Former FSU coach Bobby Bowden, 90, tests positive for virus

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Retired Florida State coach Bobby Bowden speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Omaha, Neb., on Jan. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden has tested positive for the coronavirus and was home Monday monitoring his symptoms.

Family friend and Bowden’s former publicist Kim Shiff said the 90-year-old Hall of Fame coach had been hospitalized for about two weeks, being treated for an infection after having a procedure to remove skin cancer from his leg.

Bowden returned home late last week and was informed by his doctor he had tested positive for the virus on Saturday, he told the Tallahassee Democrat on Monday. He said he had yet to experience symptoms of COVID-19.

“I don’t feel bad, yet,” Bowden told the newspaper. “I guess I can loaf around the rest of the week. I just have to keep an eye out for (symptoms).”

Bowden coached Florida State for 34 years and is second on the career victories list in major college football with 357, behind only the late Joe Paterno of Penn State.

He won national championships in 1993 and 1999.

“We are thinking about coach,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell told reporters. “We will be praying for a speedy recovery.”

Norvell tested positive for COVID-19 last month and was forced to miss Florida State’s game against Miami.

Bowden said he is isolating at his home in Tallahassee and his wife, Ann, along with his daughter and grandson, all of whom are being tested for the virus.

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