Sports WI: Miami and FSU drop Football in 70's

This thread is inspired by today's passing of legendary Football coach Lou Saban. He coached the Bills in the 60's to two AFL titles and coached the Broncos from 67-71. What some people don't know is that he also was the Head Coach at Miami in the Late-70's at a time when they were thinking about dropping football. He started the Miami rebuilding process by bringing in their first big recruiting class in the late-70s, which included players like QB Jim Kelly. Then, Schnellenberger took over the team and said that the program was on a "collision course" with the National Championship while people laughed. Four years later, they finally won it, ushering in an era of Miami dominance.

Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, FSU was thinking about dropping Football as well. Then, in 1976, they brought in a guy named Bobby Bowden, and he turned the program around, winning two National Championships, having a bevy of top-5 teams, and producing a lot of NFL stars.

These two programs were responsible for shifting the center of the College Football world to Florida, and making speed more of a priority than size. It is hard to believe that these schools almost dropped Football in the late-70's. But, what if they would have? How different would the college game be today?
 
Okay, I gotta do this.

IT'S GREAT...TO BE...A FLORIDA GATOR. IT'S GREAT...TO BE...A FLORIDA GATOR!!!!


ORANGE.........BLUE......!!!!!!!!

ORANGE.........BLUE.........................!!!!!!!!!:D


LIVE FROM THE HEART OF NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA!!!!

WE WILL NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULAR AH THREADS.
THANK YOU.
 

Xen

Banned
Bobby Bowden remains with the West Virginia University Mountaineers leading them to a National Championship in 1988 (they lost out to Notre Dame in OTL) and has some very good programs making West Virginia an even more respected football program (currently it is the winningest football program not to have won a National title). When the Atlantic Coast Conference raids the Big East the three teams it selects is Virginia Tech, Pitt and West Virginia. The Big East nearly flounders but has Boston College, and Louisville to help recover, and eventually invites Army and Navy to the Conference to liven things up a little. However the Big East is considered a small step above Conference USA.
 
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