| Florida Atlantic Owls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Florida Atlantic University |
| Conference | American Conference (primary) C-USA (beach volleyball) ASUN (men's swimming & diving) |
| NCAA | Division I(FBS) |
| Athletic director | Brian White |
| Location | Boca Raton, Florida |
| Varsity teams | 19 (8 men's, 11 women's) |
| Football stadium | Flagler Credit Union Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena |
| Baseball stadium | FAU Baseball Stadium |
| Softball stadium | FAU Softball Stadium |
| Soccer stadium | FAU Soccer Stadium |
| Mascot | Owlsley and Hoot |
| Nickname | Owls |
| Fight song | FAU Fight Song |
| Colors | Blue and red[1] |
| Website | fausports |
 | |
TheFlorida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams ofFlorida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'sDivision I as members of theAmerican Conference. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accepted the invitation to join The American and became a full member on July 1, 2023.[2]
Florida Atlantic has attracted high-profile coaches in the past for various sports, includingHoward Schnellenberger andLane Kiffin forfootball andMike Jarvis forbasketball. Other former coaches includeMatt Doherty,Rex Walters, andSidney Green. As of March 2018, the Owls are led by athletic director Brian White.[3] The 2023 men's basketball team made school history by making the Final Four of the2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.[4]
The logo and mascot ofFlorida Atlantic University's athletic teams is theburrowing owl. Owlsley and Hoot are the names of the mascots for Florida Atlantic University. The presence of this bird has been popular on the land of the university, even preceding the construction of FAU. At the dedication ceremony in 1964,President Lyndon B. Johnson even made notice and reference to the popular presence of the bird.[5] In 1971, theNational Audubon Society designated FAU's land an official owl sanctuary, honoring the tradition of the bird's presence and moving to protect the birds from attempts to expand construction of the university. Owls are still dominant in their presence on the Boca Raton campus to this day. With the addition of intercollegiate athletics in the mid-1980s, the university used the bird as its mascot - an animal that denotes wisdom, determination and cognizance.
| Division | Years | Conference affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| NAIA District 25 | 1979–80 to 1982–83 | Independent |
| NCAA Division II | 1983–84 to 1992–93 | |
| NCAA Division I | 1993–94 to 2005–06 | Trans America Athletic Conference (nowASUN Conference) |
| 2006–07 to 2012–13 | Sun Belt Conference | |
| 2013–14 to 2022–23 | Conference USA | |
| 2023–24 to present | American Athletic Conference |
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Beach volleyball3 |
| Cross country | Cross country |
| Football | Golf |
| Golf | Soccer |
| Soccer | Softball |
| Swimming and diving2 | Swimming and diving |
| Tennis | Tennis |
| Track and field1 | |
| Volleyball | |
| 1includes both indoor and outdoor 2as of the 2023–24 season, competes in the ASUN Conference. 3remained an associate member of Conference USA after the school otherwise left the conference. | |
Florida Atlantic University fielded its first football team in 2001, coached by former Miami and Louisville coachHoward Schnellenberger. Their first game was a 40–7 loss againstSlippery Rock University on September 1, 2001. After just four seasons of existence, the Owls jumped fromDivision I-AA (now FCS) competition toDivision I-A (now FBS), joining theSun 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, theNew Orleans Bowl, where they defeated theMemphis Tigers 44–27. In 2008, the Owls competed in their second straight bowl game, theMotor City Bowl, where they defeated theCentral Michigan Chippewas by a score of 24–21.
In 2010, quarterbackRusty Smith became the first FAU player to be drafted.
The Owls opened their new on-campus FAU Stadium (nowFlagler Credit Union Stadium on October 15, 2011, againstWestern Kentucky.
The Owls' natural rivals are theFIU Panthers, located just 50 miles from Florida Atlantic. The rivals meet annually in a conference match up named theShula Bowl, afterMiami Dolphins coachDon Shula.[6] 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 joinedConference 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 underNick Saban.[7] He led the Owls to two conference championships in 2017 and 2019, as well as a 2017Boca Raton Bowl victory, where the Owls defeated theAkron Zips by a score of 50–3.
On December 11, 2019, FAU announced the hiring of former Florida State University head coachWillie Taggart as the next head coach.[8] 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 theSMU 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, the 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."[9] Coach Cooney won his 800th career game on March 15, 2006, when FAU playedColumbia. At FAU, Cooney won more than 700 games.
