BOCA RATON - Players say he is an inspiration. Contemporaries call him a master motivator. Above everything else, Howard Schnellenberger is a winner.
Other than one ill-fated season at Oklahoma, Schnellenberger has won - and won fast - everywhere he has gone. Twenty years after guiding Miami to its first national title, Schnellenberger is three wins from another championship with I-AA Florida Atlantic.
"It doesn't surprise me," said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who was 2-3 against Schnellenberger's Miami teams. "I was amazed at how he's just brought them up. I'm amazed, but not surprised."
Schnellenberger, 69, learned his trade at Alabama as an assistant to Bear Bryant on three national title teams in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, he needed five years to turn the Hurricanes from chumps to champs in 1983. Then he made Louisville known for something other than basketball.
Though his only Oklahoma team went 5-5-1 in 1995, Schnellenberger was not dismayed. He started FAU's football program from scratch three years ago and has the team on the road to a title.
The Owls (10-2) play at Northern Arizona (9-3) today, with the winner heading to the I-AA semis. FAU, which won only six games in its first two seasons, has a nine-game win streak.
"I've never been prouder of any other team I've coached than I am with this group of boys," Schnellenberger said.
SELLOUT: Fans who have not secured tickets to the Gator Bowl may have to watch the Jan. 1 game on TV. The bowl at Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium sold out Thursday, president Rick Catlett said. West Virginia sold almost 21,000 tickets; No. 24 Maryland sold more than 17,000. Catlett said this is the bowl's fastest sellout since 1989.
