The former head coach of FAU football thinks Conference USA (C-USA) is overrated.
Howard Schnellenberger told USA Today he eventually envisions FAU will join the Big East, not Conference USA like FIU will in 2013. He went as far as to deem FAU Football Stadium the greatest one in the country, boldly stating it will more than double in size after the conference shift.
“This is the hottest thing going,” Schnellenberger said. “We’ve got the best stadium in America, and we’re enlarging to 65,000 when we get into the Big East Conference.”
In June, Schnellenberger told the UP it was time for the Owls to change conferences and took a shot at FIU for their move to C-USA.
“We can’t continue where we are,” he said. “You can’t win the national championship from the Sun Belt Conference. We can’t maximize the potential of our stadium playing Sun Belt Conference teams. We have to be in the Big East Conference, not Conference USA. That’s a dead conference. Florida International made the worst mistake they could make volunteering to go to Conference USA.”
Schnellenberger visited a University of Miami practice recently (where he led the Hurricanes to the 1983 National Championship) and had extremely high praise for a team which was 6-6 last season under head coach Al Golden.
“That’s the best-looking squad I’ve ever seen in my life physically, including the Miami Dolphins, the University of Alabama, anybody,” Schnellenberger said. “In 56 years of coaching, they looked better physically than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
Schnellenberger was the offensive coordinator of the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins.
Alex • Sep 3, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I like the idea Coach Schnellenberger is mentioning. As an FAU Alumni, I have seen the Football team grow up. They need to make a step up and pass FIU for good. The Big East is where we need to go, it will bring big name schools down to our stadium and will infuse money in the program. I hope we can make the move in the next few seasons.