investigation by the FBI, the IRS Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Alabama Securities Commission resulted in indictments alleging that the three men and three others conspired to offer and sell unregistered securities to 14 residents of Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, a document from the Alabama commission states.

The investigation found that between June 1996 and July 1998, the investors were directed to transfer more than $10 million to Chateau Forte Consortium, the alleged manager of the fund; Trust Services, a Panamanian offshore trust firm; and/or Private Asset Management S.A., a Panamanian brokerage firm, in exchange for stock in the fund, the document states.

In effect, the government alleged, it was a Ponzi scheme. The fund guaranteed a 14 percent return, government lawyers said, from a fictitious source.

“It was a scam, plain and simple,” says Adolph Dean, an assistant U.S. attorney in Birmingham, Ala., who handled the case.

Steve had recruited the Bowden men. At one point, Terry, Tommy and Bobby flew with Steve to Panama, according to Dean, for what he says was a fancy presentation high on gloss but thin on facts.

“Bobby was eventually supposed to be the hook to get other investors,” Dean says.

Throughout the process, Bobby continually emphasized to Steve that the fund needed to be proper.

“Steve, be sure it’s legal,” he told his son. “I cannot afford to get my name into something. If there’s any taint to it, it’s going to be all over the country.”

Bobby and daughter Ginger’s husband, John Madden, invested in the fund. But not all the Bowdens were convinced it was legitimate.

Terry, the more street-smart brother, also was a lawyer and much tougher to fool. Tommy had his doubts as well.

Jeff Bowden (right), shown in a stern talk with his father, Florida State head football coach Bobby Bowden, has been criticized by fans and others about his Seminoles offense. “He is always very quiet about what is happening at Florida State,” sister Robyn says. Associated Press -———————————————————————-

“If you notice, Terry and Tommy did not put any money into it,” Dean says. “What does that tell you? My opinion is that they knew what was happening. But Bobby wanted to help his son.”

Actually, it was a combination of the two men wanting to help each other. Bobby has long been concerned about whether he and Ann would have enough money in retirement. You never forget the sting of coming from the other side of the tracks, as Bobby likes to say.

In the end, Bobby suspended disbelief so his son, as Dean says, “would have a place at the table with the big boys in the investment business.”

And Steve might have been trying to show people he could be as successful off the football field as his brothers were on it.

When Steve later spoke to the court, records show he said: “It looked to me at that time as a wonderful opportunity to show my family and friends that, by golly, I can be successful financially and professionally in whatever I choose to set my hand to. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a hand as heavy as a lead balloon, and it caused a lot of grief and a lot of anguish and a lot of loss.”

Several times after the 2003 indictment, Dean talked with the Bowdens and was so overwhelmed by their unity and sincerity, he began to enjoy speaking with them. He talked football with Bobby — favorite victories, Deion Sanders stories — and noticed something many people do when they come to know the Bowdens.

“The women are incredibly strong,” Dean says. “The men may be the coaches, but the women are the bosses.”

“Bobby made me feel like a part of their family,” he says. "It was genuine, too. I liked them a lot, to be honest.

“I really can’t say what the intent of Steve was. I do know what Bobby’s intent in the whole thing was. It was to help his son. Intuitively, the deal probably sounded strange to Bobby. But he wanted to be a dad to his son. He wanted him to be successful. He wanted his boy at the table.”

In the end, Bobby lost a total of $1.6 million, while all investors lost $10 million total, according to court records.

THE SERIES

Ties that bind

Sunday: How Bobby and Ann Bowden have dealt with success, criticism, tragedy and each other during 56 years of marriage and where both stand on Bobby’s coaching future.

Monday: The inside story of Terry Bowden’s tumultuous tenure as Auburn football coach, and older brother Tommy’s resilience as the head man at Clemson.

Today: The huge cost of Steve Bowden’s involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme, the gnawing cries of nepotism against FSU assistant Jeff, the frustrations of the oldest Bowden child, Robyn, and the family’s most unifying moment of all.

Steve pleaded guilty and faced a maximum of 41 months in prison and restitution totaling $4.3 million but, because he and the Bowden family were so cooperative, in October 2003 he was sentenced to six months of home detention and one year of probation, court records show. Steve also was ordered to pay $1.26 million in restitution.

At his sentencing, the Bowden family was there in full force, backing Steve. Sister Ginger, a prosecutor herself, stood up and made a passionate plea for his freedom.

