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:

Year Record Conference Finish Coach Bowl Poll
2001 4–6 – – Howard Schnellenberger – –
2002 2–9 – – Howard Schnellenberger – –
2003 11–3 – – Howard Schnellenberger – 4*
2004 9–3 – – Howard Schnellenberger – –
2005 2–9 2–5 T-7th Howard Schnellenberger – –
2006 5–7 4–3 T-2nd Howard Schnellenberger – –
2007 8–5 6–1 T-1st Howard Schnellenberger New Orleans Bowl –
2008 7–6 4–3 T-3rd Howard Schnellenberger Motor City Bowl –
2009 5–7 5–3 T-3rd Howard Schnellenberger – –
2010 4–8 3–5 T-6th Howard Schnellenberger – –
2011 1–11 0–8 9th Howard Schnellenberger – –
2012 3–8 2–5 8th Carl Pelini – –
2013 6–6 4–4 4th (East) Carl Pelini — Brian Wright (interim) -- --
2014 3-9 2-6 7th (East) Charlie Partridge – –
2015 3-9 3-5 6th (East) Charlie Partridge - -
2016 3-9 2-6 6th (East) Charlie Partridge - -
All-time 76-115 37-54 All-time 4 coaches All-time AP
"Poll" indicates team ranking at end of season from the Associated Press Poll.
*Ranked by the AP Poll for Division I-AA Football.

Head coaches

Seasons Name Tenure Record Pct. Bowls
2001–2011 Howard Schnellenberger 11 years (132 games) 58-74 .439 2
2012-2013 Carl Pelini 1+ years (20 games) 5-14 .250 0
2013 Brian Wright (interim) Interim coach (4 games) 4-0 1.000 0
2014-2016 Charlie Partridge 3 year (36 games) 9-27 .250 0
Total 4 coaches 13 seasons 76-115 .398 2 bowls

Bowl games

Date Bowl W/L Opponent PF PA
December 21, 2007 New Orleans Bowl W Memphis 44 27
December 26, 2008 Motor City Bowl W Central Michigan 24 21
Total 2 bowl games 2-0 Total 68 48

Against Conference USA and the State of Florida

Team FAU Record First Meeting Recent Meeting
Charlotte 1-1 2015 W 17-7 2016 L 23-28
FIU 10-5 2002 W 31-21 2016 L 31-33
Marshall 0-4 2013 L 24-23 2016 L 21-27
Middle Tennessee 3-11 2003 W 20-19 2016 L 56-77
North Texas 6-4 2004 W 20-13 2014 L 10-31
Old Dominion 1-2 2014 L 28-31 2016 L 24-42
Rice 1-2 2013 L 18-14 2016 W 42–25
Southern Miss 1-0 2013 W 41-7 2013 W 41-7
UAB 4-2 2008 W 49-34 2014 L 28-31
UTEP 1-1 2015 L 17-27 2016 W 35-31
UTSA 1-0 2014 W 41-37 2014 W 41-37
Western Kentucky 5-3 2008 W 24-20 2016 L 3-52
Florida 0-3 2007 L 59-20 2015 L 14-20(OT)
Florida State 0-0 -- --
Miami 0-2 2013 L 34-6 2015 L 20-44
South Florida 1-3 2002 L 51-10 2013 W 28-10
UCF 0-1 2003 L 33-29 2003 L 29-33

Against nationally ranked opponents

Team Date Ranking Outcome
Bethune-Cookman 9/8/01 22 W 31-28
James Madison 9/14/02 22 L 16-13
Eastern Kentucky 9/21/02 20 L 22-6
Nicholls State 10/5/02 24 L 33-22
Youngstown State 10/12/02 17 L 24-17
Eastern Illinois 11/16/02 3 L 47-6
Illinois State 9/27/03 23 W 28-10
Bethune-Cookman 11/29/03 14 W 32-24
Northern Arizona 12/6/03 16 W 48-25
Colgate 12/13/03 6 L 36-24
Louisville 10/1/05 11 L 61-10
Kentucky 9/29/07 14 L 45-17
South Florida 10/6/07 6 L 35-23
Florida 11/17/07 12 L 59-20
Texas 8/30/08 10 L 52-10
Nebraska 9/5/09 24 L 49-3
Florida 9/3/11 23 L 41-3
Michigan State 9/10/11 16 L 44-0
Georgia 9/15/12 7 L 56-20
Alabama 9/22/12 1 L 40-7
Auburn 10/26/13 11 L 45-10
Nebraska 8/30/14 22 L 55-7
Alabama 9/6/14 2 L 41-0
Marshall 10/25/14 23 L 35-16
All-time 4-20
GREY indicates games played while FAU competed in Division I-AA and against a Division I-AA opponent.

Individual awards and honors

Conference honors

Post-season bowl honors

Push for a new stadium

See also: FAU 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

Name Current Title Joined
FAU		 Alma mater
Charlie Partridge Head Coach 2014 Drake University
Brian Wright Associate Head Coach
Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks 		2012 College of Wooster
Bart Miller Offensive Line 2014 New Mexico State University
Dan Shula Wide Receivers 2014 Dartmouth College

Notable alumni

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of February 8, 2016

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
at Miami Navy at UCF at Ohio State at Illinois at Central Michigan at South Florida
at Kansas State at Wisconsin at Oklahoma vs UCF vs South Florida
vs Ball State at Buffalo vs Bethune Cookman at Ball State
vs Southern Illinois vs Bethune Cookman vs Central Michigan

[10]

References

  1. ↑ "FAU Visual Standards Manual" (PDF). Florida Atlantic University: University Communications and Marketing. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  2. ↑ http://www.msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?section=6488
  3. ↑ http://fausports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/090201aaa.html
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123525/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/scoreboards/2007/09/15/35933_viewcast_recap.html. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/fau-now-says-carl-pelini-has-been-fired-with-cause/
  6. ↑ http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/10139059/florida-atlantic-hires-charlie-partridge-arkansas-razorbacks
  7. ↑ http://www.fausports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121613aaa.html
  8. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/reports-fau-fires-charlie-partridge-as-owls-continue-seeking-relevancy/
  9. ↑ "FAU Master Plan 2006-2013". Florida Atlantic University. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
  10. ↑ "Florida Atlantic Owls Football Schedules and Future Schedules - FAU". fbschedules.com. Retrieved 2011-12-14.

External links

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