On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accepted the invitation to join The American and became a full member on July 1, 2023.

[2] Florida Atlantic has attracted high-profile coaches in the past for various sports, including Howard Schnellenberger and Lane Kiffin for football and Mike Jarvis for basketball.

[4] The logo and mascot of Florida Atlantic University's athletic teams is the burrowing owl.

At the dedication ceremony in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson even made notice and reference to the popular presence of the bird.

With the addition of intercollegiate athletics in the mid-1980s, the university used the bird as its mascot - an animal that denotes wisdom, determination and cognizance.

On December 5, 2011, the football program hired its second coach in its history; former University of Nebraska Defensive Coordinator, Carl Pelini.

[8] On December 21, 2019, former interim head coach and current University of South Florida defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer led the Owls to their fourth bowl victory in the Boca Raton Bowl, where the Owls defeated the SMU Mustangs by a score of 52–28.

"[9] Coach Cooney won his 800th career game on March 15, 2006, when FAU played Columbia.

40+ years of Florida Atlantic baseball: 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 national competitor.

[12] Additionally, the Lady Owls were only one of two teams to win their final post season game.

Open tryouts are held at the beginning of the fall semester in preparation for the 25+ multi-conference season games, the CHS Playoffs, and the CHF Federation Cup.

FAU Owls home and road games for football and basketball can be heard locally (the tri-county area of South Florida—Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties) on WMEN Fox Sports 640 AM South Florida (formerly known as "640 The Hurricane Sports Radio") on the radio, on the station's webstream, and thru their stream on the TuneIn application.

[21] The voice of Owls football is part-time ESPN 106.3 West Palm 's Ken LaVicka.

For an alphabetical list of inductees, see footnote[22] The Florida Atlantic University Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its inaugural class of members in 2006.