While promoting his new documentary The Bowden Dynasty (see the official trailer above),legendary former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden shared a nugget on one of the things that helped tremendously in his time leading the Seminoles to an unprecedented run among college football's elite programs.
Bowden told Fox & Friends that faith played a huge role role in their success as a program.
"I would talk to their parents, and I would say 'when your son comes to Florida State, I'm going to take him to church. I'm going to take him to a white church, and then the next Sunday I'm going to take him to a black church.'"
"Why? Because I wanted them to see that they are welcome, no matter what their race, and I think that once a guy gets that feeling, that he is 'saved' or however you'd like to say it, I think that he performs a lot better."
Over the past several years, a number of coaches and programs, including Dabo Swinney at Clemson, have caught heat for representing public institutions while being outspoken about their faith, so while Bobby Bowden is (nearly) universally loved as an iconic figure in college football, it would be interesting to see how this approach with his players would hold up in today's social media centered society where everyone has an opinion and a hot take is just around the corner.
Hear Bowden's full comments in the clip
Legendary #FSU coach @TheBobbyBowden says faith is what made the Seminoles football program one of the best in the nation pic.twitter.com/1QDiHBfKl5
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 3, 2017