Howard Schnellenberger

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Howard Schnellenberger

Date of birth	March 16, 1934 (age 73)
Place of birth	Louisville, Kentucky
Sport	Football
College	Florida Atlantic University
Title	Head coach
Record with Team	28-30
Overall Record	128-107
Championships   won	1983 National Championship (AP, Coach's)
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
School as a player
1952-1956	University of Kentucky
Position	Tight end
Coaching positions
2001-present 1995 1985-1994 1979-1983	Florida Atlantic University University of Oklahoma University of Louisville University of Miami

Howard Schnellenberger (born March 16, 1934) is an American football coach at both the professional and college level. He is currently married to Mrs. Beverlee Schnellenberger and is head coach of Florida Atlantic University. He previously held head coaching positions with the University of Oklahoma, University of Louisville, University of Miami, and the Baltimore Colts. He has also worked extensively as an assistant coach at the college and pro levels, including being a part of the staff of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins. Schnellenberger is also famous for recruiting Joe Namath to the University of Alabama for Bear Bryant in 1961.

Schnellenberger was an All-American as a player at the University of Kentucky and worked as an assistant coach there under head coach Blanton Collier. There he joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Schnellenberger also served as offensive coordinator under his college coach Bear Bryant at Alabama, helping Alabama to win three national championships in 1961, 1964 and 1965 before leaving in 1966 to take a job in the NFL as offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams then being hired by Don Shula in 1970 to become the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, parlaying the success of Miami's 1972 perfect season into becoming the new head coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1973.

Schnellenberger's Colts went 4-10 in his one full season but managed to pull an upset on the heavily favored Dolphins towards the end of the 1973 season. After the Colts started the 1974 season 0-3, Schnellenberger was fired and replaced by Joe Thomas. He returned to the Dolphins coaching staff the following year and remained there until being offered the head coaching job at the University of Miami.

Schnellenberger arrived to a Miami program that was on its last legs, with the program having almost been dropped by the university just a few years prior. Drawing from the boot camp methodology learned from mentors Bryant and Shula and a pro-style pass-oriented playbook not yet the norm in Division 1 college football, Miami developed a passing game that allowed them to have advantage over teams not equipped to defend such an attack. By his third season at Miami, the team had finished the season in the AP Poll top 25 twice--something that had not happened there since 1966.

He coached Miami to a National Championship in 1983, defeating Nebraska in the 50th Orange Bowl. In all he has 20 years of head coaching experience and a 126-98-3 record at the college level. Following his championship at the University of Miami, Schnellenberger departed for the USFL where he was to become head coach for what was to be a South Florida team (a relocated Washington Federals franchise). That job never materialized, however, and Schnellenberger never coached a USFL game.

While at the University of Louisville, Schnellenberger took a moribund program on the verge of being dropped to 1-AA status to two bowl victories, one of which was an unprecedented 34-7 thrashing of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl, capping a 10-1-1 season and the school's first-ever national ranking (11).

Schnellenberger left Louisville in 1995 to take the job as head coach at Oklahoma. He lasted only one year there, as the Sooners struggled to a 5-5-1 record (including a shutout lost to in-state rival Oklahoma State. Schnellenberger resigned after that season.

After a few years out of the limelight, Schnellenberger resurfaced in 1998, when he was named director of football operations for Florida Atlantic University, with the task of building a football program from scratch. He spent most of the next year raising funds for the program, and the FAU board of regents approved adding football in 1999. Schnellenberger at that time was named the first head coach for FAU football.

After two additional years of fundraising, recruiting and practice, FAU football formally began on September 1, 2001. After playing four years at the Division 1-AA level, with their biggest success being a trip to the semifinals of the 2003 1-AA playoffs, FAU moved to the Sun Belt Conference and Division 1-A level in 2005, a goal that had been one of Schnellenberger's primary objectives upon building the program.

[edit] External links

• Biography at Collegesports.com

Preceded by Joe Paterno	Paul "Bear" Bryant Award 1983	Succeeded by LaVell Edwards
Preceded by Program started	Florida Atlantic University Head Football Coach 2001–	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Gary Gibbs	Oklahoma Sooners Head Football Coach 1995	Succeeded by John Blake
Preceded by Bob Weber	University of Louisville Head Football Coach 1985–1994	Succeeded by Ron Cooper
Preceded by Lou Saban	University of Miami Head Football Coach 1979–1983	Succeeded by Jimmy Johnson
Preceded by John Sandusky	Baltimore Colts Head Coach 1973–1974	Succeeded by Joe Thomas

Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts Head Coaches
Molesworth • Ewbank • Shula • McCafferty • Sandusky • Schnellenberger • Thomas • Marchibroda • McCormack • Kush • Dowhower • Meyer • Venturi • Marchibroda • Infante • J.E. Mora • Dungy

Persondata
NAME	Schnellenberger, Howard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Football player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH	March 16, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH	Louisville, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH