Posts Tagged ‘howard schnellenberger’

Two games dot the FBS schedule tonight, and we'll break down what each game means to the participants and what match-up figure to decide the doubleheader. 

Florida International at Florida Atlantic (8 p.m. ET, ESPNU)

The 11th Annual Shula Bowl takes place tonight Sun Belt's South Florida programs square off in Boca Raton. Don Shula helped both programs get off the ground financially and has a connection to a former head coach at each school, former FAU head coach Howard Schnellenberger worked for Shula with the Miami Dolphins and former FIU head coach Don Strock played quarterback for Shula in Miami. The Owls have a commanding 8-1 lead in the series, but FIU earned its first official win last season, 41-7. (FIU's 2005 win was vacated.)

The first half of the season was unkind to first-year head coach Carl Pelini, but the Owls enter tonight on a two-game Sun Belt winning streak, including a 38-27 upset of Western Kentucky last week. A strong finish can put FAU in position to contend for the Sun Belt crown in 2013, as the Owls will lose a Sun Belt-fewest nine seniors after the year. One of those seniors, however, is quarterback Graham Wilbert, the Sun Belt's third-leading passer. Wilbert has thrown for 518 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions in FAU's last two wins. 

After playing in bowl games in back-to-back seasons, this season has been a disappointing one for Mario Cristobal and FIU. The Panthers' best moment came on Nov. 3 when they bested South Alabama 28-20 to stay out of the Sun Belt basement. 

Hawaii at Air Force (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)

This match-up slants heavily in favor of an Air Force team looking to sneak its way into a tie for the Mountain West title. At 5-5 overall and 4-2 in league play, Troy Calhoun's team will need to win out and receive some help to claim a share of the conference crown. But that won't matter if they can't beat a 1-8 Hawaii team looking for its first conference and road wins under first-year head coach Norm Chow. 

The telling match-up figures to be when Air Force runs the ball. The Falcons' triple option has been its usual self in 2012, ranking second nationally with 335.3 yards per game and 5.41 yards per carry. Attempting to slow down the Falcons will be a Warriors run defense that checks in at No. 106 in the country with an average of nearly 210 yards per game and 4.77 yards per carry allowed. 

In a telling sign of the struggling season, a marriage between passing guru Norm Chow and a Hawaii program with a history of prolific passers has not materialized in year one. The Warriors rank ninth in the Mountain West in passing efficiency, seventh in passing yards and 10th in scoring. 

Howard Schnellenberger, the famed head coach at Miami, Louisville, Oklahoma and most recently at Florida Atlantic, recently gave an interview to Larry Vaught at VaughtsViews.com. Schnellenberger provided a myriad of thoughts on what direction Kentucky should go in hiring its new head coach, provided they indeed decide to make a change.

“Miami was going to drop to Division I-AA before I got there and it was about the same way at Louisville,” Schnellenberger said. “Both were on their last gasp. They both called a timeout and tried to analyze what to do and who to bring in. In both cases, they brought in somebody that was bigger than the job. That’s one part of the equation at Kentucky."

Obviously Kentucky is nowhere close to dropping to FCS, but the program has struggled of late. Kentucky football recently dropped below .500 all-time for the first time since 1902. The Wildcats are 1-8 this season and are in the midst of their third straight losing season.

“If they do decide make change, they have to decide what they have done in the past will not get it done,” said Schnellenberger. "Bring in someone with a proven track record and has a reason for wanting the job. If you give me 20 minutes with a coaching candidate, I can convince him why Kentucky is a good job.”

Schnellenberger emphasizes that the ideal coaching candidate not only knows how to win, but wants to win at Kentucky.

“Kentucky has every natural resource you need to be good,” Schnellenberger said. “There should be no inferiority complex at Kentucky. If the university will focus its resources financially, spiritually and psychologically for the development of a great football program with the right guy in charge that brings a lot of confidence with him and a lot of public awareness to the university, then they have a chance to succeed."

According to Schellenberger, Kentucky presently finds itself stuck between mediocrity and success. From 2006 to 2011 the Wildcats bounced anywhere from five to eight wins. 

"The worst thing that can happen to a program is going 4-8, 6-6, 5-7, maybe 7-5," he said. "Just good enough to every once in a while have a winning season. Those are the ones that limp along and there’s no way they will take the next leap up.”

But Coach, does Kentucky have the facilities to compete in the SEC?

“Bull—-. Facilities are the last thing you need," said Schnellenberger. "At Miami we had the worst facilities of any top 100 team in the country and we won the national championship. At Louisville, look at where we were before they got Papa John’s (Cardinal) Stadium and we beat Alabama."

In Schnellenberger's mind, everything Kentucky needs to succeed is already at its fingertips. He thinks an SEC schedule can be used to the Wildcats' benefit in recruiting.

"Kentucky is in the greatest conference in the world. It’s people that make a difference because you have the schedule to sell. You are in the most productive, financially sound conference in all of them. The university is an outstanding academic institution. You are sitting in a great geographical area. And you are fortified by the best basketball team in America.”

If there are four schools in the country that will never be confused as anything but a basketball school, Kentucky is one of them. But Schnellenberger doesn't see that as a negative.

“At Louisville, I used the basketball program," he said. "Can you imagine bringing football players in from Florida and bringing them into Rupp Arena on any given game and see the pageantry and excitement and all that. That is a recruiting opportunity that is unprecedented. Only a few schools have that kind of stage. You have all kinds of stuff going at Kentucky.”

It remains to be see what steps Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart takes with his football program but a stop in Louisville to see the old coach is certainly one of them.

Read the full interview at VaughtsViews.com.