Fau/snelly Should Be Lamar's Model

DeepGreen · May 7, 2008

UNT has never beaten FAU.

Schnellenberger, FAU give Tubbs, LU strong model

Bob West column for Wednesday, May 7

The Port Arthur News

For those who may not be aware of the magnitude of his accomplishments, Howard Schnellenberger is the resident miracle worker in college football.

He built Miami into a national champion (1983) in an era when the school was discussing dropping football, rescued Louisville when the powers that be were pondering a drop to 1-AA and has made Florida Atlantic University relevant at the Division 1 level in a mere seven years.

The amazing flight of the Owls, under Schnellenberger’s guidance, is relevant in this space because Lamar University is about to embark on a similar journey. Cardinal athletic director Billy Tubbs, after he introduces his new coach sometime soon, would do well to hook him up with Schnellenberger for a crash course in Starting Football 101.

FAU, a commuter school in Boca Raton, didn’t even have football on the radar until a decade ago. The school president hired Schnellenberger under the title of director of football operations. His charge was to determine if football was feasible and, if so, to map out a strategy, raise money and hire a coach.

Schnellenberger, who was then 64, raised $13 million, went to the Florida legislature with a $5 million check in his pocket and got the necessary approval for the Owls to buy helmets and shoulder pads. He then named himself head coach, started mining the mother lode of talent in the area of south and central Florida he calls the “state of Miami” and commenced building a program that defies logic.

In year three, FAU went 11-3 and advanced to the 1-AA playoff semifinals before losing by a field goal. In year four, after moving up to 1A, the Owls went 9-3. Last season, in year seven and against a schedule that included Oklahoma State, Minnesota, South Florida, Kentucky and Florida, he went 8-5, won the Sun Belt Conference and blasted Memphis 44-27 in the New Orleans Bowl.

In the midst of a football hotbed, where Miami, Florida State and Florida have all won national championships in the past 20 years, and South Florida and Central Florida are on the rise, FAU was the only team to win a bowl game. Seven years after the first kickoff, that’s absolutely mind boggling.

Among other things, the gruff Bear Bryant protégé doesn’t duck anybody. When Texas was looking for a 2008 home opener, and offering a nifty guarantee, he jumped at it. And he’s quick to advise you he’s not coming to the Lone Star State just for the check.

“Don’t tell them, but I’d have taken the game for nothing,” he said. “These are what I call ‘advance training pre-league games.’ We’re going in there with the idea of winning the game. It’s one of only two games we won’t be favored — the other is at Michigan State — but it’s the kind of challenge I really like.”

As for Lamar, Schnellenberger offered the following food for thought.

• The key is there be a consensus by the important people at the university that this is what they want, and it’s what’s best for the school. There needs to be a passion for football by the people who make the decisions. The feeling can’t be half hearted. And it can’t be one person’s baby. It’s too big a challenge.

• The coach should be somebody who is respected and revered, so you will not blame him for the slow start. It’s going to be slow and it’s going to require a lot of confidence from the team and the coach, but the people who have responsibility for the team’s existence need to be totally committed to make the effort it takes to help the program go forward.

• You must have a good coaching staff, a good recruiting base and a good place to play. We didn’t have a stadium and it made things extra difficult for us. A big, fancy fieldhouse is not as important as a nice, on-campus place to play.

• The coach should encourage everybody who thinks they even have an outside chance to play to enroll in school and walk on. We had almost 200 walk-ons in the beginning and a lot of them played. Without walk-ons, it’s going to be even harder than you anticipate.

• The coach needs to have a reputation and a persona. You have to be way out there on the positive side, even when what you’re saying doesn’t seem possible. But you have to do it in such a way that people aren’t going to poke fun at you. And you have to remember you can’t take that approach forever.

Schnellenberger also offered an interesting insight into the philosophy he takes with recruits hung up on bigger names and reputations than FAU has to sell.

“We put it flat and blunt. We tell them it’s going to be more difficult coming here, that it’s going to be a lot harder and we are going to ask more of them. We tell them if you are worried about your buddies going to Miami and you are coming to Florida Atlantic and that bothers your ego, then you shouldn’t come.

“We tell them they probably won’t win a national championship, but they can be part of a special legacy that will be passed along. We try to sell them on being pathfinders and record setters and having something really good to share with fans who appreciate coming from an underdog situation.”

One thing Schnellenberger does meticulously is chart and flaunt every first for his program.

“We were the fastest startup team to beat a top 25 1-AA team, the fastest to beat a 1A team (22nd game), the fastest to win a 1A conference (Sun Belt), the fastest to go to a bowl, the fastest to win a bowl. Any amazing thing that happens, you put it in your ledger.”

Schnellenberger, whose team has had to play its home games in a remodeled high school stadium in another county, would also tell Lamar to expect plenty of bumps in the road. His first one came in the school’s very first game.

He’d scheduled Slippery Rock because of it’s name recognition and the fact it was a school he knew he could beat. It was a great plan until the school administration didn’t move fast enough to get 13 starters certified with the NCAA.

FirefightnRick · May 10, 2008

One thing Schnellenberger does meticulously is chart and flaunt every first for his program.
“We were the fastest startup team to beat a top 25 1-AA team, the fastest to beat a 1A team (22nd game), the fastest to win a 1A conference (Sun Belt), the fastest to go to a bowl, the fastest to win a bowl. Any amazing thing that happens, you put it in your ledger.”

:clapping: