Bobby Bowden Says He's Improving After Contracting COVID-19

Former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, hospitalized last week after contracting COVID-19, says he is feeling better and hopes to go home soon.

Mitchell Martin/FSView

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, hospitalized last week after contracting COVID-19, says he is feeling better and hopes to go home soon.

Bowden, 90, told the Tallahassee Democrat on Monday, “I am doing good. I appreciate everyone’s thoughts, I really do.”

Bowden was hospitalized last week in Tallahassee after contracting the virus. He told the newspaper he has been able to walk around his hospital room. Bowden recently spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and rehab after contracting a leg infection.

Bowden said the virus hit him hard.

“You get fever, you get frustrated, you don’t feel good and you wonder if you were able to get up,” Bowden said. “But now that’s behind me.”

Bowden coached Florida State for 34 years, retiring after the 2009 season. He 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.