| Florida Atlantic Owls | |
| University | Florida Atlantic University |
|---|---|
| Conference(s) | Sun Belt Conference |
| NCAA | Division I / FBS |
| Athletics director | Craig Angelos |
| Location | Boca Raton, FL |
| Varsity teams | 18 (8 Men's & 10 Women's Varsity Teams) |
| Football stadium | FAU Stadium |
| Basketball arena | FAU Arena |
| Baseball stadium | FAU Baseball Stadium |
| Mascot | Owlsey the Burrowing Owl |
| Nickname | Owls |
| Fight song | FAU Fight Song |
| Colors | Blue, Red, and Silver
|
| Homepage | FAUSports.com |
The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as members of the Sun Belt Conference.
Despite its status as a mid-major university, Florida Atlantic has attracted high profile coaches for various sports, including Howard Schnellenberger for football and Mike Jarvis for basketball. Former coaches include Matt Doherty, Rex Walters, and Sidney Green. The Director of Athletics is Craig Angelos.
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The logo and mascot of Florida Atlantic University's athletic teams is the burrowing owl. The presence of this bird has been popular on the land of the university, even preceding the construction of FAU. At the dedication ceremony in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson even made notice and reference to the popular presence of the bird.[1] In 1971, the National Audubon Society designated FAU's land an official owl sanctuary, honoring the tradition of the bird's presence and moving to protect the birds from attempts to expand construction of the university. Owls are still dominant in their presence on the Boca Raton campus to this day. With the addition of intercollegiate athletics in the mid-1980s, the university used the bird as its mascot - an animal that denotes wisdom, determination and cognizance.
FAU's intercollegiate baseball team, however, was commonly referred to as "The Blue Wave", signifying the university's close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the beach. (FAU is a little over 2 miles west of the beach.) FAU Blue Wave baseball was popular with the community, players, coaches and students, so it was not considered a problem to have athletic teams called the "Owls" and the baseball program called "The Blue Wave." It was argued by proponents of maintaining "The Blue Wave" nickname that the university had never officially dedicated itself a mascot and that the name "The Blue Wave" was already considered tradition around the baseball program.
With the success of its football program on the Division I level, the university's administration and athletics department worked together to completely revamp the "branding" of the school - that is, design completely new logos for the university, the university seal and the athletics department, thus forming a unified mark to represent the school on a national level. In 2004, administration allowed students to vote online as to whether the athletics teams at FAU should be called "Owls" or "The Blue Wave." "Owls" won in a landslide victory and administration moved forward with branding the school's athletic teams "Florida Atlantic University Owls," including the baseball team. Students also decided the school colors should be red and blue - eliminating a third color that had been previously used, yellow. Though the specific type of owl that dominates the campus is a burrowing owl, the university decided to be called the Owls (or Fighting Owls). The branding initiative began in Fall 2004 and was completed in Spring 2005. The logo of the FAU Owl head and the FAU Owl body are the current logos of the FAU athletics program - both results of the branding initiative.
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Men's sports |
Women's sports
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^Not considered a varsity sport by the NCAA.
Florida Atlantic University fielded its first football team in 2001, coached by legendary Miami and Louisville coach Howard Schnellenberger. Their first game was a 40–7 loss against Slippery Rock University on September 1, 2001. After just four seasons of existence, the Owls jumped from Division I-AA (now FCS) competition to Division I-A (now FBS), joining the Sun Belt Conference. Through the 2008 season, after eight years of competing in football, the Owls are 47–47 overall. In 2007 they competed in their first bowl game, the New Orleans Bowl, where they defeated the Memphis Tigers 44–27. In 2008, the Owls competed in their second straight bowl game, the Motor City Bowl, where they defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas by a score of 24–21.
The Owls opened their new on-campus FAU Stadium (name subject to change) on October 15, 2011 against Western Kentucky.
The Owls' natural rival are the Florida International Golden Panthers, who are located just 50 miles from Florida Atlantic and also compete in the Sun Belt Conference. The rivals meet annually in a conference match up named the Shula Bowl, after legendary Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula.[2] The first Shula Bowl was played in 2002 at the Miami Dolphins' Pro Player Stadium (now Sun Life Stadium), and has since alternated between FAU at Sun Life Stadium and FIU Stadium annually; the first game in the series at the Owls' new stadium is tentatively set for 2012. FAU leads the all-time series eight games to two.
On December 5, 2011 the football program hired its second coach in its history; former University of Nebraska Defensive Coordinator, Carl Pelini.
