FOOTBALL: SCHNELLENBERGER COMING TO CONCORD

COACHING LEGEND TO GIVE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT FOOTBALL BANQUET FRIDAY

(Sarah Dalton of Concord's Department of Advancement contributed to this story.)

Howard Schnellenberger
Football coaching legend Howard Schnellenberger will be the keynote speaker at a banquet honoring Concord's 2011 WVIAC championship football team on Friday, March 30, 2012, starting at 7:00 pm in the main gym in the Carter Center on the CU campus in Athens.

The Concord Department of Athletics and Mountain Lion Club are sponsoring the event.

Before the banquet, Schnellenberger will present a free clinic to area high school coaches from 6:00-6:45 in Gym II at the Carter Center.  Coaches interested in attending the clinic should contact the Concord football office at (304) 384-6261 or 384-6307.

There will also be a short "meet and greet" after Friday's banquet, when Schnellenberger will be available for photographs and autographs.

Space is still available for Friday's event.  Tickets to the Concord football banquet and Schnellenberger's presentation are $50 per person. Admission to the keynote address alone is $25.

To purchase a ticket, please contact the Concord University Department of Athletics at (304) 384-5347.

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Schnellenberger grew up in Louisville, KY and was a star tight end for the University of Kentucky, which he attended from 1952-56. He played professional football for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League before going into coaching.  He quickly began building an elite resume at the major college and NFL levels, serving under icons Paul “Bear” Bryant, George Allen and Don Shula.

Schnellenberger was an assistant at the University of Kentucky from 1959-60 and the University of Alabama from 1961-65.  Alabama won the national championship in 1961, 1964 and 1965.
He joined the pro ranks began with a stint with the Los Angeles Rams in from 1966-69.  He was part of the Miami Dolphins' staff from 1970-72 and 1975-78.
The 1972 Dolphins are the only team in NFL history to have a perfect record, capping it with a victory in Super Bowl VII.

Schnellenberger's impressive success as an assistant led to him to become a head coach, first with the Baltimore Colts from 1973-74.
In 1979, he took over a struggling University of Miami program and quickly turned it around, leading the Hurricanes to a national championship in 1983 with a thrilling 31-30 upset win over #1-ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, in what is widely regarded as one of the greatest games in college football history.

He left Miami in the afterglow of his national championship to become the head coach of the Orlando franchise in the short-lived United States Football League, but the franchise folded before playing a game.

Schnellenberger then undertook arguably the biggest challenge of his career.  He returned to his hometown to re-build the University of Louisville program, which had hit rock bottom. In the 1990 season, just his sixth with the Cardinals, his team won the Fiesta Bowl in a 34-7 blowout over heavily favored Alabama.

In 1995, Schnellenberger took over at Oklahoma, a great all-time program that had fallen into mediocrity.  The Sooners went 5-5-1 in his one season there -- considered the only negative on Schnellenberger's accomplished resume – but their record declined in each of the next three seasons.

Schnellenberger #4
Schnellenberger returned to coaching in 1999 to build from scratch the football program at Florida Atlantic University.  The Owls began play in 2001 and quickly rose to success.  They became the first team to qualify for the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in just their third season, reaching the 2003 national semifinals.  FAU moved up to Division I-A in 2004. 
In 2007, the Owls won the Sun Belt Conference championship and the New Orleans Bowl.  The next year, the Owls defeated Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl to claim bowl victories in back-to-back seasons.

As a college coach, Schnellenberger mentored more than 70 players who went on to the NFL, including Jim Kelly, Vinny Testaverde, David Akers, Jerome Brown, Sam Madison, Michael Irvin, Ted Washington and Bruce Armstrong.

Schnellenberger now serves as an “Ambassador At Large” for Florida Atlantic University. He is married to the former Beverlee Donnelly, whom he met while he was playing for the Toronto Argonauts, and she was a cheerleader.  The couple has three sons and three grandchildren.




Persons with disabilities should contact Nancy Ellison at (304) 384-6086 or (800) 344-6679/ext. 6086 if special assistance is required for access to an event scheduled by the University on campus.









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