***PRIME***TIME*** Coach Prime, Deion Sanders

In my last post about my blog name, alma mater and fandom, I ended on a player I did not originally care for. He arrived at Florida State from Fort Myers the year after I moved to Tallahassee. As I detailed in my last post, I was not an instant fan of the university or the team. In fact, I was a little annoyed at the garnet and gold displayed everywhere and the rabidity of the fans there. I'd never lived in a college football town...let alone in the Deep South!

So this braggadocios, multi-sport athlete from South Florida makes a big splash in town and at Florida State. He almost immediately garnered national attention and a couple of shiny nicknames--"Neon Deion" and "PrimeTime." Then came the infamous "Seminole Shuffle," a spin on the Chicago Bears "SuperBowl Shuffle" a couple years prior. I liked when the Bears did it (and backed it up). The Nole version was followed by a serious ass-whoppin' by #2 Miami (well deserved, in my opinion).

Deion Sanders rapping during the infamous shuffle.

 

He went on to be a success in two professional sports, then followed it up with a TV career. For awhile, PrimeTime was everywhere. I didn't dislike him so much after I became a devotee of Florida State Football and an alum. He'd helped Bowden to forge a dynasty and put our program on the map.

Fast forward to the Willie Taggart fiasco at Florida State and the search for a new head coach. Taggart was FSU's first African-American head coach, though alum and Defensive Line Coach, Odell Hagins, had served as interim.

I REALLY, REALLY wanted my alma mater to follow-up with a second African-American head coach...and his name was now COACH PRIME!

Yes, at the time Coach Prime was untested, but before HBCU Jackson State scooped him up, I wanted FSU to make a PR splash (like we've seen at Colorado the last six months) and take a chance. Prime is a proven winner--and say what you will about his hype and swag--HE BACKS IT UP!

I'm still real sick we couldn't find the courage to hire our former star corner and NFL Hall of Famer. Instead, we settled for Mike Norvell out of Memphis, a move I'm only slowly coming around to appreciate. Still...what coulda been...

Now, naysayers were still questioning Colorado's decision late last year to make Coach Prime a Power 5 head coach. I say "BRAVO! Well done, Buffaloes!" It was a decision that paid immediate dividends. How many 1-11 programs make the kind of immediate turnaround we've seen in Boulder? THEY SOLD OUT THEIR SPRING GAME! Programs like Florida State and Alabama don't even do that! They even beat out the latter on garnering ESPN's national spotlight. They broadcast the sold-out game and I watched every minute of it.

Just like Coach Prime did at JSU, he once again is stealing some of my alma mater's top recruits for Colorado. He has 4- and 5-star recruits lining up to make visits. And all I can think, is imagine if he had the prestige and marketing of FSU behind those recruiting efforts??

He's turning lowly Colorado around right before our eyes. He did it in Jackson, Mississippi, and now he's taken the Prime train to Boulder. I can't wait to see how his team performs in the fall. I believe they become bowl eligible for the first time in a long time. We'll see, but just in marketing and sales, alone, he's already worth his weight in gold! The school has already sold out season tickets for the upcoming football season. Coach Prime merchandise sales are off the charts!

This is the buzz and excitement I wanted at FSU a few years back. Instead, we heard a big thud with the Norvell hire. Let's just say, he's no Coach Prime.

All I can say about it all is: LET'S GO BUFFS!!! #SkoBuffs

#CoachPrime #PrimeTime #DeionSanders #Coach21Prime

A Proud Florida State Seminole: A Retrospective

My Dad moved to Tallahassee in April 1986 for a new position. He would lead the Florida Credit Union League. We helped him move into a small apartment on the city's northside during my senior year spring break. The family would join him a week after my graduation in June.

When I arrived in Tallahassee that year, I knew very little of Florida State University or Bobby Bowden or the fledgling dynasty. I just knew I lived in Florida!

The University sat near the heart of downtown on the city's westside and was bounded on one side by the Florida A&M University and not too far to the west, the school I would attend, Tallahassee Community College. This was very much a college and state government town, with a large transient population. Everyone in town seemed to be a fan of FSU Football and Coach Bowden. Little did I know, at that time, that I'd become one, too, or that I'd witness the building of a dynasty in little old Tallahassee.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

You see, when I got there, the small campus boasted a very high school-looking football stadium with a weird name, Doak Campbell. Literally, it looked like an erector set from the outside, long before it became a brick behemoth, "the House that Bobby Built." It was really quite laughable to me.

