ROH 067-Collier-Schnellenberger

Blanton Collier

Blanton Collier served as the head football coach of the University of Kentucky for eight seasons and led the Wildcats to a 41-36-3 record (.531 pct.). Most Kentucky faithful remember his 5-2-1 record against arch-rival Tennessee. Collier had the difficult task of following UK’s most successful head coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, when he accepted the job in 1954, but immediately led the Wildcats to a 7-3 record in his first season and was named the Nashville Banner Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year. He began his coaching career at his prep alma mater, Paris High School, in 1927 and coached all sports there for 16 years (1927-43) including football and basketball. Collier won two Central Kentucky Conference football titles and six basketball championships. After serving his country in the Navy, Collier joined the Cleveland Browns in 1946 as an assistant coach under Paul Brown and remained there until becoming head coach at Kentucky. He led Cleveland to a sparkling 76-34-2 record (.688 pct.), which included one NFL title in 1964 and four division titles from 1963 to 1970.

Howard Schnellenberger

During his four letter years as an end, Howard Schnellenberger played two seasons each for head coaches Paul “Bear” Bryant and Blanton Collier and was named a first-team All-American, first-team All-Southeastern Conference by the Associated Press in 1955 and third-team All-Southeastern Conference in 1954. He became a permanent co-captain as a senior in 1955 and ended his career with 44 receptions for 618 yards (14.0 avg.), 11 touchdowns, and owned a ratio of one touchdown catch for every four pass receptions. Schnellenberger led the Wildcats in receiving during both the 1954 and 1955 seasons. His most memorable reception was a 22-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Bob Hardy to give Kentucky a 14-13 victory over Tennessee in 1954. The Wildcats compiled a 25-12-4 record during Schnellenberger’s time on campus. He went on to play in the 1955 Blue-Grey All-Star Game and Senior Bowl. Shortly later, he began his coaching career as an assistant at Kentucky from 1959 to 1960 under Blanton Collier. From there, he moved on to be an assistant coach at Alabama (1961-65) under his former coach Paul Bryant. Schnellenberger then moved to the professional ranks of the NFL and served as an assistant with the Los Angeles Rams (1966-69) under George Allen and the Miami Dolphins (1970-72; 1975-79) under Don Shula. He was head coach of the Baltimore Colts for two years (1973-74) before going back to the collegiate level and leading the University of Miami (Fla.) to the 1983 national championship. He also became the head coach at Louisville and Oklahoma.