Florida Atlantic Owls

From Hoopedia

Florida Atlantic University, also commonly referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a public coeducational research university located in Boca Raton, Florida, USA. The university has six additional partner campuses located in the Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and Fort Pierce at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. FAU's seven campuses span more than 100 miles of Florida's eastern coastline and serve a seven-county region which has a populace of more than five million people.

The Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as members of the Sun Belt Conference.

Despite its status as a mid-major university, Florida Atlantic has attracted high profile coaches for various sports, including Howard Schnellenberger for football and Rex Walters for basketball. Former coaches include Matt Doherty and Sidney Green. The Director of Athletics is Craig Angelos.

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 the Sun Belt Conference in the 2006-2007 season, and has shown signs of maturing into a decent program. The Owls competed on the Division II level from 1988-1993 before joining the Atlantic Sun Conference when moving to Division I in the 1993-1994 season. In their first season in the Sun Belt Conference, the Owls finished third in the East Division.

The Owls are currently coached by Rex Walters, a former standout at Kansas. Walters played a major role in the Jayhawks' run to the Final Four in 1993. Coach Walters became the 6th head coach of FAU basketball, after Matt Doherty left the university a year into his tenure to coach at SMU.

The Owls play at FAU Arena, commonly referred to as The Burrow.