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Rex Brown

Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele makes a call to the defense during a game earlier this season at Memorial Stadium in Clemson.

CLEMSON — If Bobby Bowden is the embodiment of Florida State football, a good share of the credit has to go to Seminoles defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews.

That’s a fact not lost on Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, whose relationship goes back with the Seminole assistant to when he was in elementary school and Andrews was coaching at Livingston State, now West Alabama.

Andrews was coaching several players who Steele’s father had coached, and Steele would sometimes get a chance to speak with him after games — a fact he didn’t let Andrews forget when they were on the staff together at Florida State from 2003-06.

“I can remember being in like the fifth or sixth grade and going to Livingston games and seeing Coach Andrews after the game and meeting him,” Steele said. “I used to tell him that every now and then, and he said that didn’t happen, but it did happen.”

The mutual respect between the two runs deep, and today, they will go head to head for the first and only time as defensive coordinators when Florida State comes calling to Clemson in a pivotal ACC Atlantic Division tilt that will kick off at 7:45 p.m. and be televised by ESPN.

It’ll mark the final time Andrews, a Clemson assistant under Charley Pell and Danny Ford from 1977-80, will march the sideline at Death Valley, as he’ll retire at season’s end after 47 years of coaching, including 26 seasons with the Seminoles.

It’s been a particularly tough season for Andrews and Florida State, as he announced his impending retirement earlier this week with the defense ranking last in the ACC in total defense (428.9 yards per game) and 11th in scoring defense (29.8 points per game).

"Because of a lot of speculation and questioning from friends, family and media, we decided to go ahead and do it now," Andrews said.

And for legions of college football followers, including Steele, it’ll be strange to see Andrews go, as he is regarded as a legend in his own right beside Bowden.

“I love the man,” Steele said. “He’s an amazing human being and just an unbelievable coach. I learned so much from him about handling players, and those players love him to death. I’ve never been at a place where people come back so much and they want to see Coach Andrews.”

And apart from that, Steele figures there may be few other coaches out there who could possibly equal Andrews’ intensity on the field.

“He’s just an amazing person, but I will say this about him, he has, and I say it affectionately, a split personality,” Steele said. “There’s something about white lines that changes his personality.

“Off the field he’s just about as easy-going as you can be. But on the field, he demands and commands excellence at every snap. He’s pretty good at getting it.”

It’s the total package that Steele and the rest of the college football world will miss about Andrews. And outside of this season, Seminole fans will certainly miss what he brought to the team on Saturdays.

“The way he does it, the way he goes about it, he’s the same every day,” Steele said. “He’s got unbelievable tenacity, coaches them hard, coaches them tough and is really a great game day caller. He’s one of the best game day callers I’ve ever been around, so he’s just got a knack for it, a gift.”

Steele and the Tigers probably wouldn’t mind if that gift didn’t present itself today, however.