• Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

How do you handle boosters? And is this worth a story?

D

daemon

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2005
Messages
1,279
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2635717

This whole story is about one booster who wants Bowden to resign.

The thing that stuck out to me is the guy only donated in the neighborhood of $6,000. It isn't like the stadium is named after him.

Is this really worth a blowout story?
 
When a booster says he and other boosters have written letters asking for the winningest coach in the history of college football to resign, yes, that's a story.
 
Yes, and BE SURE to name the boosters. Tell them you will not write a story without names attached to it -- none of the "influential boosters are unhappy with the coach" bullshit. Let's see how influential they really are.

Charlie Coach has to stand up in public and take heat, let Bubba Boosterboy do it too.
 
Starman said:
Yes, and BE SURE to name the boosters. Tell them you will not write a story without names attached to it -- none of the "influential boosters are unhappy with the coach" bullshit. Let's see how influential they really are.

Charlie Coach has to stand up in public and take heat, let Bubba Boosterboy do it too.
Click to expand...


Did you read the linked story Starman or are you just ranting out of your ass again?
Yes, the "influential" FSU boosters who are calling for Bowden's head are named in the story.
 
And it pointed out that the guy donated "more than $6,000." Who knows how they're structure is. They might now announce real specific numbers after that. But I see your point. 6 g's ain't much FSU cred.
 
MU -- that's what I was getting at. Even if he and five other $6,000 boosters wrote letters asking Bowden to be fired, that's still less than Bowden brings in to the university simply for showing up in a TV commercial or something or going to a chicken dinner and sneezing a couple times.

Are these guys really that influential, or are they just middle class hangers on who want to show the girls they are banging how much power they have?
 
Considering one is the fomer president of the boosters and the other is a board member, I'd say they have some influence, despite what you think sre "minor" contriutions.

And they happen to be right....the man is 76 years old and his son is an incompetent coordinator.
 
daemon said:
MU -- that's what I was getting at. Even if he and five other $6,000 boosters wrote letters asking Bowden to be fired, that's still less than Bowden brings in to the university simply for showing up in a TV commercial or something or going to a chicken dinner and sneezing a couple times.

Are these guys really that influential, or are they just middle class hangers on who want to show the girls they are banging how much power they have?
Click to expand...

A buddy of mine made a very similar comment to your sneezing one. Pretty funny.
And true.

The problem these boosters might have is that Bowden obviously gets some serious slack from the university. And with him continually talking about how young these players are and how good their going to be in the next couple years, it seems likely it will buy him another year or two.
Plus, it doesn't seem as if he's gotten snippy (a la Joe Pa). To my knowledge he hasn't pissed off the boosters personally. He's just getting old.
 
i'd be interested in seeing what happened to the penn state boosters that were calling for Joe Pa's head two years ago when he led the team to a 1-loss record and a victory over the orange bowl last season. and as long as bowden keeps reaching BSC bowls (obvioulsy that won't happen this year) i think the university would be silly to force him to retire and end a 30-year relationship on a down note.

besides, the guy can hardly walk. he's going to eventually break a hip after another of those "wide right" field goals.
 
But where's the line?

What if a $2,000 booster says he should be fired?

What if three $10,000 boosters say he should stay?

How many boosters are there? I'd tend to think there are a hell of a lot of people donating more than $6,000 to the FSU football program. Are we going to give them each a story whenever they decide their opinion on Bowden's future?

For the record, this case sounds like it was a story. But keep in mind that boosters buy influence. That's what they do. And that's all well in good. But by buying influence with the university, are they also buying influence with us? And is that proper?

By the way, no debating whether Bowden's time is up. Though I'd think the University would be better suited keeping him on as figure head coach but telling him that he isn't allowed to employ any of his family members.
 
spnited said:
Considering one is the fomer president of the boosters and the other is a board member, I'd say they have some influence, despite what you think sre "minor" contriutions.

And they happen to be right....the man is 76 years old and his son is an incompetent coordinator.
Click to expand...

You're talking about Joe Paterno (and son Jay) Bobby Bowden right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top