Florida Atlantic Owls football

Florida Atlantic Owls football
2016 Florida Atlantic Owls football team
First season	2001
Athletic director	Patrick Chun
Stadium	FAU Stadium
Seating capacity	30,000
Field surface	Grass
Location	Boca Raton, Florida
NCAA division	Division I FBS
Conference	C-USA
Division	East (2013–present)
All-time record	76–115 (.398)
Bowl record	2–0 (1.000)
Conference titles	1
Colors	Blue and Red[1]
Fight song	Florida Atlantic Fight Song
Mascot	Owlsley the Owl
Marching band	Florida Atlantic Marching Owls
Rivals	FIU Panthers
Website	FAUSports.com

The Florida Atlantic Owls football team represents Florida Atlantic University, an NCAA Division I-A (FBS) college football team. The Owls are members of Conference USA.

History

Howard Schnellenberger era (2001-2011)

Florida Atlantic University football began play in 2001 with legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger serving as head coach until 2011. Schnellenberger was a former offensive coordinator with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins who, as a head coach, turned around a moribund Miami football program and won a national championship in his fifth season in 1983 after back to back nine win seasons in 1980 and 1981. Schnellenberger also turned around a downtrodden Louisville football program, winning the Fiesta Bowl in 1990.

After competing their first four years as an NCAA Division I-AA independent, the Owls moved to Division I-A and the Sun Belt Conference. Starting with the 2013-14 school year, FAU athletics have competed in Conference USA.

In 1998, Florida Atlantic University announced it was pursuing the creation of an NCAA football program and that Howard Schnellenberger was going to lead the charge, as director of football operations and head coach. After his success in rebuilding programs at Miami and the Louisville, Coach Schnellenberger now undertook the role of building a program from scratch. Much like his time at Miami and Louisville, Coach Schnellenberger did not shy from placing lofty expectations and high goals on his newly created program. Even before FAU would play an intercollegiate game, Coach Schnellenberger explained the goal of FAU football would be to play the best teams it can schedule, in order for the program to aim for a National Championship in Division I-A football. These extreme goals were not unusual from a man like Coach Schnellenberger. At Louisville, facing threats from the administration that the football team would be terminated, Schnellenberger made the bold (and now famous) prediction, "[We are] on a collision course with the national championship. The only variable is time.” ^[2]

On August 29, 2000, the first practice was held at the Boca Raton campus of FAU, and 164 students showed up to try out for the team. During the August 29, 2000 first practice, dubbed the inaugural scrimmage game, FAU continued the tradition of Homecoming King, this time including the crowning ceremony of the King as part of the half time festivities. The Homecoming King crown was bestowed upon Wayne Burns, having been voted in by the majority of student population from across all the campuses at the time, which totaled five, then running a Q&A gauntlet alongside the top three candidates, conducted by a committee of students and faculty, who then voted to determine if Mr. Burns would move to the winners circle or if the next candidate would get the crown. Mr. Burns, was driven around the scrimmage game field in a convertible Rolls Royce to wave to the 164 students in the stands, many of whom voted for him. Wayne Burns was and is the oldest Homecoming King to ever receive the honor at FAU. Florida Atlantic joined the NCAA Division I-AA as an Independent team for the 2001 season. Its first-ever intercollegiate competition was against Slippery Rock University, which the Owls lost 40-7 in front of 25,632 fans at Joe Robbie Stadium.^[3]

Coach Schnellenberger (blue jacket)

The team finished its inaugural season at 4-6 and followed the next season at 2-9. Major accomplishments in its first two seasons include the program's first win, which came in its second game, against Bethune Cookman, 31-28, and won in the first meeting with newly created South Florida rival, Florida International University, 31-21.

On September 15, 2007 FAU defeated its first Big Ten opponent with a 42-39 victory over the University of Minnesota.^[4] Led by Rusty Smith, FAU beat Troy University in the final game of the 2007 season to become Sun Belt Conference champions and received an invitation to the 2007 New Orleans Bowl, its first ever bowl bid. As a result, in just the seventh year of the football program's history, and the third year playing in Division I, Florida Atlantic set an NCAA record by becoming the youngest program ever to receive an invitation to a bowl game.

