College Football Firings

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

As I sit up in the FAU Press Box for the final time this season, in Boca Raton, Florida., Head Football Coach Howard Schnellenberger will be deservedly celebrated.

Nobody will care what his final record at FAU will be because his contributions to this program go beyond wins and losses.

He's the reason there is a Football Program, Tom Oxley Athletic Center and now FAU Stadium.

The team's national television appearances and two bowl games have put the university on the map and has led to an increased enrollment.

As a new coach gets set to take over and will be announced next week, unlike Schnellenberger, there have been many coaches that haven't been able to go out on their own terms.

They've come from some big name universities. I will list some of the most intriguing firings that have occurred recently.

1. Neil Callaway of UAB lost his job a few days after his team lost to FAU 38-35 on November 26 enabling the Owls to record their first win of the season. In five seasons, Callaway was 21-51 and 3-9 in 2011.

2. The Memphis Tigers, who once lost to FAU in the New Orleans Bowl, fired Larry Porter after a 2-10 season. He was 3-21 in two seasons.

3. Former Florida Gators Coach Ron Zook was a casualty for Illinois after finishing 34-50 in seven seasons. Illinois became the first team in NCAA Division I  FBS history to start a season 6-0, and end it 6-6.

4) After having success at the University of Buffalo leading the Bulls to a Bowl Game, Turner Gill had a 5-19 record in two seasons for the Kansas Jayhawks.

5) Mike Leach will take his high powered passing attack to Washington State as he replaces Paul Wulff. In four years, Wulff complied a 9-40 mark with the Cougars.

6) The Texas A&M Aggies will move into the SEC with a new coach as Mike Sherman was ousted with a 25-25 record in four seasons. Next stop for Sherman, he'll return to the NFL.

7) The University of New Mexico Lobos went to the ESPN Broadcast Booth to find their next coach. Former Notre Dame Coach Bob Davies is the man who has to take this basketball school, piloted by Steve Alford, and has a lot of work to do. The past two plus seasons under Mike Locksley produced a 2-26 mark.

8) The Arizona Wildcats fired Mike Stoops early this season despite three bowl appearances. Stoops compiled a 41-49 record. He was replaced with former West Virginia and Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez.

9) After having success with the UCLA Bruins compiling a 49-32 record, Bob Toledo was unable to duplicate his success with the Tulane Green Wave. In five seasons, he finished with a 15-40 record in Conference USA.

10) Speaking of UCLA, Rick Neuheisel coached his final game for the Bruins in the inaugural Pac 10 Championship Game. The Oregon Ducks hammered UCLA 49-31 as Neuheisel finished with a 21-29 mark in four seasons. His career coaching mark is 87-59.

11) The third Pac 10 coach on this list to be fired was Arizona State Sun Devils boss Dennis Erickson. In five seasons with ASU, Erickson was 31-30 and led the Sun Devils to one bowl game. His overall record in college was 179-96-1 and won two National Championships with the Miami Hurricanes.

12) It's hard to put Luke Fickell on this list because he was just an interim coach that replaced Jim Tressel who left the Ohio State Buckeyes in a cloud of controversy. But Fickell did compile a 6-6 mark in his lone season and was replaced by former Florida Gators Coach Urban Meyer this week.

13) The last person I'm going to mention is a man that I thought I never would. That's former Penn State Nittany Lions Coach Joe Paterno. He leaves the college sidelines with a 409-136-3 record with two National Championships.

Unfortunately, for all of the contributions he's made on the field leaving as the all-time winningest coach in Division I FBS history, one triumph ahead of Paul "Bear" Bryant, Paterno's legacy will now be tied due to an insane sex scandal by his long time Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

If you're looking for a stable career, head coaching at the highest collegiate level requires a lot of moving vans and the exits are not always that pretty.

But I'm glad for Schnellenberger's sake, he did leave on his own terms and now can enjoy retirement as he watches his latest challenge the FAU Owls, build on the foundation that he created.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can also be seen on http://www.scottsports33.com/.

FAU in Big East?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

On Friday when I was picking up My Game Credential at the Tom Oxley Athletic Center, FAU Assistant Media Relations Director Justin Johnson and I were joking around about the fact that the new Owls Football Stadium could expand two more times. It can be expanded to 45,000 and 65,000 fans in two different phases.

We did agree that it's doubtful that both of us we'll be around when these expansions take place.

But as I sit on the Sixth Floor in the Press Box with a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean 2.1 miles east, watching the Owls Homecoming Game against Arkansas State, it's very easy to let your imagination allow you to meditate about what the future holds for the FAU Football Program.

As I continue to watch the college football landscape change, and as conferences find new teams to fill the void left by the departures of other schools, it makes me think of where FAU will land one day?

My best guess, and I repeat, best guess, would be the Big East.

Even though the Big East plans to enforce their bylaws to keep Pittsburgh and Syracuse from moving to the ACC immediately and West Virginia, which is Big 12 bound, to maintain any credibility long term, they'll eventually have to have 12-16 teams in football even when the 27 months end.

There are plans to invite Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only. Central Florida, Houston and SMU would participate in all sports. The total with these additions and subtractions would be 11.

Why would FAU be a good fit for the Big East?

The conference lost it's presence in the South Florida market when the Miami Hurricanes joined the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2004.

The Big East added the University of South Florida and gained the Tampa Bay market and with Central Florida it will add Orlando.

For FAU, the Big East would regain it's presence in South Florida and now with this cozy new stadium in Boca Raton, this would be a natural fit to return.

FAU has approximately 28,000 students and is the Alma-mater to more than 120,000 alumni worldwide.

Add the fact that the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area is a top 10 Television Market plus the West Palm Beach audience, and there is a lot of exposure in the region. I've driven up the Florida Turnpike and once saw a Rutgers Football billboard, therefore, nobody can forget that there are a lot of transplanted Northeasterners that traded their shovels for the palm trees.

But for all of this to happen, we all know that the next major decision Owls Athletic Director Craig Angelos makes will be the biggest.

Who will follow Howard Schnellenberger? Hopefully, we'll find out by the holidays.

The potential is here for big things especially when FAU starts winning and has a high profile coach and packs 30,000 fans at this Cozy Palace.

For the Big East to market the largest cities in Florida would provide great exposure and could only bolster their bargaining power in future television negotiations.

Now we'll just see if the Big East is Smart Enough to recognize this and quit dwelling on who is leaving the conference and find the new members that could expand their market. The addition of FIU in Miami would be a great move!.

To have four Florida Schools in the Big East would also create some good in state rivalries.

There are nothing but positives to this eventually becoming a reality.

Down the road after the coaching search, I do plan to address Angelos about his team going to the Big East.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at http://www.scottsports33.com/.