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 Starting from scratch Schnellenberger to coach new Florida Atlantic program
Posted: Monday July 12, 1999 05:56 PM
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) -- Howard Schnellenberger's search for a coach to lead Florida Atlantic's new football program ended with the obvious choice: Howard Schnellenberger. Since May 1998, Schnellenberger has been raising money and laying a foundation for the program as director of football operations. On Monday, he became head coach of the Fighting Owls, who will play their first game Sept. 8, 2001 against Cornell. "The old war horse has risen again, and he's ready for battle," said Schnellenberger, 65. "This is the most important thing I've ever undertaken." Schnellenberger made the Miami Hurricanes a national power in the early 1980s, then built Louisville into a top-25 team. His interest in becoming Florida Atlantic's first coach was well known, and school president Anthony Catanese said no one else was interviewed for the job. "Some people referred to it as the national search for Howard Schnellenberger," Catanese joked. "He's the right man to lead our team onto the field and into the 21st century." Schnellenberger agreed to a seven-year contract for $150,000 annually. "I recommended to Dr. Catanese that he consider me for this position," said the gruff, gravel-voiced Schnellenberger. "I'm delighted that he concurred with my recommendation." The school also announced that 1966 graduate Tom Oxley, president of the Royal Palm Polo Club, has pledged $4 million for a new athletic complex and practice field. The donation pushed Florida Atlantic's football fund-raising campaign to $8 million, all of it brought in by Schnellenberger. Florida Atlantic, a state university with 22,000 students and seven campuses, also wants to raise money for an $80 million domed stadium to open in 2003, when the school plans to join Division I. Because the densely populated surrounding area is rich in wealthy boosters and high school talent, Schnellenberger envisions Florida Atlantic developing quickly into a perennial power on the scale of Florida State and Notre Dame. "We're on a collision course with a national championship, and time is the only variable," he said. The coaching job is Schnellenberger's first since he spent one turbulent season at Oklahoma in 1995. Besieged by ugly rumors regarding his drinking and treatment of players, he bitterly resigned under pressure. But in South Florida, Schnellenberger's reputation remains untarnished. He was the Miami Dolphins' offensive coordinator when they went 17-0 in 1972, and he led the Hurricanes to the first of their four national championships in 1983. Now, at an age associated with retirement, Schnellenberger is starting over. The new coach was introduced at a news conference that seemed more like a pep rally, thanks to high school cheerleaders and recorded marching-band music. Two students modeled Fighting Owls uniforms that included a wide stripe down the sides of each jersey. "It's going to make our short little guys look a lot taller," Schnellenberger joked. Some 200 boosters and members of the faculty and staff were on hand, and Schnellenberger shook their hands with the zeal of a campaigning politician. "I think about the attendance for our first game at Miami, and I don't think we had this large a crowd," he said. But later, when discussing his plan to build another football factory, he acknowledged skepticism among the school's supporters. "I'm the only guy who believes in what I'm doing, deep down in his heart," Schnellenberger said. "They want to believe, but they have to be shown."
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