He was a part of four collegiate national championship teams, including one as a head coach at Miami. He was a perfect 4-0 in bowl games, including wins in the 1983 Orange Bowl and 1990 Fiesta Bowl. He tutored future NFL stars such as quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Bernie Kosar and wide receiver Michael Irvin.

But in 1999, retired from football and working as a bond salesman, Schnellenberger was presented with an unique opportunity shared by very few collegiate coaches today.

He was tasked with building a football team from scratch at Florida Atlantic University.

And in just eight seasons, Schnellenberger created a mid-major powerhouse. The Owls finished No. 4 in Div. I-AA in its third season and won a Sun Belt Conference championship three years later as a fledgling Football Bowl Subdivision (Div. I-A) team.

And on Dec. 26 in Detroit, they will face CMU in the Motor City Bowl, their second bowl game in as many years.

"I came out of retirement because of the unusual nature of this opportunity," he said. "I gave up my career in bonds to give birth to this team and nurture it.

"We'll be improving to the point that we can play football with anybody in the country."

The beginnings

Schnellenberger began his coaching career in 1959 as an assistant under Blanton Collier at the University of Kentucky. He later served as an assistant under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama from 1961-65.

He joined the NFL ranks in 1966 as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Rams and later coached in Miami, helping coach Don Shula lead the 1972 Dolphins to a perfect 17-0 record.

"I stayed there for three years while (Shula) took a team from an expansion team to an undefeated world champion," Schnellenberger said.

His first head coaching job came in 1973 for the Baltimore Colts, but after what he called "an unsuccessful tenure," he rejoined the Dolphins' assistant coaching staff for five more years.

In 1979, he was tabbed to coach a University of Miami football program that was in limbo. But still, he emulated Shula's success with the Dolphins and led the Hurricanes to a national championship in 1983. His team upset Nebraska 31-30 in the Orange Bowl.

"We recruited mostly all south Florida players," Schnellenberger recalled, "and we brought the team from obscurity to a national title."

Returning home

In 1985, Schnellenberger returned to his hometown of Louisville, Ky., to resurrect another Div. I-A football program.

The Cardinals had suffered 10 losing seasons in their last 12 and were playing their football games in a minor league baseball stadium. They considered dropping their football program to Div. I-AA status.

But Schnellenberger, still with recruiting ties in south Florida, turned Louisville around in just a few seasons. The team finished 10-1-1 and defeated Alabama 34-7 in the 1990 Fiesta Bowl.

Soon, the Cardinals were finishing with Top 25 rankings and beating high-profile teams across the country such as Texas, Michigan State and North Carolina.

Schnellenberger left Louisville in 1995 to coach Oklahoma, but resigned after an underwhelming 5-5-1 season, including 2-5 in the Big 12. It was the Sooners' first losing conference season since the 1940s. He turned to working in finances.

Taking the Owls

Schnellenberger rejoined football in 1998, becoming the director of football operations at Florida Atlantic, which was striving to begin a football program.

He selected himself as head coach and raised more than $15 million to fund the program. His established recruiting ties in south Florida helped him bring solid local talent to the team.

"We made Florida Atlantic the hometown football team," he said. "We stocked it with players from the south Florida area. About 90 percent of our team is from south Florida. The other 10 percent is from north Florida and very few from out of state."

After a year of practices in 2000 in which 164 players dressed up, FAU played its first football season in 2001 as a Div. I-AA school. It upset No. 22 ranked Bethune-Cookman 31-28 in just the second game of the year.

The Owls finished a combined 6-15 in their first two seasons, but broke out in 2003. They went 11-3, including a win over Middle Tennessee State of Div. I-A, and went as far as the I-AA semifinals before losing to Colgate 36-24.

Moving on up

After finishing No. 4 in the nation, FAU decided to begin the two-year transition to Division I-A and the Sun Belt Conference. Although it was barred from I-AA postseason competition in 2004 because of the move, the team finished 9-3 and graduated its first senior class.

"Our biggest problem was we had five years with that first group we brought in and they culminated in that 9-3 season," Schnellenberger said. "So we had to retool our whole team. When you have a big class of freshmen (from 2000) turn to seniors, you're not able to replenish those spots until they graduate."

The young Florida Atlantic squad went 2-9 in 2005 as a Div. I-A independent before finishing 5-7 in its inaugural Sun Belt season in 2006. The team was tied for second in with a 4-3 conference record.

The year 2007 marked Schnellenberger's milestone season. His team became the fastest in NCAA history to win a conference championship, going 6-1 in Sun Belt play, and earn a bid to a bowl game. FAU beat Memphis 44-27 in the New Orleans Bowl.

Schnellenberger said he uses his non-conference schedule each year to not only give the team national exposure and funding, but also to give his players experience in big time games.

"We like to play teams that are a lot better," he said. "We won one of those games, two years ago against Minnesota. We think these experiences helped us faster."

Continuing success

Although FAU (6-6 overall, 4-4 Sun Belt) did not finish as well as Schnellenberger would have liked, he has his team in a bowl game for the second consecutive year.

His team enters the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit against Central Michigan, which he said is one of the better teams the Owls will have played.

"If we could win that game, it'd be the best program we have beaten other than maybe Minnesota," Schnellenberger said. "It's going to be uphill sledding the whole time, but we feel pretty good about our ability to move the ball and score points."

The CMU football team is well aware of Schnellenberger's accomplishments and is looking forward to facing his team.

"He obviously brings a wealth of experience, but he also brings a certain swagger with him," said senior quarterback Brian Brunner. "He really is one of the more colorful characters in college football. That's what you get from his personality."

With a win or a loss, Schnellenberger is continuing to construct his vision at FAU. The Owls will open the 2010 in a new 30,000-seat, on-campus stadium as the centerpiece of the university's "Innovation Village," a housing a retail complex proposal approved last year.

It is easy for him to take pride in what FAU already has accomplished. After all, he is the father of Owls football.

"It's different if you're coaching your children than it is if you're coaching your adopted children," he said. "That's the difference from winning the national championship in Miami and going to Fiesta Bowl in Louisville. It's a great, great experience, but it's not nearly as personal as it is to give birth to a program."

bmanzullo@cm-life.com

The man in the suit

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