Two coaching legends who watched their careers intersect were Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden.

Since Bowden passed away on Sunday, Spurrier has shared several memories of his time around Bowden, including the final phone call they shared.

“I said ‘Coach Bowden,’ you had a little bit of an effect on my coaching career,” Spurrier said on Sirius XM College.

Spurrier recalled that in 1977, he was cut from 3 teams in pro football and his career was at a crossroads. He found himself in Gainesville watching the Gators play. He remembered that Florida State beat the Gators 37-9 on the strength of a powerful offense.

“I’m sitting up there watching that and I had to do something, I had to get a job,” Spurrier said. “We didn’t make much money in pro football back in the ’70s there. I said maybe if I get to be a coach and throw the ball up and down the field the way these guys are doing it, maybe I’d have a chance to be successful. That was watching FSU. They threw the ball around before I did, long before I did. … I certainly didn’t invent passing the ball because FSU did it extremely well.”

Spurrier was then asked by Mark Packer what Bowden said of Spurrier stealing his idea. Spurrier then called Bowden, “such a class guy.”

“I’ve never heard him say a bad word about anybody, tell you the truth,” Spurrier said.