Legendary football coach: process beats outcomes

Bobby Bowden was known for his dadgum, folksy style — and winning lots of football games. One of his players revered Bowden even more for his down-to-earth leadership teachings.

By Mark Gordon
| 10:00 a.m. September 2, 2021
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Courtesy. Drew Weatherford, now a partner at Tampa-based Weatherford Capital, played quarterback at Florida State from 2005 to 2009. One of his games included the 2006 Orange Bowl vs. Penn State.

Leadership

Drew Weatherford was mesmerized. Then eight-years-old, he sat enthralled with the guest speaker in front of him at a church in the Citrus Park area of Tampa. The speaker was talking about things like honor, commitment and integrity. And the deep meaning of Christian fellowship.

The speaker — Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden — was also at the peak of his celebrity status. This was 1993. Bowden’s FSU Seminoles were in the middle of a 14-season run of top 5 rankings, including two national championships. “I knew right then and there I wanted to play for him,” says Weatherford, then not even out of elementary school but with the acute self-awareness to know his goal was audacious. “It became a good accountability system for me. The better they became, the more work I knew I had to do. I didn’t want people to be able to say I told you so.”