FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger is joined by his wife, Beverlee, after he announced Thursday he is stepping down as FAU's coach following the 2011 season. (FAUOwlAccess.com photo)
END OF AN ERA
Howard Schnellenberger, the only coach in Florida Atlantic's history, announces he will step down at the end of the 2011 season.
Originally published on
8/11/2011
by
Marcus Nelson
BOCA RATON – Florida Atlantic’s football program lost its legendary coach on Thursday.
The Owls also gained a great ambassador for the university
Schnellenberger, 77, announced at an afternoon press conference that 52 years after embarking on his coaching career - the past 11 being at FAU - he would step down as the only coach FAU has ever had after the 2011 season.
Schnellenberger instead will take on a role next season as an ambassador for the university to promote and raise money for the football program he started from scratch and the on-campus stadium he finally will coach in.
“All of us know, there comes a time that, after 52 years, it’s a pretty good indication,” Schnellenberger said. “If it’s a situation where there is any possibility of making the wrong decision, you are better off making a decision to have a seamless exit, period.”
After spending more than 10 years campaigning for the on-campus stadium, Schnellenberger will coach in it just one season.
And Schnellenberger wants to make sure it’s a memorable one.
“We came to the conclusion that rather than get into a situation that so many other schools around the country get into when the coaching days come to an end for a coach, (we wanted) to be able to do it with a great deal of zeal and a great deal of effort in the final year of our coaching career,” Schnellenberger said.
Schnellenberger was hired by Anthony Catanese at Florida Atlantic in 1998 to start the football program and put FAU athletics on the map.
“In my humble opinion, Howard Schnellenberger is one of the greatest football coaches of all time,” Catanese said. “It has been an honor to work with such a great man.”
After naming himself the coach, the Owls took the field in 2001 losing to Slippery Rock 40-7 in the program’s first game. The following week, FAU defeated Bethune-Cookman for the program’s first victory.
In 2003, FAU, still a I-AA team, defeated I-A Middle Tennessee in the season opener and made it to the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs, finishing with an 11-3 record.
The following year the Owls started the transition to I-A and were invited into the Sun Belt Conference.
FAU won the Sun Belt Conference championship in 2007 and defeated Memphis 44-27 in the New Orleans Bowl.
A year later, FAU made its second consecutive bowl appearance when the Owls defeated Central Michigan 24-21 in the Motor City Bowl to run Schnellenberger’s record in bowl games to 6-0.
Even after building FAU’s program, Schnellenberger is perhaps best known for leading Miami to the 1983 National Championship, its first title and starting what would become one of the great dynasties in college football.
However, Schnellenberger wasn’t around to see it as he left the Hurricanes after their historic victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for a job in the USFL that never materialized.
Instead Schnellenberger returned to his hometown of Louisville to resurrect the Cardinals’ struggling program. He planned an on-campus stadium there as well, but left before it opened.
After a one-year stint at Oklahoma in 1995, he was out of football until he was hired at FAU.
FAU senior nose tackle Jarvis Givens was surprised by the announcement but sensed something was awry when Schnellenberger missed a few practices this week.
“We noticed he wasn’t out there at practice like he normally is,”Givens said. “When he wasn’t out there, we knew something was up.”
FAU will begin to search for Schnellenberger’s replacement, with a coach possibly hired by December, according to Craig Angelos, FAU’s athletic director.
“The fortunate thing for me is that as an athletic director I don’t have to go out and hire one in a two week period ,” Angelos said. “There is a three-to-four month period of time before we have to name one. It will be a nice, smooth transition.”
FAU President Mary Jane Saunders believes the job will attract some quality candidates.
“I’m hopeful with the stadium, a great team and being in South Florida with all the things we have to offer down here that we’ll get very good candidates ,” Saunders said.”I’ve seen that as we hire faculty and hire administrators that everyone sees that we are a university heading on the way up.”