Boolah, Boolah FAU
My, oh my. How our own little Florida Atlantic University has changed and grown. FAU, not so little any longer due to being the state's fastest-growing university, just received approval from the Florida Board of Governors to offer its very own four-year medical program.
It seems like only yesterday that the Boca Raton-based school began its two-year, on-campus medical program in partnership with and under the auspices of Florida's premier medical program, the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. The board's unanimous vote ensures that FAU's full-time med school will be in place within five years. Boca Raton Community Hospital, conveniently located just a hop, step and jump from the campus on Glades Road, will serve as the primary teaching hospital.
Growth includes football
And speaking of change, my little FAU Owls football team is going to take some lumps in its first real season of big-time, NCAA Division 1-A competition. As a Division II and then Division 1-AA school, Coach Howard Schnellenberger's infant gridiron program did well and even excelled, fighting its way to the NCAA Division I-AA playoff semi-final game before making the jump as a provisional program in Division I last year. Not too shabby for a team that did not exist less than a decade ago.
This year, the gloves come off and the Owls are expecting a pummeling thanks to Coach Howard's ambitious non-conference, upper-tier scheduling. The Owls' first three games of the Division I season are against Big 12 Conference teams Kansas and Oklahoma State, and Big 10 Conference representative Minnesota. Talk about David versus Goliath. But then sanity returns to the schedule and the season finishes out with Sun Belt Conference teams and the traditional final game with in-state rival Florida International University.
Sounds ominous, but Coach Howard made this schedule with a purpose. He is the same guy that hired on at a small, private university that was close to ending its football program and known as "Suntan U." He instilled discipline, required student-athletes to maintain passing grades or not play, and always scheduled road games against powerhouse teams. As the Coach stated at the time, "To be the best you not only have to play the best, you have to learn what it takes to beat the best." Five national championships later (plus two that were taken from them by referees) it appears that the University of Miami Hurricanes have learned how to be the best, and Coach Howard believes that in time, the FAU Owls will as well.
So chin up, alumni, be of good cheer and give a hoot. The Burrowing Bird is flying high with a dynamic president in Frank Brogan (a Martin County favorite son), its very own medical school, highly-regarded scholastic programs, and top-tier athletics. We may pick up a few gridiron scars this year, but they will merely serve as evidence of FAU's ascendancy. It's great to be an Owl.