Bob Flutie

"Here at Sunnydale, nobody leaves campus while school is in session. Are we clear?"

- Principal Flutie

Robert "Bob" Flutie is a minor recurring character featured in the first season of the WB Network television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Played by actor Ken Lerner, he was introduced in the series pilot, "Welcome to the Hellmouth". He appeared in four episodes of the series before being killed off in the sixth episode "The Pack".

Biography
Bob Flutie was the principal of Sunnydale High School in the year 1997. A well-meaning man with a good heart, he proffered a nurturing aspect to teaching, putting the interests of the student before all else. When Buffy Summers enrolled at Sunnydale High in the Spring of that year, Principal Flutie welcomed her with open arms. As a show of good faith, he tore up her transcript in front of her eyes, indicating that every student gets a fresh start under her care. When he learned however that Buffy had been expelled from her previous school for burning down the gymnasium, he grew a bit anxious and re-assembled her transcript and placed back into her file folder. He knew that Buffy would be someone he would have to keep an eye on, but had faith that the girl was truly looking for a fresh start.

On Buffy's second day at Sunnydale, Principal Flutie caught her leaving school grounds. Buffy gave him a feeble excuse as to why she was leaving, but Flutie reminded her that ditching school on her second day would look very bad on her record. He closed the campus gates shut, enforcing his edict that nobody is to leave while school is in session. Buffy agreed to his instruction and Flutie was relieved, calling her a "sensible girl with her feet on the ground". As soon as he turned his back on her however, Buffy jumped the gate and went on her way.

A few weeks later, the school's science teacher Doctor Stephen Gregory was found decapitated in the cafeteria freezer. Principal Flutie called in a crisis counselor and insisted that everyone who saw the body was to visit the counselor so that the "healing could begin". Buffy tried to get out of going to see him, but Flutie was adamant about making sure that every one of his students got the care that they needed - whether they wanted it or not.

Principal Flutie chaperoned a field trip to the Sunnydale Zoo, a project which he took some measure of pride in and felt that it would be positive for the students. This field trip would ultimately result in his undoing however only a short time later.

In addition to school pride, Principal Flutie also embraced school spirit. He acquired a baby pig as the mascot for the high school's varsity football team, the Razorbacks, which he named Herbert. He dressed Herbert up with spikes on it's back and a miniature football helmet, which some of the other students found to be silly.

A group of students who had attended the field trip, including Xander Harris, had found themselves possessed by the predatory instincts of a rare breed of hyena. The pack broke into one of the locked rooms and savagely ate Herbert the pig. Buffy and Willow Rosenberg confronted Xander and locked him up, but the rest of the pack were still free. They came into Principal Flutie's office and began terrorizing until Flutie threatened to call their parents. This did little to dissuade their murderous instincts however and they leaped upon the defenseless principal and devoured him.

Notes & Trivia

 * The character of Bob Flutie was created by Joss Whedon and director Charles Martin Smith.


 * A running gag on the series was that once per season, the school principal was going to meet a gruesome and untimely demise. As it turned out, Flutie's successor R. Snyder, turned out to be a popular character and managed to survive all the way to the season three finale "Graduation Day (Part 2)".

Appearances

 * BTVS: Welcome to the Hellmouth
 * BTVS: The Harvest
 * BTVS: Teacher's Pet
 * BTVS: The Pack