Legendary coach Schnellenberger dies at 87 Howard Schnellenberger, who led Miami to its first national championship and in the process turned a once-floundering football program into a dynasty, died on Saturday, his family announced. He was 87. What Schnellenberger did at Miami remains one of the greatest transformations in college football history. Before his arrival in 1979, Miami administrators considered dropping the sport as the losses mounted and morale dipped.
RIP, he had an interesting career, you have to wonder what would have happened if he had not jumped to the USFL after winning the National Championship. That opened the door for Jimmy Johnson who I always thought created the whole bad boy image for Miami.
He played for Coach Bryant at Kentucky and later was an assistant under Coach Bryant at Alabama. Interesting career.
Agreed, Schnellenberger ran a strict program and never would have allowed the bad boy image under his watch... He was quoted years later that leaving Miami was one of the worst decisions ever made One of the main reasons for leaving was Schnelly got pissed and decided at the last second to take the USFL job. Miami denied his request to amend his health insurance to cover health expenses for his disabled son. This was immediately after he won a national championship.
When he came back to College at Louisville he turned around that program, it was bad when he took the job. He even beat the Tide in a major bowl game, 1991 Fiesta Bowl. Again though he left, according to his Wiki, because Louisville was going to join CUSA. He next surfaced at OU where he didn't last long and OU fans to this day are sorry he came and glad he left. Certainly a coach who had the chops to revive two really down programs.