I don't remember attending any games that first year there. One striking feature of the metallic skeletal stadium was the scoreboard and "flaming spear" that seemed to light up with crowd noise. The louder the crowd, the higher the lights on the spear would rise until reaching the flame at the top. That was pretty cool, as was all the pregame fanfare, culminating in a student in full Seminole Tribe costume, riding his Appaloosa steed to midfield and planting an ACTUAL flaming spear in the center of the warrior head logo. THAT was impressive! (It still gives me goosebumps!)

I'd post a video, but everyone is familiar with the tradition, the best in college football, I'd argue. But that first year, 1986, I hardly paid attention to college football or the Noles. I honestly didn't understand what all the hype was about. Then, the Bowden-led Noles played my Indiana Hoosiers in the All-American Bowl and beat them. I thought that was a cool coincidence. Then, I met a third-string lineman at church and we became fast friends. Thus, my interest in Florida State Football started to grow.

I remember when Burt Reynolds, the famed alum, paid for new dorms for the football players. My buddy moved in the first year, 1987, and at the end of that season, traveled with his team to Tempe, Arizona, for the Fiesta Bowl v. Nebraska. I got to stay in his new dorm room while he was away. Now, I'm becoming more enmeshed in the culture and taking notice of the team. They beat Tom Osborne's Nebraska, by the way (a pre-cursor/foreshadowing of the 1993 National Championship Game).

Fast forward to 1991 and my buddy no longer plays for the Noles, but is living in a frat house on campus. I'd followed his career and his team, but I was still a holdout. If it was "cool" to love the Seminoles, I wasn't going to be cool. I still considered myself a casual college football fan, at that point, and a Notre Dame fan. HOWEVER, when Bowden took his team to Ann Arbor and silenced a crowd of 106,000+ I was SOLD! That was the day I became a Seminole fan 100%! Right there in my buddy's frat room, watching the exciting drama unfold on national TV. AND HISTORY, as no visiting team had ever scored 50+ points on the Michigan Wolverines!!

Click HERE for a Florida State-Michigan recap.
 

THE DYNASTY

Most people agree that Bowden's dynasty began in the decade of the 1990's, leading up to his first National Championship behind Heisman QB Charlie Ward in 1993, and continuing into the Coach Jimbo Fisher years, through the 2013 National Championship behind Heisman QB Jameis Winston.

I was there for it all!

After letting down my guard fully mid-season 1991, I eventually enrolled at Florida State as a junior, working my way through college to a degree in Communication (Class of 1997). I was a part-time student for a good portion of the 1990's. I attended as many football games, for free, as I could. I was front and center for the rise of Charlie Ward and the fast-paced, shotgun offense that suited his talents best. I vividly remember the victory celebration at Doak in January 1994.

During my tenure at FSU, I worked in the Cashier's office, starting in June 1990 at the iconic Westcott Building, the entrance to campus. The university would soon begin the largest brick construction project on the planet. "The House that Bobby Built" would soon become a reality and my new workspace. I can remember moving into the first floor, in the corner facing Pensacola and Varsity Drive. I thought I worked in the coolest place in the world! I'd take my lunches out into the stadium and sit in the bleachers eating, marveling, reminiscing...

I immersed myself in college football and FSU, attending the first visit of ESPN's College Gameday in 1993, making sure to get The Pony's (Craig James) autograph for my new wife. She was enamored. :)

I took on an online persona for the ESPN chat boards (a big thing at the time): NOLESROCK

And thus a self-administered nickname was borne and I use it for the title of this blog (in case you were wondering where that came from).

My then wife scored us tickets to the 1999 National Championship Game at the Superdome in New Orleans. We watched Bowden and the Pete Warrick-led Noles beat the Gators, such sweet revenge for a regular season loss! It was our SECOND national championship and tasted just as sweet as the first!

Thus, the Bowden Dynasty would take shape right before my adoring eyes. By the end of the decade, I was an alum of the best university in Florida.

Some of my best memories are attending football and basketball games with my roommates--the former player I mentioned earlier and a goofball named Shawn!

There was a player in the late 80's, who at the time I didn't care for. His nickname was PRIME TIME. In the next blog post, I'll talk more about him and where he is now. I'm a great admirer these days!