http://www.presnapread.com/an-ode-to-howard-schnellenberger/

An Ode to Howard Schnellenberger
By Paul Myerberg  //  May 17, 2011

Howard Schnellenberger’s form of self-promotion extends outwards, branding his teams with the sort of confidence needed to exceed all expectations. We first saw this at Miami, where in the span of five brief seasons Schnellenberger led a nothing, nobody program from the hinterlands of college football to a national championship. He then left for the U.S.F.L., followed by Louisville, and at the latter spot famously boasted that the Cardinals were “on a collision course with a national championship” — a boast that never materialized, but was pure, vintage Schnellenberger. Then came Florida Atlantic, where he began the final chapter of his coaching career, losing none of his confidence even while undertaking the mammoth task of building a program from scratch.

Even at Oklahoma, where he fell flat in one miserably disappointing season, Schnellenberger retained his swagger. Upon arriving on campus, he promised that his tenure would make O.U. fans forget about the glory days of Wilkinson and Switzer; bold talk, and perhaps the one and only time when Schnellenberger didn’t live up to his end of the coaching bargain.

One more vintage Schnellenberger tale: When asked by then-F.A.U. president Anthony Catenese to become the university’s first director of football operations and head the fledgling program’s initial coaching search, Schnellenberger sat back, smoked his pipe and came to his boss with the best coaching name he could find — himself.

“The old war horse has risen again, and he is ready for battle,” Schnellenberger said at his introductory press conference. He was old then, he’s older now, and it’s probably time for Schnellenberger to step aside for the younger guard, but as at Miami and Louisville, he leaves F.A.U. in a far stronger place than when he arrived. That’s an understatement, in fact.

With the Hurricanes, Schnellenberger laid the groundwork for the generation of domination that followed, which included three more national titles over the next decade and a fourth nearly 20 years later. While he posted a sub-.500 mark at Louisville, Schnellenberger both revamped the program as a whole — the Cardinals took off for good in 1998 — and followed up on his pledge to rework the university’s football facilities; the football complex is named in his honor.

The same will be done at F.A.U., which has known only Schnellenberger, no one else. As promised, the university began the process of a new, on-campus stadium in 2008. The stadium will be complete by the fall, will host its first challenger in October and, one only hopes, will also carry Schnellenberger’s name in some capacity before too long.

So, the big question: What does the post-Schnellenberger future hold for F.A.U.? Let’s first consider what’s occurred under his watch. The early struggles accompanying the birth of a program are long gone, even if the Owls took a step back last fall and will likely struggle again in 2011. The program has achieved a certain cachet in the region as a preferred landing spot for lower-level Florida recruits unable to land scholarship offers from the state’s power trio. The team has already won, so it’s not as if his successor will step into losing situation.

Most importantly, the on-campus facilities will be Schnellenberger’s lasting memory. The stadium will become the face of the program, a jewel — in the eyes of F.A.U. — of which the program can be proud. His successor, whom I believe will be a young, Southern coach with a reputation on the recruiting trail, inherits a situation far removed from Florida International when that program replaced its original coach.

And that’s Schnellenberger’s real lasting impact; he’ll be remembered today at F.A.U. for the Sun Belt title and two bowl trips, but in the future, he’ll be remembered for being the architect of a program with large-scale aspirations.

What a great read.

I think we all forget what an amazing job Coach has done here.

owlfamily said

What a great read.

I think we all forget what an amazing job Coach has done here.

It's really the way of the sports world, us as fans want to win and we want to win now. If the team is down everyone starts pointing fingers and gets frustrated and wants heads to roll not looking at the whole picture.

We all now times are changing, the game is changing and we do have to keep up, but HS will always be remembered here at FAU!!!!

NCowl said

owlfamily said

What a great read.

I think we all forget what an amazing job Coach has done here.

It's really the way of the sports world, us as fans want to win and we want to win now. If the team is down everyone starts pointing fingers and gets frustrated and wants heads to roll not looking at the whole picture.

We all now times are changing, the game is changing and we do have to keep up, but HS will always be remembered here at FAU!!!!

We all want to be the next USC, Ohio State or UF.  Everybody forgets that those programs are paying the price, a price I never want our program to pay.  I dont disagree that soon we will need to bring a new coaching era in, however they better hire on the coaches values and principles not thier ability to run a here today gone tomorrow offense.

walty12 said

NCowl said

owlfamily said

What a great read.

I think we all forget what an amazing job Coach has done here.

It's really the way of the sports world, us as fans want to win and we want to win now. If the team is down everyone starts pointing fingers and gets frustrated and wants heads to roll not looking at the whole picture.

We all now times are changing, the game is changing and we do have to keep up, but HS will always be remembered here at FAU!!!!

We all want to be the next USC, Ohio State or UF.  Everybody forgets that those programs are paying the price, a price I never want our program to pay.  I dont disagree that soon we will need to bring a new coaching era in, however they better hire on the coaches values and principles not thier ability to run a here today gone tomorrow offense.

Same goes for everyone's favorite underdog Boise State, and I'm sure TCU has some skeletons yet to be found.