Florida Atlantic Owls

FAU Stadium, current home of the Owls football team

Florida Atlantic University fielded its first football team in 2001, coached by former Miami and Louisville coach Howard Schnellenberger. Their first game was a 40–7 loss against Slippery Rock University on September 1, 2001. After just four seasons of existence, the Owls jumped from Division I-AA (now FCS) competition to Division I-A (now FBS), joining the Sun Belt Conference. Through the 2008 season, after eight years of competing in football, the Owls are 47–47 overall. In 2007 they competed in their first bowl game, the New Orleans Bowl, where they defeated the Memphis Tigers 44–27. In 2008, the Owls competed in their second straight bowl game, the Motor City Bowl, where they defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas by a score of 24–21.

In 2010, quarterback Rusty Smith became the first FAU player to be drafted.

The Owls opened their new on-campus FAU Stadium on October 15, 2011, against Western Kentucky.

The Owls' natural rival are the Florida International Golden Panthers, who are located just 50 miles from Florida Atlantic and also compete in Conference USA. The rivals meet annually in a conference match up named the Shula Bowl, after Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula.[4] The first Shula Bowl was played in 2002 at the Miami Dolphins' Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium), and since alternated between FAU at Sun Life Stadium and FIU Stadium annually; the first game in the series at the Owls' new stadium was in 2012. FAU leads the all-time series thirteen games to four.

On December 5, 2011, the football program hired its second coach in its history; former University of Nebraska Defensive Coordinator, Carl Pelini. In 2013, the Owls joined Conference USA. On December 16, 2013, the program hired its third coach in its history; Charlie Partridge.

On December 12, 2016, the program hired the fourth coach in program history; Lane Kiffin. Kiffin was formerly the head coach for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, the University of Tennessee Volunteers, and the University of Southern California as well as the former Offensive Coordinator for the University of Alabama under Nick Saban.[5] He led the Owls to two conference championships in 2017 and 2019, as well as a 2017 Boca Raton Bowl victory, where the Owls defeated the Akron Zips by a score of 50-3.

On December 11, 2019, FAU announced the hiring of former Florida State University head coach Willie Taggart as the next head coach.[6] On December 21, 2019, former interim head coach and current University of South Florida defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer led the Owls to their fourth bowl victory in the Boca Raton Bowl, where the Owls defeated the SMU Mustangs by a score of 52-28.

Florida Atlantic Baseball fielded its first squad in 1981. Since inception FAU has had only three coaches. Kevin Cooney, most successful coach in school history, was the Florida Atlantic head baseball coach from 1988 through 2008. By many accounts, Cooney built a mid-major dynasty in the baseball world. University of Cincinnati head coach Brian Cleary called FAU "one of the country's best baseball programs," and added, "it's been an incredibly successful program over the last several years."[7] Coach Cooney won his 800th career game on March 15, 2006, when FAU played Columbia. At FAU, Cooney won more than 700 games.

The Owls baseball team plays its home games at FAU Baseball Stadium.[8]

Currently the Owls are coached by long-time assistant for Cooney, John McCormack. McCormack was an assistant under Cooney at FAU for 18 seasons.

40 years of Florida Atlantic baseball:

• 12 Regionals (1985, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019)
• 1 Super Regional (2002)
• 7 Regular Season Conference Championships (1983, 1999, 2003, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2019)
• 2 Conference Tournament Championships (2004, 2013)
• NCAA record of 34 consecutive wins (February 19, 1999 – March 16, 1999)
• 290 student-athletes baseball scholarships
• 10 All-Americans
• 7 Freshmen All-Americans
• 67 players sign professionally
• 4 players reach the majors

The Burrow

FAU basketball began play in 1988 and in its 19+ seasons has experienced limited success, marred with frequent coaching changes. Along with the other FAU athletics teams, basketball entered the Sun Belt Conference in the 2006–2007 season, and has shown signs of maturing into a national competitor. The Owls competed on the Division II level from 1988 to 1993 before joining the Atlantic Sun Conference when moving to Division I in the 1993–1994 season.

• December 1, 1998: FAU played Oklahoma State in the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys were undefeated and ranked in the top 10 of both national polls. FAU shocked the nation and upset OSU 83–81. This is still considered the biggest upset in FAU basketball history.[9]
• 2002 season: FAU won the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, defeating Georgia State 76–75 in the Championship Game of the conference tournament. The Owls received a 15-seed in the national tournament, but fell short in a bid to upset 2nd-seeded Alabama.

The Owls were coached by Rex Walters in 2006–2008, a former standout at Kansas. Walters played a major role in the Jayhawks' run to the Final Four in 1993. Coach Walters became the 6th head coach of FAU basketball, after Matt Doherty left the university a year into his tenure to coach at SMU.

The Owls are currently coached by Dusty May, in his first head coaching opportunity.

The Owls play at FAU Arena, briefly known as RoofClaim.com Arena and commonly referred to as The Burrow.

In 2007, their first year as a member in the Sun Belt Conference, the FAU women's softball team became Sun Belt Conference champions winning both the Sun Belt regular-season and the Sun Belt tournament title. Florida Atlantic University is only the second Sun Belt champion in league history, knocking off defending champions Louisiana-Lafayette, which had won the first seven Sun Belt titles.[10] Additionally, the Lady Owls were only one of two teams to win their final post season game.[11] Coach Joan Joyce was named the Sun Belt's Coach of the Year after guiding the Owls to the top of the conference.[12] Prior to joining the Sun Belt Conference, FAU softball had won nine Atlantic Sun Conference titles in the previous 10 years.[13]

The Florida Atlantic University Ice Hockey Club participates in Division II of the Collegiate Hockey Federation (CHF) and has been a member of the South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference (SECHC) since the 2019-2020 season. The Owls competed in the ACHA National Tournament in 2005 & 2011 and qualified for the Regional Tournament in the 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 seasons. Open tryouts are held at the beginning of the fall semester in preparation for the 25+ multi-conference season games, the SECHC Playoffs, and the CHF Federation Cup.[14]

The rivalry between FAU and Florida International University was born in 2002, when FIU's newly formed football program signed on to an annual matchup with FAU, alternating between home fields. The game was come to be called the Shula Bowl. All-time, FAU leads the football series. On the basketball court, FIU has been on the better part of the rivalry, leading the all-time series 8–11. In the 2006–07 season, FAU swept the season series (3 games).

Troy University has been a long-time rival of FAU, as both schools participated in the Atlantic Sun Conference and now both moved to the Sun Belt Conference. Both schools' baseball teams constantly competed as top programs in the Atlantic Sun, and currently both maintain that elite status in Sun Belt baseball competition. Along with baseball, football and basketball also share in the rivalry. Both programs' football teams cracked the surface as Division I-A competitors around the same time. (FAU created a team in 2001 and joined D-IA in 2004; Troy moved from Division I-AA to D-IA in 2003.) Although FAU football has seen unprecedented success at such a rapid pace against Sun Belt competition, Troy had beaten FAU in all 3 of their football meetings, inciting the rivalry. However, in 2007, FAU defeated Troy in the final game of the season, winning the Sun Belt Conference, and earning a spot in the New Orleans Bowl, the fastest ascent to a bowl game in D-IA history. This rivalry has declined due to FAU's move into Conference USA in 2013, with 2012 being the last time the two schools played each other in football.