“I have tremendous respect, your honor, for the law,” she told the court in previously unreported remarks, “for the belief that the law applies to all men and that no man is above the law, not my brother, not myself, not anyone else. And with that said, I want this court to know that I know, and that my family knows, Steve to be an honest and honorable man, that he’s been devastated by the ugly turn of events, that he’s agonized over the fact that he may have somehow encouraged others to invest in what’s now known to be a fraudulent fund.”

Bobby also spoke at length.

“As tight as our family is … I mean, there’s no way any of my children would scam or swindle me,” he said.

“Steve still manages my money,” Bowden told the court. “He and I are building a lot of condos down in the Destin area, and he manages it … I guess the point I’m trying to bring out is that I have not lost one bit of confidence or trust or faith in him whatsoever during this.”

When it was his turn, Steve took full responsibility for what he did in an eloquent speech. Family members say Steve is the most gifted communicator of them all.

“As difficult as it’s been this past nine months to look at the charges against me and think that can’t be me they’re talking about,” he told the court, “or to read the newspapers and know that the reputation I spent so many years building up has just dissipated like a vapor in the wind, and I can never grab it and claim it back again, because most of the people that will ever know my name will know me as the guy who stole $1.6 million from his father.”

Says Dean: “All in all,I don’t get upset about Steve getting probation. Did he know what was going on? Probably. Did he do it with malice? Probably not. Did he try to rip off his daddy? Probably not. He’s no innocent, but he’s no great criminal, either.”

No Bowden child is ever excommunicated. Steve had apologized profusely to Bobby and Ann, and they never believed he intentionally stole from anyone, let alone them.

Perhaps the judge, Karon O. Bowdre, capsulized the family’s post-trial reaction best during the sentencing of Steve:

“You are indeed fortunate to have a strong family that supports you in this matter,” she said, according to a court transcript, “and I know that with the support of your family and with the faith in God that you and your family have that you will weather this storm, and you will come through stronger as a result. It’s hard at this point to see that, but I am confident that that will be the result.”

So the family moved on, still close, still trusting.

So much so that Steve still handles his parents’ finances and investments.

Ginger

“Ginger is a very strong person. She got up at 5 a.m. to study. Took the kids to school. Went to her law classes. Then the library in the afternoon. Then she’d pick up the kids and spend the early evening with them. Passed the Florida Bar the first time she took it. She loves being a mother.”

— Ann Bowden

Ginger’s rush to Steve’s side that day she spoke on his behalf in court soon was reciprocated in what could be the greatest unifying moment for the Bowdens.

At 5:47 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2004, John Allen Madden, Ginger’s former husband, and their son, 16-year-old Bowden Madden, were in their 1993 BMW, driving westbound on Interstate 10. The highway was slick with standing water from the final breaths of Hurricane Frances.

John and Bowden Madden’s vehicle was in the outside lane, a police report states, and a 2002 Dodge van driven by Larry Maines was in the inside lane. Madden, for unknown reasons, the report says, veered left into the Dodge carrying Maines and his wife, Margaret. The left side of Madden’s car struck the right front of the van.

“I heard a thump and, before I know it, I was sliding across the highway,” Larry Maines said in a recent telephone interview.

Both vehicles slid across the median into the eastbound lane, according to the police report. A medium-size utility truck traveling 45 mph missed Maines’ car by 18 inches and crashed into Madden’s. The entire accident took less than 20 seconds.

Emergency services arrived at the scene at 5:59 p.m. One minute later, both John and Bowden Madden were dead, the police report states.

Later that night, three officers approached the home of Bobby and Ann, where Ginger and her family had been visiting. When Ginger answered the door, she says, the officers asked for Bobby. After she informed them her father was asleep, one of them, standing in the back, asked, “Are you Ginger?” She then was told about the accident.

Ginger was devastated, but she was comforted by a family that was by her side in a matter of hours.

Bobby and Ann also were horrified. When Bobby was interviewed on ESPN about the accident and asked how he was coping, he responded, “Every unoccupied minute of the day.” He then almost cried.

Terry was watching the broadcast and thought to himself: “That’s the first time I’ve seen him like that.”

“That was awful,” Bobby says. “One of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. To see it happen. To see my daughter as patrolmen come up to my house and tell her. That’s something I’ll never get over and she’ll never get over. But she has to go on with life because that’s the way life is. It was a big lesson right there. We are all going to go one of these days. Everybody thinks someone else is going to go. ‘I ain’t gonna die. Y’all are.’ There are reminders of that like this, unfortunately.”

