Two more seasons for FSU's Bowden

Bobby Bowden's old, not dumb.

Bowden understands what Florida State's $5 million promise to head-coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher means — it's the 2009 season, the 2010 season and then retirement for the FSU legend.

FSU owes Fisher $5 million by Jan. 11, 2011 — whether he's the head coach or offensive coordinator. Bowden was asked if the deal signaled the end of his 33-year tenure at FSU.

"I don't want to answer that," Bowden said in the Miami Herald. "But if you put two and two together, you'll be right."

Bowden, 79, has won 382 games, 12 ACC titles and two national titles. The Seminoles have slipped to mediocrity since Bowden built one of the best programs in the 1990s.

Fisher, previously the offensive coordinator at LSU, joined the FSU staff in 2007 and was designated Bowden's successor.

Bowden could lose as many 14 wins, from the 2006 and '07 seasons, for the use of ineligible players that were caught in a university-wide academic scandal. FSU has appealed the NCAA's decision.

"If it happens, I'm going to count them anyway," Bowden said in the Herald.