Bobby Bowden’s an early riser.

Way early.

As in 4 a.m.

By 7 a.m. every day, the former Florida State football coach has studied the bible, read the newspaper and eaten breakfast.

Bowden's son Terry, the head football coach at Akron, is usually the first to telephone each morning to say hello – and talk football. The Zips are headed to Florida to play Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic in the Boca Raton Bowl next Tuesday.

On Friday morning, when Bowden’s telephone rang around 7:40 a.m., he thought it was Terry's daily call.

But this was an unfamiliar voice on the other end of the telephone.

It was new FSU coach Willie Taggart.

"It was good," Bowden said Friday morning.

"I've been waiting to talk to him; I didn't want to push myself on him. It was a nice, introductory conversation. I congratulated him on getting the job."

Taggart has called FSU his 'dream job."

The 41-year-old Palmetto native told Bowden how he grew up a fan of the Seminoles, cheering on favorite players like Warrick Dunn, Charlie Ward and Amp Lee and watching the weekly “The Bobby Bowden Show" during the football season.

Most of Taggart's family still live in Florida and the Bradenton area.

Bowden said Taggart, telephoning from the recruiting trail in south Florida, invited him to the Seminoles' practice next week. FSU continues its preparations for the Independence Bowl against Southern Miss on Dec. 27 in Shreveport, Louisiana.

While Bowden can't make practice - he is traveling to Boca Raton for the Zips game, followed by a trip to Mobile, Alabama, for an honorary function - he is looking forward to seeing Taggart in person.

Bowden's said Taggart's charisma was evident during the telephone call.

"I told him how fortunate we were to have him (at FSU)," Bowden said.

"The big thing is he wanted to be here."