Ann was consumed with why it happened — not the technical causes of the accident, but why it was allowed to happen, particularly since one of the victims was so young.

“Mom, it doesn’t matter why it happened,” Ginger told her. “It just happened.”

Ginger sought her own answers as she had a consuming desire to understand the cause of the accident. She spoke to each of the witnesses and developed her own theory: that an intense wind event from the hurricane remnants caused John to lose control of the vehicle.

Ginger has the tenacity and openness of her father, the high intelligence and sophistication of her brother, Steve, and the emotional freedom of Ann. She remembers how soon after the accident, she made a pact to herself that she would not curse God or any person. She would understand that, unfortunately, these type of things happen to many families.

“I was not going to say, ‘Why me?’” she explains.

While no parent is ever ready for such a horror, Ginger’s toughness helped her.

Early on, she viewed the college football world through an entirely different prism than her brothers. The game took her father away for much of her childhood. He rarely saw Ginger perform in her plays or music recitals.

When she was 13 and the family lived in West Virginia, she once answered the phone and heard a caller make a death threat against her father. As a child, she also saw Bobby hung in effigy.

She watched how hard her father worked and duplicated that ethic. Her organizational skills, strength and sense of independence became legendary within the family.

At 17, Ginger began working as a secretary in a Tallahassee law firm, which sparked her interest in law. Like her parents, she married at a young age, when she was 20.

Bobby loaned Ginger $1,500 to take the LSAT and the accompanying preparatory courses. She insisted on paying him back and attempted to do so. He insisted on tearing up the check.

After the accident, the phone lines burned up within the Bowden family. Bobby phoned the children, reaching Robyn around 12:15 a.m. She packed the car immediately and drove to Bobby and Ann’s. The rest of the kids arrived as quickly as they could, by car or by plane.

Ginger never was without a Bowden by her side.

In one of many instances of her steadfastness during that time, Maines says Ginger phoned his wife about one week after the accident to express her sympathy for any injuries they suffered.

“She was very classy,” Maines says. “She was also very sorry. At one point, it seemed like she was simply seeking answers about what happened. The one thing we made sure to tell her was that there would be no lawsuit from us. She had been through enough.”

Robyn and Jeff

“She’s a lot like me. She’s very open. Very friendly. Everyone loves Robyn. She’s very sweet. Teaches elementary school. Attractive. Not overly aggressive but a strong defender of the family, like the other children.”

“Jeff is an outdoorsman. Likes to fish. Good golfer. He’s got his personality, and he’s a little bit rough around the edges. Sensitive person. He has handled his job very well because he has had a lot of criticism.”

— Ann Bowden

She loves the family business, she hates the family business.

Robyn has seen the coaching profession from all sides. She is the oldest daughter of a famous coach, the sister of three coaching brothers, and the wife of Jack Hines, an assistant coach at Clemson under Tommy.

At 54, Robyn has closely watched how the college football world works, on the field and off. She enjoys the competition and camaraderie of the team sport but despises what she believes has been an increase in fan hostility toward coaches, a meaner media and a nasty talk-radio culture.

When she once heard a radio talk-show host blast Bobby for being a disloyal cad because he departed West Virginia for FSU decades ago, Robyn was so infuriated that she almost called the station. Instead, she called Ann to commiserate.

“I hate it, too, but this is just part of the life,” Ann told her.

Says Robyn: "The animosity of fans and some people in the media has gotten so much worse over the past 10 or 20 years. I don’t know how my father and brothers and husband put up with it. I’m to the point where I’m tired of the hassle and watching my family get hassled, and I want them all to get out of coaching.

“Fans are much more vocal now than they have ever been,” Robyn adds. “It’s because they think they have more inside information because of things like the Internet and instant replay. Every fan has a little bit of knowledge, but a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

Her son once considered going into the family business. “Then he decided against it,” Robyn says, “and I can’t tell you how happy I am.”

Robyn has long been a protector of her siblings. As the oldest, she was assigned by her parents to look after the kids while Bobby was away at practice or when Ann had to run errands.

While Robyn is quick to point out how much she loves football, her desire to insulate her brothers and sisters has not been lost. Bring up the topic of Jeff, and her blood boils.

