In a recent appearance on ESPN's Up Close with host Gary Miller, Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden spoke openly about the recent news surrounding the arrest of heisman hopeful Peter Warrick and his teammate Laveranues Coles on charges of grand theft. For Bowden, the news meant much more than the loss of two talented players.

"I feel like I have got to be like a father to these boys", says Bowden. And I'm going to treat them like I would my own sons, that's what I'm going to do."

Bowden also spoke about coaching against his son Tommy, turning 70 and beating arch rival Miami.

The following is an edited transcript of Bowden's interview.

Miller: Of course, overshadowing everything right now is the arrest of Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles. You had to kick Coles off the team (he had a prior history of problems, he missed the first game of the season). Bobby, Peter Warrick, he addressed the team. We saw him huddle around the team as well, what reaction did the players have to Peter's predicament and what he said to them?

Bowden: They all like Peter Warrick, he's close with all of his teammates, a very likable person. He made a terrible mistake, they were very receptive to what he said, and I think it meant something to him. He needed some friends at that time.

	Bobby Bowden and FSU's 14-year run of 10-win seasons and top-5 finishes is over.

Miller: Just for the members of our audience who don't know, both he and Coles were charged with a felony. They took items, and paid about 24 dollars for something that was worth over 400 dollars at a local department store. What is your feeling about whether this will be reduced to a misdemeanor charge, or whether they can possibly enter a plea and get him back on the team?

Bowden: You know, whether or not it's a misdemeanor or a felony, it means a lot here. Our departmental rules say that if a young man has a felony, he can't participate no matter what. If he has a misdemeanor, then it gets into our hands. The athletic director and myself would make the decision, so Pete is hoping to get it reduced to a misdemeanor. I hope he does because, if so, then I'll recommend that he plays again. But I do want to say this Gary, whether or not he wins his appeal this week, I'm still not going to let him play in the next ball game because of what has happened.

Miller: You've said now that everyone should forget about the Heisman, it's a done deal.

Bowden: I'd be shocked. If he can get it reduced (to a misdemeanor) ,we're going to let him come back, I hope. I mean, that's what I'm going to recommend, and then I hope he has a great year. I'll be honest with you, I won't even talk about the Heisman and I don't want him even talking about it. It would be a miracle, it would be a miracle for him to come back and win that thing.

Miller: It was kind of a miracle in some people's eyes that he even came back to the program (Bowden nods in agreement). This is a guy who, ironically enough, was a roommate of Randy Moss when he was back with you as a redshirt freshman. Randy Moss had such a spectacular rookie season in the NFL, everyone thought that Peter Warrick could go into the NFL. He came back because you guys came so close to winning a national championship with him last year. How surprised were you that he came back for his senior season?

	“	Our goal every year is to win the national championship, and we say it. It's everybody's goal, but nobody else will say it. ”
		— Bobby Bowden

Bowden: Nobody even suspected he would come back because we were told that he was going to be drafted so high that having another year wouldn't make any difference. However, I think it WILL make a difference. I'm glad he came back, I wanted him to come back. But it was strictly his decision and we were surprised when he decided to come back.

Miller: Obviously it is unfortunate with what happened to Laveranues Coles, but do you expect him (Coles) to also have a productive NFL career?

Bowden: If he'll keep his nose clean and he gets in little stuff, trouble just kind of hangs around trouble. And I hope he's learned his lesson. He had several other things that he had done and that is the reason that I had no choice but to expel him. Pete is a little different situation.

Miller: Bobby, when these things happen and of course you are the front, you're the face of the Florida State Seminole program. How does it make you feel and how much responsibility do you take when guys get in trouble?

