Steve Shankweiler enters his fourth season at FIU in 2016, serving as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator and the team’s offensive line coach. Prior to FIU, he spent three seasons at the University of South Florida.
Shankweiler is a veteran coach with 42 years of experience, primarily teaching the offensive line. His career includes 33 seasons at the collegiate level, with another nine as a high school coach.
Last season, FIU’s offense had some of its most-impressive numbers in recent years. The Panthers gained 4,173 yards (fifth-most in school history), including 2,854 yards through the air (second-most in school history). FIU averaged 25.5 points-per-game (third-most in school history), posting 306 points in 2015, including a record-setting first half versus UTEP (10/10), where the Panthers scored 42 points in the first two quarters en route to a 52-12 win over the Miners – fourth-largest margin of victory in FIU’s 14-year history.
During the 2014 season, Shankweiler’ s offensive line helped FIU record 1,502 net rushing yards (4th-most in school history) and led the Panther’s offense to 125.5 net yards-per-game (5th-best average all-time at FIU). FIU’s offense also finished with 11 rushing touchdowns (10th-most in school history).
In three seasons at USF, under Skip Holtz, Shankweiler mentored several young linemen into one of the Big East's top units. In 2011, despite losing three seniors from 2010, and shifting a guard to center, the Bulls went on to rank 35th nationally and first in the Big East in both rushing offense and sacks allowed.
Most notably, Shankweiler coached for three separate five-year runs at East Carolina spanning the past three decades. During those 15 total seasons ECU would play in seven bowl games, including an historical 1991 season that culminated in a Peach Bowl victory over N.C. State. Other such notable accomplishments were ECU's return to bowl play with its 2006 Papajohns.com Bowl invitation, defeating Boise State in the 2007 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl and a pair of Liberty Bowl appearances, winning Conference USA titles in 2008 and 2009.
His third, and most recent, appointment at East Carolina (2005-09) saw Shankweiler hired as the offensive line coach, but quickly elevated to offensive coordinator. In 2005, he guided a unit that passed for 2,816 yards, which ranked as the highest total in nearly 10 years (1996) and fourth-best all-time at ECU. The offense averaged 393.5 total yards per game, a mark which stands among the school's top 10 in history.
In 2006, ECU set a new single-season record for first downs (264), while turning in the school's third-best passing mark (3,024 yards) and sixth-best total offense tally (4,526) in the program's annals. Perhaps more impressive was that the success came behind a line he developed and tutored, which featured just one senior and two full-time rookie starters, who both earned selection to the Conference USA All-Freshman squads (media and coaches). The Pirates' rushing attack, behind future NFL star Chris Johnson, ranked among the nation's top 35 with 182.9 yards per game. In addition, he helped coordinate an offensive unit that set a pair of single-season scoring records as the Pirates tallied 52 touchdowns and rang up 403 points in 2006 - surpassing the previous standard that was set in 1979.
Prior to ECU, Shankweiler was offensive line coach at South Carolina in 2004 under Lou Holtz after spending 2003 in the same capacity at Cincinnati under Rick Minter.
Shankweiler would join the ECU staff for a second time in 1998 as offensive line coach under Steve Logan and helped coach the Pirates to three consecutive winning seasons and bowl appearances in 1999 (Mobile Alabama Bowl), 2000 (GalleryFurniture.com Bowl) and 2001 (GMAC Bowl).
Prior to a pair of high school head coaching positions in the state of Georgia from 1995-97, Shankweiler was Bill Lewis's co-offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for three seasons beginning in 1992, where he guided the Yellow Jackets' to their second-highest-rated offense in school history at that time.
Shankweiler first joined the ECU program in 1987 as offensive line coach under Art Baker. He became the Pirate’s offensive coordinator under Bill Lewis and played a key role in one of the most successful seasons in Pirate history in 1991. After falling to Illinois 38-31 in the opener, ECU ran off 11 consecutive wins and capped the campaign with a 37-34 win against N.C. State in the Peach Bowl to earn a final No. 9 national rank.
Shankweiler began his collegiate coaching career at The Citadel in 1980, leading the Bulldogs to the top of the Southern Conference rankings in total defense and passing offense as defensive and offensive line coach before moving on to accept the offensive coordinator's position at Western Kentucky in 1984. Prior to his time at The Citadel, Shankweiler got his first head coaching job at Redan High School in Stone Mountain, Ga. There, as the first head coach in school history, he led Redan to the 1979 state title with programs second senior class.
A six-time football and track letterman at Davidson, Shankweiler earned All-SoCon honors and served as captain of the track program in 1974. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Davidson in 1974 before following with a master's degree in physical education from Georgia State in 1980.
Shankweiler's son, Kort, a former fullback at ECU, followed in his father's footsteps into coaching and is the present quarterbacks and wide receivers coach, and pass-came coordinator at FIU.
