Let's be honest, if you need a stadium built Howard Schnellenberger is your guy. If you need to win football games and maintain a moderate level of success, it’s probably best to search elsewhere. Under Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic transitioned quickly to the Sun Belt and peaked in 2007 and 2008 with back-to-back bowl berths. But then the program took a huge nose dive going 5-7, 4-8 and last season a woeful 1-11. Schnellenberger has since retired and the Owls scored former
Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Pelini is looking for a quick turnaround so he can parlay it into a better coaching gig. As Schnellenger proved, there’s no better conference to do that than the Sun Belt. No question there is a lot of stink still left on the program but in the Sun Belt, playing hard and having discipline – two things FAU didn't do last season – is half the battle. New offense, new defense, new system to learn but FAU will be underdogs in nearly every game and will be much more competitive under Pelini.