It seems it is Jeff’s turn to go through The Bowden Process. Yet the harsh criticism Jeff has endured as Florida State’s offensive coordinator is slightly different from what Bobby, Tommy and Terry survived. Fans are blasting Jeff because they believe he has his job solely because his father is the coach.

The Miami Herald reported that after last season, when the Seminoles averaged 23-year lows in yards per game and points averaged, FSU administrators, powerful trustees and former players attempted to persuade Bobby to fire his son. He refused.

After all, Bobby had stood by former coordinator Mark Richt when Seminoles fans called for his firing, bombarded his office and home with nasty letters and phone calls, and started the Evict Richt Club. Bobby says he actually lost friends over his insistence on keeping Richt. So if Bobby was going to be loyal to Richt, he was going to stand by his son.

It has not been easy, however. ESPN analyst and former Seminoles player Lee Corso, after FSU barely beat North Carolina State last year, called the offense the worst he has seen at that school in 50 years. Signs popped up at games that read “Send Jeff To UF.”

A Web site, hirejeffbowden.com, sarcastically asks another school to take him off FSU’s hands.

“Jeff Bowden is a young coach that is currently toiling in his legendary father’s shadow at Florida State University,” the site states. “Unfortunately for Jeff, at FSU he will never be more than ‘that other Bowden.’ For this reason and others on these pages, we ask that you support our effort to help Jeff land a head coaching position somewhere where he can gain his own identity.”

Jeff has the perfect personality to deal with the pressure. He possesses a cool temperament and has bought into Bobby’s philosophy that if it’s your choice to enter the family business, you have no right to complain.

When Robyn sees Jeff at family functions or speaks to him on the phone, “he is always very quiet about what is happening at Florida State. He never talks about it. He never shows any lack of control or acts angry.”

For Robyn, normally the mediator, diplomacy is difficult.

“Why is it an unspoken rule in our society,” she asks, “that if you work for your family or you parents, you automatically can’t be any good?”

Says Ann: “Jeff gets criticized, but everything he does is at Bobby’s direction But people can’t go after Bobby, so they go after Jeff.”

Adds Terry: “They are hitting him in ways that are unfair. When you say someone is not qualified, that’s just rough. Plus, he’s been offensive coordinator for four years of Chris Rix, and that’s been a struggle. But he’s not going through any worse than what I went through, or Tommy or Dad.”

Terry has handled the attacks on Jeff with his typical humor. Last season, during his radio show, he had listeners call in and vote if Jeff should be fired or kept.

“You’re not going to break my father,” he told listeners, “so if you need to vent, do it here.”

It is an uncomfortably steamy day in July as many of the Bowden clan gather on a Panama City beach for their annual family reunion. Ann is there. Ginger and Terry are there. Robyn is there, and Tommy is reclined on comfortable beach chair. The grandkids are there, everywhere. Bobby bolted for the golf course hours ago.

The Bowdens are celebrities. Everyone seated near them on the beach knows who they are, and the family is always accommodating to the occasional autograph seeker or Seminoles fan. That is part of the family’s charm. The Bowdens are approachable and kind.

The night before, 31 members of the Bowden party went to dinner at a local seafood restaurant. The bill came to about $1,200. There was plenty of laughing, talking and, most of all, doing what they do best — being a family.

“We don’t profess to be perfect,” Ann says. “Things have not been perfect for us. We’ve had tough things happen in our lives and our children’s lives. But we’ve been very fortunate in so many ways, and we’re appreciative of that. No one in this family ever forgets that, and we are always there for each other. That’s the bottom line.”

Thanks for the tip. Carelessly switching tabs, getting the site off my screen while chatting with my boss.

Even though I won’t support Bobby, I’d be there for the team. I live in Orlando and can’t see myself heading out to Cali for the Nut Bowl.

Bowden vs either Richt or Spurrier

Meineke Car Care Bowl Breaking News! Selection committee thinks the ACC team most likely to be in Charlotte this year is either Miami or UNC!

mn

It’d be nice to send BB out with a win

You’re straight up retarded if you don’t want to go to a bowl and you’re players are soft and weak if they don’t want to play in bowl regardless of what bowl it is. You’re supposed to be there cause you love to play football no matter who your coach is. That and we have this whole streak that might not ever be touched if can can get things back on track for another decade of domination. If the worst times for FSU football are the 10 years we went to bad bowls and won a couple ACC championships, I’ll be really happy.

I only have a GED +1 you