Bowden: I take the same responsibility as a father would if his son got in trouble and that is the way I try to treat our boys. I get these letters from a lot of people saying "kick them off the team, they embarrass us". Yeah, they embarrass you, but I'm interested in that young man, too. I hate to hang a kid. If there's any way I can give him some rope, I like to give him rope and see if he can't change. Now Laveranues, I can't even give him some rope. When Randy Moss was here I told him, "Randy, you're on two strikes when you come here now, one more strike and you're out." And so he went home and he struck out. And I had to let him go, I didn't want to. And that's what happened with Laveranues. But again, if I can save them and get them to change.... He doesn't need to change, he just needs to not ever do that again. I feel like I have got to be like a father to these boys. And I'm going to treat them like I would my own sons, that's what I'm going to do.

Miller: Can you believe that you've now beaten the Miami Hurricanes five straight times after what you went through in the 80's and early 90's? (Bowden laughs)

Bowden: It's nearly like payback. Because they beat us so many times, I think they might have beaten us seven out of eight. And the year we beat them, they won the national championship. I think during the last 15 years they've won four national championships, we have won one, and maybe if we had won the game instead of them we probably would have had about three titles right now.

Miller: How big a barometer is that for you, Bobby, the Miami game in terms of a national championship chance?

Bowden: It's big, it's a step we have to take, it's one of the mountains on our schedule every year. Because they are not like the Miami of two years ago now. They are nearly fully grown. When we played them in that first half it was nothing but a slugging match going on between two heavyweights, and then we finally got the best of them. They're back.

Miller: You have got Wake Forest coming up this week, you'll be heavy favorites as you are in almost every ACC game (Bowden nods in agreement). You are not going to talk about it, but looming on the horizon, everyone is talking about it already, and now he's in your conference. Tommy Bowden, your son, comes over from Tulane, where he was a legend. He's at Clemson, every year you are going to have to face him on the schedule and if that wasn't enough, win number 300 could be on the horizon in that game. (Bowden currently has 298 wins)

Bowden: You know, I was wanting to whip old' Terry (the coach at Auburn until last year). I've been wanting to whip Terry for five years, then he gets out of it, now Tommy comes on here. But it's going to be an exciting week, I'm sure, because I can tell who has called and what's in store. But I'm glad to have him in the conference. You know, when you're in coaching, you hardly get to see your family, you're gone so much; so at least I get to see Tommy and his family a little bit more.

Miller: What do you think it's going to be like for him with you going for such a milestone in that game?

Bowden: Tommy's like me, I'm going to try to whip him, and he's going to try to whip me, he's got to. That's one reason I did not want my boys to go into coaching. I didn't encourage any of them to go into coaching. Jeffery is coaching with me, Tommy is coaching there and Terry was coaching. I didn't want them to go into coaching because of this: having to play each other, you might cost the other guy his job (laughs). Tommy probably needs job security a little bit more than I do right now, but I still am going to try to whip him.

Miller: (laughs) Well put. Now do you think that will effect what kind of a birthday present you will get from him on your 70th coming up November 8th.

Bowden: (laughs) Oh, he ain't going to give me nothing anyway. (Miller laughs) Hey, his wife might send me something but Tommy ain't going to give me nothing anyway.

Miller: How do you feel about the big 7-0 approaching, Bobby?

Bowden: You know, the amazing thing about it, Gary, is when I was forty or forty-five, I felt like probably when I got into my sixties I would be ready to retire. And here I am fixing to approach seventy, sixty just slipped right by, sixty-five slipped by, I'm fixing to face seventy and have no desire whatsoever to quit coaching. I feel as good right now as I did fifteen years ago. So, I really have no desire to quit.

Miller: Do you wish Joe Paterno would retire so you could catch him on the victory list?

Bowden: I sure do, I can't catch that guy unless he quits, but you know Joe is a younger seventy-two than I am.

Miller: I would imagine that the reason that you stay and you feel so youthful and you want to go on, you have a new contract that runs through 2004, and you'd like to get another national title.

Bowden: Well, yeah I want another. Like I say, they have given me five more years here, I am sure if my health is good I could extend it further, but I'm not the guy that calls the shots on that. Our goal every year is to win the national championship, and we say it. It's everybody's goal, but nobody else will say it. It's our goal every year, our people, they would get mad at me if I said, "yeah we want to be number two, we want to be number two".