Florida Atlantic Baseball fielded its first squad in 1981. Since inception FAU has had only three coaches. Kevin Cooney, legend and most successful coach in school history, was the Florida Atlantic head baseball coach from 1988 through 2008. By many accounts, Cooney built a mid-major dynasty in the baseball world. University of Cincinnati head coach Brian Cleary called FAU "one of the country's best baseball programs," and added, "it's been an incredibly successful program over the last several years."[3]
The Owls baseball team plays its home games at FAU Baseball Stadium.[4]
Currently the Owls are coached by long-time assistant for Cooney, John McCormack. McCormack was an assistant under Cooney at FAU for 18 seasons.
30 years of Florida Atlantic baseball:
Coach Cooney won his 800th career game on March 15, 2006, when FAU played Columbia. At FAU, Cooney has won more than 680 games.
FAU basketball began play in 1988 and in its 19+ seasons has experienced limited success, marred with frequent coaching changes. Along with the other FAU athletics teams, basketball entered the Sun Belt Conference in the 2006-2007 season, and has shown signs of maturing into a national competitor. The Owls competed on the Division II level from 1988 to 1993 before joining the Atlantic Sun Conference when moving to Division I in the 1993–1994 season.
The Owls were coached by Rex Walters in 2006–2008, a former standout at Kansas. Walters played a major role in the Jayhawks' run to the Final Four in 1993. Coach Walters became the 6th head coach of FAU basketball, after Matt Doherty left the university a year into his tenure to coach at SMU.
The Owls are currently coached by Mike Jarvis, who was hired in May 2008.
The Owls play at FAU Arena, commonly referred to as The Burrow.
In 2007, their first year as a member in the Sun Belt Conference, the FAU women's softball team became Sun Belt Conference champions winning both the Sun Belt regular-season and the Sun Belt tournament title. Florida Atlantic University is only the second Sun Belt champion in league history, knocking off defending champions Louisiana-Lafayette, which had won the first seven Sun Belt titles. [1] Additionally, the Lady Owls were only one of two teams to win their final post season game. [2] Coach Joan Joyce was named the Sun Belt's Coach of the Year after guiding the Owls to the top of the conference. [3] Prior to joining the Sun Belt Conference, FAU softball had won nine Atlantic Sun Conference titles in the previous 10 years. [4]
The rivalry between FAU and Florida International University was born in 2002, when FIU's newly formed football program signed on to an annual matchup with FAU, alternating between home fields. The game was come to be called the Shula Bowl. All-time, FAU leads the football series 8–2. On the basketball court, FIU has been on the better part of the rivalry, leading the all-time series 8–11. In the 2006–07 season, FAU swept the season series (3 games).
Troy University has been a long-time rival of FAU, as both schools participated in the Atlantic Sun Conference and now both moved to the Sun Belt Conference. Both schools' baseball teams constantly competed as top programs in the Atlantic Sun, and currently both maintain that elite status in Sun Belt baseball competition. Along with baseball, football and basketball also share in the rivalry. Both programs' football teams cracked the surface as Division I-A competitors around the same time. (FAU created a team in 2001 and joined D-IA in 2004; Troy moved from Division I-AA to D-IA in 2003.) Although FAU football has seen unprecedented success at such a rapid pace against Sun Belt compeititon, Troy had beaten FAU in all 3 of their football meetings, inciting the rivalry. However in 2007, FAU defeated Troy in the final game of the season, winning the Sun Belt Conference, and earning a spot in the New Orleans Bowl, the fastest ascent to a bowl game in D-IA history.
Owsley the Owl is the official mascot of Florida Atlantic.
Fight song: The Florida Atlantic University fight song was created in 2004, in response to the university's growing football program. FAU fielded its first marching band in the 2002 football season, collectively called the Florida Atlantic Marching Owls. Lyrics of the FAU fight song:
- We'll fight fight fight for F-A-U
- There's football in paradise
- We'll fight fight fight for F-A-U
- We know we're gonna win and it's feelin' mighty nice
- Cheering our football team up in the field
- And waving our colors too (HOOT HOOT)
- The Fighting Owls are on the prowl
- Go F-A-U
- Hit 'em high
- Hit 'em low
- Go Owls, Go!
FAU Owls home and road games for football and basketball can be heard locally (the "tri-county area" of South Florida - Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties) on ESPN 760 AM on the radio and on the station's webstream [6]. The voice of Owls football is part-time ESPN's Ken LaVicka who shares commentary duties for Owls basketball with Palm Beach radio sportscaster Evan Cohen. All football and basketball games can be heard live on FAU's website, as well.
As a part of the Sun Belt Conference, occasional football and basketball games are broadcasted by ESPN Plus, the pay-per-view service from ESPN. These games are available through the ESPN GamePlan and ESPN Full Court premium packages. There is also one football game and one basketball game aired on ESPNU per season. The 2006 seasons saw FAU football play Clemson and FAU basketball play North Carolina on ESPNU.
Florida Atlantic University inducted its inaugural class of members into their Hall of Fame in 2006.
Inaugural Class of 2006:
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