For Bowden, It's a Seminole Moment

Coach Retools Coaching Staff, Amato Returns

Florida State hopes its resurgence begins in its locker room, where all the stalls look the same. Towels rest on the right side. The helmets go on the top shelf, face masks pointing to the right to display to the team's spear logo. Shoulder pads are hung on the hook on the back wall. Ankle braces, knee pads and thigh pads are stacked to the left.

The locker room austerity is part of what players call "The Awakening," Florida State's slogan for this season. The Seminoles are refining details and relying on an overhauled coaching staff, which now includes a vestige from FSU's glory years and a high-profile play-caller.

"We're making sure we do the little things right," running back Antone Smith said. "I think it's the perfect scenario, because discipline is what we've been missing."

The locker assimilation was instituted by Chuck Amato, who, ironically, became available in part for not supplying enough discipline to North Carolina State. Eight years ago, Amato left FSU after 18 seasons to become the head coach at N.C. State, and now he's returned to the role in which he, and the Seminoles, experienced their best success: coaching linebackers. He will be assisting defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, and he is also Coach Bobby Bowden's executive head coach.

While Amato helps steward the defense, Jimbo Fisher replaces Jeff Bowden, Bobby Bowden's son, as offensive coordinator. While leading LSU's offense for seven seasons, Fisher became one of the most sought-after assistants in the country.

FSU wanted Fisher for his play-calling and his mentoring of quarterbacks. To further enhance the offense, the Seminoles poached offensive line coach Rick Trickett from West Virginia and named him assistant head coach. Including Bowden, the Seminoles now have four coaches with "head coach" in their titles (Andrews is an associate head coach).

Bowden retooled quickly after the historically powerful Seminoles were relegated to the Emerald Bowl last season. FSU throttled UCLA, but fans still clamored for change and cried nepotism while Jeff Bowden's offense struggled. And the change came.

"I feel good about it," Bobby Bowden said. "You don't do things a lot of times until somebody makes you. If I hadn't lost my son as offensive coordinator, I might not have done all this. But when Jeff resigned, I thought, 'Gee whiz, if it's going to get this drastic, this is my last shot.' I'm going to make the best coaching staff I can make. I don't care what it costs.

"Now, there's no time limit on that. Don't come to me next year and say my last shot went by. What I'm saying is I hope it lasts a long time, but I ain't going through it again."

Bowden said the staff change "took the fun out of it" this offseason, which also reflected his program's sinking status. The Seminoles are still considered a standard bearer for the ACC, and "Florida State is still Florida State," Georgia Tech running back Tashard Choice said.

But the Seminoles are 15-11 over the last two seasons, mediocrity unseen since Bowden's early years at FSU, a 2005 ACC title and an Orange Bowl appearance notwithstanding.

The high-powered coaches charged with returning FSU to form aren't doing so with fancy schemes, but with fundamentals. Trickett ran offensive line drills with infamous fire at West Virginia, demanding an intense pace.

"They're taking us away from football," Smith said. "And getting back to the basics."

Coaches taught ballcarriers the correct way to hold the ball to avoid fumbles. They worked with Smith on the proper technique for a spin move. "I didn't even know you could teach that," Smith said. "I thought it was just instinct."

"Our staff has taken a real demanding attitude," Bowden said. " 'Do it this way, it's the only way we'll accept it.' And the boys seem to respond to that."

If not, in the locker room is always a reminder waiting.