RE: 4pm Schnellenberger Press Conferece
Source: Schnellenberger to announce he is retiring at end of this season
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
12:06 p.m. EDT, August 11, 2011
Howard Schnellenberger, who created Florida Atlantic's football program and has been its only coach, is expected to announce that this will be his final season at a press conference Thursday at 4 p.m., according to several sources with knowledge of the situation.
Schnellenberger, 77, is in the final year of his contract, and he and Athletic Director Craig Angelos had agreed not to discuss the possibility of a new contract until after this season.
Schnellenberger was hired in 1998 to create the program, and the Owls played their first game in 2001.
Schnellenberger, who made Miami into a national power and was coach with the Hurricanes won their first national championship in 1983, took FAU to the Division I-AA semifinals in 2003 and the Owls ended the season ranked No. 4 in the country.
FAU moved to Division I-A in 2006, and a year later they won the Sun Belt championship and New Orleans Bowl, becoming the youngest program to make it to a bowl game.
The $70 million, 30,000 seat stadium nearing completion on the north end of campus was something Schnellenberger had pushed for since he started the FAU program, which played its first game in 2001.
The Owls will play their first game there on Oct. 15.
Schnellenberger is a legend in South Florida. He was an assistant coach for the Dolphins under Don Shula when Miami won its two Super Bowl titles.
He then went to the University of Miami in 1979 and in 1983 the Hurricanes won their first national championship.
Schnellenberger then went to Louisville, where he spent 10 seasons and turned the Cardinals into a nationally-ranked program.
He left Louisville after the 1994 season when he was hired as head coach at Oklahoma.
Schnellenberger lasted just one season with the Sooners, who went 5-5-1, and he resigned under pressure and returned to South Florida.
Semi-retired, Schnellenberger was doing some sales work and when he was approached by then FAU President Anthony Catanese, who was interested in starting a football program. Catanese hired Schnellenberger in 1998 as Director of Football Operations, and in 1999 FAU received approval from the state to add football.
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