Howard Schellenberger

A gentleman that seems to come up in quite a few of our historic football discussions in Howard Schnellenberger. We wanted to take the time to find out the full story on just who Howard Schnellenberger was and what made him famous in gridiron lore.

We have had a name in coaching that has popped up quite a bit recently in telling the story of football history, that being Coach Howard Schnellenberger. He really was part of the success of so many players and teams during his illustrious collegiate and professional coaching career. I really think you will be quite amazed at his story.

This legendary coach did everything from recruiting one of the top QB prospects when he was only an assistant to performing of the greatest transformations in college football history from a bottom feeder to a top National Program. 

 The coach was born on March 16, 1934, in Saint Meinrad, Indiana. He graduated from Flaget High School in Louisville, Kentucky, where he played football, basketball, and a little bit of baseball before earning a scholarship to the University of Kentucky.  While at Flaget High he would meet one of his lifelong closest friends Paul Hornung. Schnellenberger played college football as an end for the Kentucky Wildcats and was a pretty solid player. So good that he was named a 1955 All-American by the Associated Press and the Newspaper Enterprise Association.

After graduation, he stayed in helmet and traveled up North to play a couple of seasons for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. When he reached the end of his playing days he returned to Kentucky to act as an assistant coach for the Wildcats under head coach Blanton Collier for the 1959 and 1960 seasons. When Schnellenberger coached under  Collier at Kentucky, there were two other young assistants there also gaining wisdom from the old coach, Don Shula, and Bill Arnsparger. Schnellenberger and Shula would maintain their friendship and coaching relationship for years to come as you shall soon be revealed.

He moved further South in 1961 to serve in the same capacity for another legendary coach Paul Bear Bryant at Alabama. While on Bryant's staff, Schnellenberger helped recruit quarterbacks Joe Namath and Ken Stabler, and helped coach Alabama to three national championships (1961, 1964, and 1965) in five seasons. The recruitment of Namath was one of his biggest accomplishments while on staff at Bama.

Joe Namath was interested in attending the University of Maryland but his parents and in particular his mother, were not keen on the school. She wanted her to keep his options open until the right offer came. When Maryland failed to accept Joe because of his grades he was disappointed, to say the least. The recruitment connection paid off though as Maryland’s coach, Tom Nugent, knew Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama and put in a good word for Namath. Coach Bryant was extremely interested in the prospect and sent his top man, Assistant Coach Howard Schnellenberger, to visit the Namath household.
When the time came for Schnellenberger’s to leave, Namath’s mother was on board and convinced Alabama was the place to play. 
It is reported that Coach Howard recruited quarterback Ken Stabler to Alabama with a different tactic, by, “giving his momma a fifth of bourbon,” as he said.  He was on the road quite a bit in the offseason for Bryant.
“A three-day recruiting trip turned into 10 days,” Schnellenberger once said. “I was out of money and had to buy him a plane ticket to return with me. I wrote a bad check to Eastern Airlines to get… to Alabama.”
Schnellenberger left Alabama in early 1966 to take a job in the National Football League to coach the ends under Headman George Allen with the LA Rams. With Allen leaving Los Angeles, Schnellenberger headed to Miami to help with the receivers there under Don Shula. He stayed in South Beach for a couple of more years including the 1972 undefeated season and taking home the Lombardi for victory in Super Bowl VII.

After a few seasons there he had his own experience as the head coach of an NFL squad with the Baltimore Colts. His first season with the Blue Horseshoe was a rough one at 4-10 but the squad did upset the defending champ Dolphins near the end of the season to help things feel a tad better. During the 1974 season, things came to a head. Schnellenberger insisted on starting Marty Domres at signal-caller while owner Robert Irsay insisted that Bert Jones should be the QB1. Irsay ended up dismissing his coach soon into the season for this main reason and some quippy retorts from the coach that miffed the team owner.
Howard then quickly returned to Miami to work with Shula again until a big offer came. It happened in 1979 when the nearby struggling University of Miami offered Schnellenberger their sideline post and he accepted.

Schnellenberger came to the Hurricanes and was responsible for the turnaround in UM football from 5-6 in 1979 to 11-1 and a national championship in 1983. It was Miami’s first National Title and it put the school on the map as a top contender for years to come. Quite a remarkable culture change in just four years. With his 41-16 coaching record, Schnellenberger owns the fourth-highest winning percentage (.719) in University of Miami history. He started a trend with his recruiting of Jim Kelly of making the Hurricane program considered by many to be Quarterback University when players such as Bernie Kosar, Vinnie Testaverde, and others rolled through the program even after Schnellenberger had left.

Not only did he turn around the program at Miami but Coach Schnellenberger later revitalized his hometown Louisville Cardinals and built Florida Atlantic football from scratch, leaving an indelible mark on three college football programs. He ended his coaching tenure with a 153-151-3 record but brought many student-athletes around to be the best they could be and changed the fortune of more than one college football program.

As of right now, this great coach is not in the College Football Hall of Fame, but it is hoped he soon will be as he greatly earned the honor.

The banner photo is Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Coach Howard Schnellberger circa 1981 while at Miami.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites mentioned above, including Wikipedia.