Fisher steps into Bowden's shadow

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

It all seemed set up for one last run for the old coach.

A heralded senior at quarterback. His alma mater at the top of the schedule -- the first time Florida State has ever played Samford. A nice, round 35th season leading the Seminoles awaiting him.

But Bobby Bowden exited gracefully after the Gator Bowl last season, taking his 377 victories, two national titles and 12 ACC crowns with him into retirement.

For the first time since 1975, the Seminoles have a new coach, but Bowden likely will leave a long shadow for some time to come.

"The biggest reason I came to Florida State was coach Bowden," quarterback Christian Ponder said. "My dad played for him in the '80s. He was one of the best college football coaches in the history of the game."

Few on the team now had a better sense of that than Ponder, a fifth-year senior who is expected by most to be one of the ACC's top quarterbacks.

At least some of that is because of the tutelage of Jimbo Fisher, Florida State's offensive coordinator the past three seasons and Bowden's successor as head coach.

He said it's never easy stepping into the role of someone who won as many games as Bowden, but he also said he has to do things his own way rather than trying to just copy what has been done before.

"You're on a timetable to be successful," Fisher said. "A lot of my core values are like coach Bowden. Our day-to-day might be much different. I have to be me. I have to do the things that make Florida State successful. If you keep doing things the same way, you're going to get the same result."

And the results lately have not been what Florida State fans grew accustomed to during Bowden's tenure.

The Seminoles won at least 10 games for 14 consecutive seasons from 1987-2000 but have had one 10-win season since, along with vacating 12 wins in 2006 and 2007 because of NCAA sanctions.

Another 7-6 season last season -- the third in four seasons, before the vacated wins -- hastened Bowden's departure and elevated Fisher to the position he was contractually promised in 2007.

While having a new man in charge for the first time in any of the players' lifetimes is bound to be difficult, promoting a familiar face instead of bringing in someone from outside the program could help ease the transition.

"It's huge; it makes it a lot easier," Ponder said. "Pretty much every player on the team was familiar with coach Fisher's style. If you bring in a totally new guy, you don't know what his coaching style is. There's not that whole culture shock."

Especially not for Ponder, the two-year starter who appears fully recovered from shoulder surgery that ended his season after nine games in 2009. Having worked closely with Fisher for the past three years, that working relationship could be a big help in an Atlantic Division that looks wide open.

"He knows me," Fisher said. "He doesn't have to learn a new coach because I was his position coach. By now, he can finish my sentences."