Hyperbole has always been as essential to the Howard Schnellenberger playbook as the flash of his championship rings. But this week, as he prepares to coach the 312th and final game of his college career, there is not an inch of exaggeration in this observation about the man:
If he had patiently parked himself at Miami, where he won 41 games, two bowls and a national title in five seasons, Schnellenberger would be exiting to a blizzard of confetti and enough championship bling to blind Bobby Bowden.
“I’m the guy who doesn’t have to worry about making that observation,” Schnellenberger said. “Everybody has made it for me.”
So does the coach agree that he would have five or six rings if he had resisted the urge in 1984 to begin the odyssey that took him from Miami to the United States Football League to the University of Louisville to Oklahoma and finally to Florida Atlantic?
“That’s what everybody else says,” he said, then laughed. “Why should I disclaim it?”
He shouldn’t disclaim it. It’s true. Tap 33 seasons times an average of eight victories into your calculator. Schnellenberger would have 264 wins, trailing only Joe Paterno, Bowden, Bear Bryant, Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg on the all-time list. What he started, other coaches finished at Miami, winning parts of four more national titles over the next two decades.
Back to reality — and the reality for this 77-year-old coach is still pretty remarkable. Schnellenberger will try to improve his career record of 158-150-3 when Florida Atlantic closes its season Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe in the sparkling 30,000-seat stadium the coach worked tirelessly to have constructed on the FAU campus in Boca Raton. Among active coaches, he is tied with Bill Snyder of Kansas State for 10th in victories, even while enduring his current 1-10 season.
His legacy won’t be national championships won. His legacy will be the ambition he pumped into the Miami, Louisville and Florida Atlantic programs, and the way he delivered on the lessons he learned from playing for Paulie Miller at Flaget High School and for Bryant and Blanton Collier at Kentucky.
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