The Owls baseball team plays its home games atFAU Baseball Stadium.[10]
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:
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 theSun Belt Conference in the 2006–2007 season, and has shown signs of maturing into a national competitor. The Owls competed on theDivision II level from 1988 to 1993 before joining theAtlantic Sun Conference when moving toDivision I in the 1993–1994 season.
The Owls were coached byRex Walters in 2006–2008, a former standout atKansas. Walters played a major role in the Jayhawks' run to theFinal Four in 1993. Coach Walters became the 6th head coach of FAU basketball, afterMatt Doherty left the university a year into his tenure to coach atSMU.
The Owls are currently coached byDusty May, in his first head coaching opportunity.
The Owls play atEleanor R. Baldwin Arena, formerly known as FAU Arena & RoofClaim.com Arena and commonly referred to as The Burrow.
In the2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the men's basketball team has advanced to theFinal Four.[4]
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.[12] Additionally, the Lady Owls were only one of two teams to win their final post season game.[13] Coach Joan Joyce was named the Sun Belt's Coach of the Year after guiding the Owls to the top of the conference.[14] Prior to joining the Sun Belt Conference, FAU softball had won nine Atlantic Sun Conference titles in the previous 10 years.
The FAU women's track and field team was founded in 2000. The men's team was scheduled to begin in 2001, but it didn't start.Bob Beamon was named as a coach of both teams.[15]
The Florida Atlantic University Ice Hockey Club competes in Division II of theAmerican Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and has been a member of the College Hockey South (CHS) conference since the 2019–2020 season.[16] The Owls won the ACHA Division II national championship in 2025 and competed in the ACHA National Tournament in 2005 and 2011, also qualifying for the ACHA Regional Tournament in the 2017–2018 and 2019–2020 seasons.[17][18] Open tryouts are held at the beginning of the fall semester to prepare for a season of over 25 multi-conference games, the CHS Playoffs, and the CHF Federation Cup.[16]
The rivalry between Florida Atlantic and Florida International started in 2002 when FIU's newly formed football program signed on to an annual matchup with FAU, alternating between home fields; the game has come to be called theShula Bowl. FAU leads the football series 16–4 as of 2022. On the basketball court, FAU leads the series 21–18 as of 2023.
| Sport | Facility | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Football | FAU Stadium | 29,571 |
| Men's &Women's Basketball/Volleyball | Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena | 3,161 |
| Baseball | FAU Baseball Stadium | 2,000 |
| Softball | Joan Joyce Field | 700 |
| Soccer | FAU Soccer Stadium | 1,000 |
| Swimming and diving | FAU Aquatic Center | None listed |
| Beach volleyball | FAU Beach Volleyball Complex | None listed |
| Tennis | Kimberly V. Strauss Tennis Center | None listed |
| Cross country/Track and field | FAU Track and Field Complex | None listed |
| Golf | [19][20] | varies |
Source:[21]
Owlsley and Hoot are the official mascots of Florida Atlantic.[22] FAU is one of three schools in theAmerican Athletic Conference to use the owl as a mascot, alongsideTemple University andRice University.
Fight song: The Florida Atlantic Universityfight song was created in 2004, in response to the university's growing football program. FAU fielded its firstmarching band in the 2002 football season, collectively called theFlorida Atlantic Marching Owls.
FAU Owls home and road games forfootball andbasketball can be heard locally (the tri-county area of South Florida—Palm Beach,Broward, andMiami-Dade counties) on WMENFox Sports 640 AM South Florida (formerly known as "640 The Hurricane Sports Radio") on the radio, on the station's webstream, and thru their stream on theTuneIn application.[24] The voice of Owls football is part-timeESPN 106.3 West Palm 's Ken LaVicka. All football and basketball games can be heard live onFAU's website, as well.
Occasional FAU football and, as of 2019, all FAU men's basketball games are broadcast byESPN+, the streaming service fromESPN. Other networks that have broadcast FAU games in recent years includeFOX,ESPNU,NFL Network,CBS Sports Network,Stadium, andABC.
For an alphabetical list of inductees, see footnote[25]The Florida Atlantic University AthleticHall of Fame inducted its inaugural class of members in 2006.[25]
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