New AD White sees Owls as a stock about to peak

BOCA RATON — If one views Florida Atlantic University as a stock on the Wall Street trading floor, athletic director Brian White believes now is the ideal time to invest.

“We’re in a place with tremendous potential and, more importantly, tremendous ambition,” White told The Post. “It doesn’t matter if you have one without the other and I think this place has both. That’s what’s really, really exciting. In addition to all those, we have every strategic advantage inorder to get there. … If I’m buying stock, I’m buying stock in FAU.”

Wednesday night’s stop was the first of three on the “Winning in Paradise Tour”, which will see White, head football coach Lane Kiffin, and other coaches mingle with fans and take ques- tions from the audience. Though similar events have happened in recent years under the “Coaches Caravan” name, this month’s tour naturally has more intrigue and investment following a strong year for most of FAU’s marquee programs.

FAU’s football team won its final ten games under Kiffin en route to an 11-3 finish, a Conference USA title, and a Boca Bowl championship with an offense which averaged over 40 points per game. John McCormack’s baseball team won 43 games and came within a victory of making the Super Regionals before falling to overall No. 1 Florida this week in Gaines- ville. Six players were taken in this week’s MLB Draft, including star shortstop Tyler Frank (American Heritage). FAU’s softball program won the C-USA regular-season title despite losing All-American pitcher Kylee Hanson ( Jupiter High), who transferred to Florida State and helped the Seminoles win the national championship this week.

Though the men’s basket- ball team struggled through a rough season, it will look to build on flashes of potential it showed under new head coach Dusty May, who was hired this spring. Former Dayton coach Jim Jabir quietly — and quickly — turned the women’s basketball program around, taking a team which went winless in C-USA play during the 2016-17 season to the first round of the C-USA tournament.

“What we’ve started here, before I was ever here, triggered much more prominence as to what our athletic department is,” said White, who was hired on March 3 to replace Pat Chun, now at Washington State.

White knows that all eyes, rightfully, will be on Kiffin’s football team this fall. FAU returns AP All-American running back Devin Singletary (American Heritage) and his 32 touchdowns, as well as ten defensive starters.

Kiffin and the Owls are slated to play four games this season on national television, including their Sept.1 opener at Oklahoma on Fox.

“Not only nationally, but locally, we’ve become more and more relevant,” White said. “Now is the time to capitalize on that. We want to be heavily engaged in the community and that’s gonna help us get more people in the stands at games, raise the profile of the athletic department, and raise the profile of the university.”