Interesting read on UAB


http://bleacherreport.com/tb/dfnCL


Sent from my iPhone.

Some of these conferences just do not make sense anymore, with the travel expenses plus what they have to pay coaches now days. If a program like UAB cannot get buts in the seats on a consistent basis then there is only so long that they can shuffle the funds in order to make football work. I see more schools following suite in the future........or dropping to FCS.

That sucks for UAB. If their own Board of Trustees only cares about 'Bama then they have no chance. Hawaii is probably going to drop football too.

Just in case you guys hadn't seen this

http://csnbbs.com/announcement-344.html

15+ years ago it was probably pretty easy to justify your football program even when it was losing, and it was much less expensive. But in today's economy where public schools are having to tighten the budget and keep raising costs of attendance because of state budget shortfalls people are looking to trim wherever they can.

UAB probably wouldn't be having this discussion if they could muster up a few decent seasons.

Very sad. Reminds me of Nebraska-Omaha, where Nebraska's Tom Osborne was alleged to have maneuvered to get that program dropped. We got two players, Tim Semisch and Donovan Bryant, out of the deal. Whatever happened to the new scoreboard at UNO?

Great read here from CBS Sports...

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...b-football

(11-14-2014 01:46 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  15+ years ago it was probably pretty easy to justify your football program even when it was losing, and it was much less expensive. But in today's economy where public schools are having to tighten the budget and keep raising costs of attendance because of state budget shortfalls people are looking to trim wherever they can.

UAB probably wouldn't be having this discussion if they could muster up a few decent seasons.

The problem with UAB is anytime they might be on the verge of having a few decent seasons, the coach is fired/pushed out the door for being "too good."

I live in Birmingham and this is what I have seen over time...
In the last several years when there is a head football coach opening at UAB, they have had the chance to land a pretty good coach, but it gets squashed by the Board of Trustees. They want absolutely NOTHING to remotely upstage UA in Tuscaloosa.

A couple years ago, UAB had secured land and had a draft proposal for a brand new stadium and thought they had the funding to do so until the Board of Trustees stepped in and told them no.

It's funny they do all of this because UAB and its hospital system are the biggest employers in the entire state of Alabama and is really improving academically. It's sad that a potentially great place for kids to go to school down here is constantly beat down by the so-called joke Board of Trustees in Tuscaloosa.

Feel bad for the UAB fans. It seems like the BOT would not let them succeed.

(11-14-2014 04:42 PM)RednBlackHuskie Wrote:  

(11-14-2014 01:46 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  15+ years ago it was probably pretty easy to justify your football program even when it was losing, and it was much less expensive. But in today's economy where public schools are having to tighten the budget and keep raising costs of attendance because of state budget shortfalls people are looking to trim wherever they can.

UAB probably wouldn't be having this discussion if they could muster up a few decent seasons.

The problem with UAB is anytime they might be on the verge of having a few decent seasons, the coach is fired/pushed out the door for being "too good."

I live in Birmingham and this is what I have seen over time...
In the last several years when there is a head football coach opening at UAB, they have had the chance to land a pretty good coach, but it gets squashed by the Board of Trustees. They want absolutely NOTHING to remotely upstage UA in Tuscaloosa.

A couple years ago, UAB had secured land and had a draft proposal for a brand new stadium and thought they had the funding to do so until the Board of Trustees stepped in and told them no.

It's funny they do all of this because UAB and its hospital system are the biggest employers in the entire state of Alabama and is really improving academically. It's sad that a potentially great place for kids to go to school down here is constantly beat down by the so-called joke Board of Trustees in Tuscaloosa.

Not doubting your claims, but in what universe is UAB any sort of threat to Alabama's hegemony in that state? That'd be like Michigan deciding in three weeks that the reason they suck balls is there's too much competition from Eastern Michigan football.

Of course, people in SEC country are just straight-up weird about their football.

(11-14-2014 12:18 PM)westernwilly Wrote:  Some of these conferences just do not make sense anymore, with the travel expenses plus what they have to pay coaches now days. If a program like UAB cannot get buts in the seats on a consistent basis then there is only so long that they can shuffle the funds in order to make football work. I see more schools following suite in the future........or dropping to FCS.

The sad thing is their average attendance this season is still better than any MAC school. They've gotten close to 30K at some games. The lowest they've had is just under 10K. We may beat most of the C-USA/SunBelt schools on the field, but not in number of fans.

The biggest problem, as we all know, is the P5 culture. I work with somebody that went to BGSU, yet still cares more about University of Michigan's teams. His claim is that he grew up in a family full of Michigan fans (none of whom even attended the school), so that's what stuck. I don't get why people continue to root for schools they never went to, but that's just the way it is.

(11-15-2014 04:11 PM)Michael the Narwhal Wrote:  

(11-14-2014 12:18 PM)westernwilly Wrote:  Some of these conferences just do not make sense anymore, with the travel expenses plus what they have to pay coaches now days. If a program like UAB cannot get buts in the seats on a consistent basis then there is only so long that they can shuffle the funds in order to make football work. I see more schools following suite in the future........or dropping to FCS.

The sad thing is their average attendance this season is still better than any MAC school. They've gotten close to 30K at some games. The lowest they've had is just under 10K. We may beat most of the C-USA/SunBelt schools on the field, but not in number of fans.

The biggest problem, as we all know, is the P5 culture. I work with somebody that went to BGSU, yet still cares more about University of Michigan's teams. His claim is that he grew up in a family full of Michigan fans (none of whom even attended the school), so that's what stuck. I don't get why people continue to root for schools they never went to, but that's just the way it is.

From the pictures that I have seen and the CUSA post that I have read over the years, they report their attendance lick EMU.