On August 11, 2011, Howard Schnellenberger announced he would retire at the end of the season.

Carl Pelini era (2012–2013)

On December 1, 2011 FAU hired Carl Pelini, the Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive coordinator to become their new head coach, to succeed Schnellenberger.

On October 30, 2013, Pelini resigned from his position after admitting to school officials he was using illegal drugs, specifically marijuana and cocaine.^[5] He, along with defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis, officially stepped down from their positions only three days before the school's homecoming game, which they won 34-17, under the direction of interim head coach Brian Wright. Under Pelini, the Owls compiled a 5-14 record.

Wright finished the 2012-13 season as the interim head coach, winning the team's last four games and led the Owls to its first bowl-eligible season since 2008-09.

Charlie Partridge era (2014–2016)

On December 16, 2013, FAU announced it had hired Charlie Partridge as head coach.^[6] Prior to accepting the job at FAU, Partridge was the defensive line coach at Arkansas.^[7] On November 27, 2016 FAU fired Partridge after 3 consecutive 3-9 seasons.^[8]

Records

Year-by-year

Conference affiliations:

• 2001–2003: I-AA Independent
• 2004: I-A Independent
• 2005–2012: Sun Belt Conference
• 2013–present: Conference USA

Head coaches

Bowl games

Against Conference USA and the State of Florida

Against nationally ranked opponents

Individual awards and honors

Conference honors

• Player of the Year
  • Rusty Smith (2007 Sun Belt Conference, QB, So.)
• Newcomer of the Year
  • Jaquez Johnson (2013 Conference USA, QB, Jr.)
• Coach of the Year
  • Howard Schnellenberger (2007 Sun Belt Conference)

Post-season bowl honors

• Hula Bowl Invitations
  • Jared Allen (2005)
  • Chris Laskowski (2005)
  • Cergile Sincere (2008)
• Texas vs. The Nation Game Invitations
  • Howard Schnellenberger (2009, The Nation Head Coach)
  • Frantz Joseph (2009, MVP)
  • Corey Small (2009)
• Most Valuable Player Award, Bowl game
  • Rusty Smith (2007, New Orleans Bowl)
  • Rusty Smith (2008, Motor City Bowl)

Push for a new stadium

FAU Stadium at night, first game there was October 15, 2011.

Lockhart Stadium

Since football's inception at FAU in 1998, Coach Schnellenberger has publicly led a campaign to build a football stadium on FAU's main campus in Boca Raton. In seven seasons of competition, the FAU Owls have called two stadiums "home" (Dolphin Stadium located in Miami Gardens and Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, neither of which are in the same county as Boca Raton). Coach Schnellenberger argued that an on-campus stadium increases popularity of the program and attracts high-caliber recruits.

In 2006, the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees (FAU BoT) approved the idea of moving forward with plans to build a football stadium on Boca's campus. HKS/Schenkel Shultz are currently designing an open-air, 30,000-seat football stadium (that can eventually be expanded to 100,000 seats) and are due to report back to the FAU BoT on Sept.17th, 2007 to report projected costs and a timetable to break ground on the project.

The stadium is just a part of the university's broader concept of an "Innovation Village", covering the north end of Boca's campus. The Village will include the football stadium, a multi-use Convocation Center for volleyball, basketball and recreation, two parking garages, student housing complexes, an Alumni Center, a wellness and fitness center and strip shopping centers. The Innovation Village will be funded and constructed in stages, with the football stadium being the main concern of the first phase. All relative information on the Innovation Village can be found at FAU's Campus Master Plan (2006–2013).^[9]

Current coaching staff

Notable alumni

• Adarius Glanton, current NFL linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• Rob Housler, current NFL tight end for the Chicago Bears, drafted in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
• Lestar Jean, former NFL wide receiver for the Houston Texans and the Minnesota Vikings, signed as an undrafted free agent in 2011.
• Erick McIntosh, American football player
• Alfred Morris, current NFL running back for the Dallas Cowboys, drafted in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
• Rusty Smith, former NFL quarterback for the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants, drafted in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans.
• Lucky Whitehead, current NFL wide receiver and return specialist for the Dallas Cowboys.

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of February 8, 2016

^[10]

References

External links

• Official website