The word is out about the new attitude at Florida State.
Players are being asked to do more–to keep their lockers clean for one thing. Chuck Amato is no doubt making sure the trash is emptied and the toilets scrubbed as well.
Soon after spring practice began in April, several Seminoles found eviction notices in their lockers. The pink slips told the players to pack their equipment and move to the cramped and nondescript visitors’ locker room, which is a long walk from the home locker room.
It was the work of Amato, who coached with Bowden from 1982 to 1999 and is a stickler for a neat cubby. He says the shoes go in the back and the shoulder pads need to be straight. The helmet belongs on the right side, the towel on the left.
After three missteps, the offender has to dress in the visitors’ locker room for one week. Amato has been doing this for many years, and he said players rarely reached the third strike. Then he found this Florida State team.
“We had a bunch of them get evicted this spring,” Amato said Monday in a telephone interview. “And then we had a couple that came back, and then got evicted again. But then you started to see the attitude change. And I don’t mean the attitude was bad, but you could see it get better.”
I suppose such attention to detail can’t hurt, but I’m not sure it will make a huge difference. I’m just surprised that we haven’t seen propaganda about the new attitude in the off-season conditioning program. Something along the lines of “Last year, only 15 Seminoles could bench 400 pounds. This year, there are 25 who can.” That is usually par for the course in these type of ‘turnaround’ stories.
Still, this blog hopes that Bowden can come up with a good season to cap off an incredible career. Maybe he can win 10 and ride off into the sunset.
78 and still going…
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