"Our dilemma is: How do you ask a legend to retire?"

The question was posed by Bill Davis, a past president of Seminole Boosters, Inc., in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. The answer might be coming soon.

Some Florida State boosters are calling for 76-year-old football coach Bobby Bowden to retire with the Seminoles (4-3, 2-3 ACC) in last place in the conference.

Palm Beach attorney Peter Mettler, who is a former board member of Seminole Boosters, told the newspaper he was one of many boosters who have written to Florida State, calling for Bowden to retire.

"I am convinced and frankly have been for the last two seasons that coach Bowden should retire or be forced to retire," Mettler wrote to Florida State president T.K. Wetherell, the newspaper reported. "Someone has to stand up and make this difficult decision. As our president I urge you to be the leader I know you are, and do what has to be done."

Mettler, who is a Golden Chief in the booster organization ($6,000 miniumum donation) told the newspaper he sent his letter on Friday, the day before Florida State lost at home to Boston College.

Davis also told the newspaper he thinks it's time for a change at the top for the Florida State football team.

"This is a real tough business. It boils down to one of two things: It's either the horses or the jockeys. And we think we have some pretty good horses."

A Web site, "RetireCoachBowden.com" also calls for Bowden to step down.

"We think it is time for someone in the FSU Administration to tell the Emperor he has no clothes...it is time to let our Legendary Coach retire with some amount of class and dignity. Let 2006 be the swan song year so FSU can look ahead to the future with a new, younger direction, with an active Head Coach who actually coaches in the game," the introduction to the Web site reads.

However, Bowden remains upbeat.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I feel real good about our program right now," Bowden said Sunday after the Seminoles lost their second straight league home game.

"I can't worry about that," Bowden said. "Find the sun. The glass is half full, not half empty. That's always been me."

With the season's final road trip on tap Saturday at Maryland (5-2, 2-1), Florida State needs a win to avoid heading into the season's final month at .500 for the first time in Bowden's 31 years at the school.

The Seminoles' three losses to Clemson, North Carolina State and Boston College are by a total of 16 points.

"We've been in every ballgame until the last dadgum minute," Bowden said. "We're playing so many younger people, we should get better."

When, however, is the question for the defending ACC champs, who have now lost seven of their last 12 games dating back to last November.

"I don't want to present this as 'Oh boy, next year,'" Bowden said. "I'm talking about this season. [But] we've got some growing up to do."

Injuries have forced Bowden to play 17 true freshmen this year, including five who started in the loss to Boston College.

"People win with freshmen. You also get beat with freshmen," Bowden said. "But they're going to be good."

Reaffirming his positive nature, Bowden said his years in coaching have taught him good follows bad.

"We're going to come out of this doggone thing," he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Labels: coaching changes

Eric Gordon, one of the top high school guards in the nation, changed his mind and will commit to Indiana.

The 6-foot-3 senior guard from North Central High School in Indianapolis had committed verbally to Illinois in November, but he will announce he's attending Indiana during Hoosier Hysteria on Friday night, his father told the Indianapolis Star.

Chuck Jones, the athletic director at Gordon's high school would not say what Gordon's plans were, but told ESPN.com that Gordon had spoken to the coaches at Indiana and Illinois and would make a public announcement of his plans in the next 24 hours.

Should his commitment stick, it would be a boost for coach Kelvin Sampson, who arrived at Indiana under a cloud of recruiting violations during his tenure at Oklahoma. It would also reverse the trend of top in-state players leaving Indiana, which plagued previous coach Mike Davis.

Gordon, ranked No. 1 in the class of 2007 by Rivals.com, was the subject of recruiting rumors this summer, but told ESPN.com at the the time that he intended to honor his commitment to Illinois.

Asked about recruiting players who had verbally committed, Illinois coach Bruce Weber said it was not accepted in college basketball.

"In football, it's always been known to be open game, but that hasn't been the case with us," Weber said this summer when Gordon was getting attention from Indiana. "If you have a kid [verbally] committed, then for that eight or nine months you don't recruit anyone else. So you lose all that time recruiting other kids, because you have one committed. Ask 98 percent of the coaches, and they'll tell you that they stop calling kids once they [verbally commit]. We do. Most do it."

"What are you doing breaking my record?" the NFL great joked at the start of Monday's interview on Sirius Satellite Radio.

"I apologize," Ball said.

Ball grew up idolizing Rice. He matched Rice's record two weeks ago against Dartmouth, then caught his 51st touchdown pass Saturday with Richmond leading New Hampshire 14-6 in the third quarter. New Hampshire went on to win 27-17.

"The record was a relief for not only myself, but for my teammates, the coaching staff," said Ball, whose team is 5-0 and ranked No. 1 in the I-AA poll for the fifth straight week. "And it gave us a spark. It kind of lifted a weight off of everybody's shoulders."

Rice caught 50 touchdown passes at Mississippi Valley State and went on to break NFL records for career receptions, yards and receiving touchdowns.

"I have heard some great things about you," Rice said. "That you are a total team player and that you practice hard and that you play hard, and I'm a firm believer that if you have a good work ethic, things will pay off for you."