The Florida Atlantic University Marching Owls is the
marching band
A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...
at
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...
. The band plays for all home
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
games at FAU Stadium and at civic and community events in South Florida.
History
After establishing a football program in 2001, Florida Atlantic University's president
Anthony Catanese
Anthony James Catanese is an American university administrator, author, and a former President and CEO of the Florida Institute of Technology. Prior to his position at the Florida Institute of Technology, Catanese was President of Florida Atlan ...
instigated plans to start an official university marching band the following year. The Director of Bands, George Sparks, pulled together 85 students who wearing a Caribbean style shirt and straw brimmed hats performed at home football games at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. In 2003, Mr. Sparks took an administrative position and without a permanent leader the band went inactive in Fall 2004.
In April 2005, Christopher Chapman was hired as the university's first Director of Athletic Bands, overseeing the 'Parliament Sound' Pep Band which performs at basketball games, and the Marching Owls. In Fall 2005 he was able to successfully restart the marching band program as the football team jumped from Division I-AA to Division I-A in the
Sunbelt Conference
The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...
. 2005 was the first year the band performed in traditional blue and white marching uniforms, and the year many of its current traditions were established. In 2006, Sean Murray was hired as the Director of Athletic Bands and for the eleven years under his direction the band grew in size and quality. He officially adopted the name "Marching Owls" in 2006 and brought the band to their first out-of-state appearance at the
New Orleans Bowl
The New Orleans Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2001. It is normally held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans; when the Superdome and the rest of the city suffered damage due to ...
in 2007. The band traveled regularly during these years performing at away football games at Florida International University's Riccardo Silva Stadium, the University of Miami at Hard Rock Stadium, and the University of Florida at
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),
In 2011, Florida Atlantic University finished construction of its new 30,000 seat football stadium, FAU Stadium, and the Marching Owls performed at the inaugural game against Western Kentucky. With the new stadium came a greater interest in the schools football team and marching band. In 2014, the football team joined
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
and the Marching Owls continued to grow and build traditions to bolster the football atmosphere. The current Director of Athletic Bands is Marc Decker.