After completing his last stint as the Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator in 1978, the late, great, coach Howard Schnellenberger had a vision for the private university, south of the city of Miami. In 1979, few would have thought upon Schnellenberger's hiring that he would mold the University of Miami into a national champion in just five years at the helm. How did the coach with the stylish mustache achieve such a feat?
Coach Schnellenberger looked within his own state of Florida to recruit talented athletes. The trend continued through the Johnson, Erickson, and Coker coaching regimes. Schnellenberger's vision and ingredients to winning at the University of Miami could not have been realized if coach Schnellenberger did not "think outside the box". Before the national champion coach turned the one-time, lowly program into a national powerhouse, coach Schnellenberger was under the direction of two prominent renowned coaches at both the collegiate level and professional level.
The legendary coaches Schnellenberger learned under were none other than College Football Hall of Fame, Alabama Crimson Tide coach, the late, great, Paul "Bear" Bryant and Pro Football Hall of Fame, all-time winningest coach, the late, great, Don Shula, who coached both the Baltimore Color seven years and the Miami for twenty-six years. Both coaches were demanding and expected each member of their respective teams in both college and professional football to give "all-out effort, which both coaches emphasized as part of their coaching philosophies.
One man's vision for a program not known for its football prowess, has now become one of the most storied college football programs in all of the nation. There is a standard that young men who are playing for the University of Miami must follow in order to become considered amongst one of the "greats" at "The U". That standard has turned into the tradition that dearly departed coach Schnellenberger commenced with a vision over forty-five years ago.