May 13, 2015 10:21 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

One of the winningest college football coaches of all time and a Florida State Seminoles icon, Bobby Bowden revealed a harsh opinion on Jameis Winston.

Appearing on ESPN's "Paul Finebaum Show" on the SEC Network, Bowden called Winston an "embarrassment" in spite of all the football games and honors he won as a Seminoles player.

"I think it's a consensus among Florida State fans and boosters that he was an embarrassment in a lot of ways to the university," Bowden told Finebaum. "He won a lot of ball games, probably one of the best football players that ever attended Florida State, but he hurt himself off the field. The good news is that he's young enough to get over that, ya know it? And he's gotta do that. But he just can't make those junior high school decisions that he made while he was in college."

Winston is currently being sued for sexually assaulting a female former student at Florida State in Dec. 2012, when he was still a football recruit at the school. Winston recently filed a countersuit against Erica Kinsman, claiming defamation.

While part of the "controversy" that surrounded Winston at Florida State involved the sexual assault accusation, Bowden was apparently addressing the instances of immaturity like shoplifting crab legs or shouting an obscenity in a public area.

Bowden never coached Winston, but remained close to the football program after he turned the team over to Jimbo Fisher, his former offensive coordinator and the team's current coach.

Bowden also shed some light on why Florida State joined the ACC and not the SEC. From 1976 to 1991, Bowden's Seminoles were independent of a conference, but joined the ACC in 1992 and have stayed in that conference since. Since joining the ACC, Bowden won two national championships and 12 conference titles.

"I felt [Paul] that it was too difficult to win through the SEC to win a national championship," Bowden told Paul Finebaum. "I felt like our best route would be to go through the ACC and that did prove out to be correct. But, I don't know if we could have made it through the SEC."

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit