Robert Cleckler Bowden (born November 8, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a retired college football coach. He coached the Florida State Seminoles football team (Florida State Seminoles football) from the 1976 to 2009 seasons. During his time at Florida State, Bowden led FSU to an Associated Press and Coaches Poll National Title (1994 Orange Bowl) in 1993 (1993 Florida State Seminoles football team) and a BCS National Championship (Bowl Championship Series) National Title (2000 Sugar Bowl) in 1999 (1999 Florida State Seminoles football team), as well as twelve Atlantic Coast Conference championships (List of Atlantic Coast Conference football champions) since FSU joined the conference in 1991. After a difficult 2009 season and amid questioning fans, Bowden announced his retirement from FSU on December 1, just weeks after his 80th birthday. His final coaching appearance was the 2010 Gator Bowl game on January 1 with a 33-21 victory over his former program, West Virginia (2009 West Virginia Mountaineers football team).

Bowden finished his career second in all-time wins by a Division I-FBS (Division I (NCAA)) coach with 377 wins. A March 6, 2009 NCAA ruling requiring Florida State to "vacate wins for any games in which an ineligible player participated," threatening to remove as many as 12 of Bowdens wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons in relation to an academic scandal, Florida State appealed the ruling.. This ruling was upheld on January 5, 2010 . Upon final investigation by Florida State University it was determined that Bowden was to vacate 12 wins, bringing his final career record to 377-129-4. As of the 2009 season, Bowden was one of four active coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches (along with Chris Ault, Joe Paterno, and John Gagliardi).