FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews retires

[TexansSeminole]

After 26 years as the defensive coordinator, Mickey Andrews is retiring after this season. He was a great coach, recruiter and man. I hope he is happy in his retirement.

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=4620045

[Showtime100]

Originally Posted by TexansSeminole

After 26 years as the defensive coordinator, Mickey Andrews is retiring after this season. He was a great coach, recruiter and man. I hope he is happy in his retirement.

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=4620045

As do I. That's a long time and many great defenses under his guidance. He should be proud.

TS, How much influence do you think this will have on Bowden's thinking in terms of his own retirement?

I guess this is as good as anytime for me to say Bowden should have the right to retire when he wants, but if I were a Seminole I think I would find myself wishing he'd get the good sense to retire now and save a whole lot of uncomfortable situations ahead. I can't blame him for wanting to stay on, but he needs to think about his legacy.

[TexansSeminole]

Originally Posted by Showtime100

As do I. That's a long time and many great defenses under his guidance. He should be proud.

TS, How much influence do you think this will have on Bowden's thinking in terms of his own retirement?

I guess this is as good as anytime for me to say Bowden should have the right to retire when he wants, but if I were a Seminole I think I would find myself wishing he'd get the good sense to retire now and save a whole lot of uncomfortable situations ahead. I can't blame him for wanting to stay on, but he needs to think about his legacy.

That's a really good question, and forgive me if I ramble but it is a complicated situation.

I think Mickey's retirement will have an indirect effect on when Bowden retires.

The first thing I need to say is that Bowden convinced Mickey to come back 2 years ago, after Mickey's son died and it was obvious that he wanted to spend more time with his family. He did this because Mickey had been so great for so long but also because Bowden doesn't have a lot of coaching connections anymore. He had nobody on staff that could replace Mickey.

Today, there is someone on staff that he would like to replace Mickey and that man is Chuck Amato. There are two problems with this. The most important problem is that Chuck Amato is not a good coach or recruiter. The second problem is that Bowden will only be on staff for one more year, if even that. Do you allow Bowden to hire a guy that a) Jimbo Fisher doesn't like and b) will only be a defensive coordinator for 1 year? Lately, I have been hearing that there is basically no way FSU will hire their next defensive coordinator from within.

Now let me veer off here into Jimbo's contract. Word is Jimbo and FSU have been working on his head coach contract over the past month. From what I understand, part of the terms would allow Jimbo to make the decision on who the next defensive coordinator is, maybe even all of the staff decisions. He would be able to fire anyone he wants except Bowden.

Giving Jimbo the ability to make the decisions on the staff allows him to do something he has not been able to do before. Jimbo has never been able to bring in "his" coaches, not even on offense.

If that happens, what does that mean for Bobby Bowden? He becomes a figure head with zero control over the team. The question now is, would Bowden want to do this? Why would he stick around? For money? For wins?

Mickey's retirement will likely create a domino effect for massive changes on FSU's staff, and Bowden will likely lose control over who his assistants are.

There have been alot of articles over the past month about who FSU would look at for a new defensive coordinator. Most of them are based on who Jimbo has connections with and people with FSU connections. The three most prominent names I have seen are Greg Hudson (the defensive coordinator for East Carolina), Kirby Smart (defensive coordinator for Alabama), and Karl Dunbar (defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings). Hudson coached with Jimbo at the University of Cincinnati I believe. Smart was a graduate assistant at FSU. Dunbar coached with Jimbo at LSU.

[TexansSeminole]

Some random accomplishment's of Mickey Andrews:

Since the 1985 draft, 73 players on his defenses have been selected in the NFL draft. 18 of those were first rounders.

His defenses led the country in run defense in '96 and '97. Also, his defense led the nation in total defense and pass defense in '98. In '08, his defense led the nation in tackles for loss, and were sixth in sacks.

From wikipedia:

Under Andrews, Florida State has become the top producer of All-America and NFL caliber cornerbacks in the nation. Andrews has coached two Jim Thorpe Award winners and had an All-American cornerback for 8 straight years from 1987-1994. He had one consensus All-America selection in 2000. Seven of Andrews' defensive teams have been among the top five nationally against the run since 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Andrews

[Showtime100]

I don't claim to know what's inside Bowden's mind, but I have always thought Bowden is one of those that just has to keep going and retirement is never option #1. However, given your nicely laid out information I would not be surprised if he hung up the whistle after the season and the quieter the better (though quietly is not an option). Sad to see him answer questions from reporters asking him questions that obviously hurt him. I'm a little old school that way.