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http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/...cart_river

This is sad. Watson never got the respect he deserved...and now he never will. When UAB went on to mdo big things..when bowl games etc. What Watson did for UAB football would have been remembered and respected. sad.

(12-03-2014 09:46 AM)anubus Wrote:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/...cart_river

Does anyone think Neal Callaway has shed any tears over the death of our beloved program?

Those don't read like the words of a man that wanted to destroy the program that he helped build. Watson does a pretty good job describing how I've felt since I knew it was final.

Coach Bartow choosing Watson in 1994 to lead the program was a huge mistake. Imagine if we had a young, hungry coach like Bill Clark assume that role starting with the 95 season. Sigh.

But Watson Brown was not the death of this program. That started with the hiring of Neal Callaway and naming Brian Mackin AD.

(12-03-2014 12:02 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(12-03-2014 09:46 AM)anubus Wrote:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/...cart_river

Does anyone think Neal Callaway has shed any tears over the death of our beloved program?

Those don't read like the words of a man that wanted to destroy the program that he helped build. Watson does a pretty good job describing how I've felt since I knew it was final.

Coach Bartow choosing Watson in 1994 to lead the program was a huge mistake. Imagine if we had a young, hungry coach like Bill Clark assume that role starting with the 95 season. Sigh.

But Watson Brown was not the death of this program. That started with the hiring of Neal Callaway and naming Brian Mackin AD.

Bartow did hire "a young, hungry coach" in Watson Brown. Our problem was that none of the program's leaders really understood the depth of the fiefdom mentality of Alabama politics that pervades even its academic institutions. They also didn't realize in 1990 that circumstances in the next decades would raise the cost of building new sports facilities by 200% to 300% and more (a "middle class" home in 1990 cost about $100,000 to build that today costs over $300,000 in the same location). They could not have known that their two top men's programs would have in 2014 essentially the same facilities in 2014 that it started with in the 1980s.

The environment of UAB's athletic program might have been different (better) in other states, but ours was being built in B'ham in a state that hates its largest city and in a UA system that jealously guarded its main campus prerogatives, even at the expense of its "sister" institutions. Today, Troy and USA are thanking their lucky stars that they are not a part of the UA System.

(12-03-2014 12:02 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(12-03-2014 09:46 AM)anubus Wrote:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/...cart_river

Does anyone think Neal Callaway has shed any tears over the death of our beloved program?

Those don't read like the words of a man that wanted to destroy the program that he helped build. Watson does a pretty good job describing how I've felt since I knew it was final.

Coach Bartow choosing Watson in 1994 to lead the program was a huge mistake. Imagine if we had a young, hungry coach like Bill Clark assume that role starting with the 95 season. Sigh.

But Watson Brown was not the death of this program. That started with the hiring of Neal Callaway and naming Brian Mackin AD.

I think it started when the local media stopped realizing the importance of what was here & instead focused on ratings & laughs.

Watson was 45 when he was hired. Clark was 43. Neither could describe as young. I'm sure both were hungry when they took the job, but Watson had a lot more experience.

(12-03-2014 12:02 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(12-03-2014 09:46 AM)anubus Wrote:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/...cart_river

Does anyone think Neal Callaway has shed any tears over the death of our beloved program?

Those don't read like the words of a man that wanted to destroy the program that he helped build. Watson does a pretty good job describing how I've felt since I knew it was final.

Coach Bartow choosing Watson in 1994 to lead the program was a huge mistake. Imagine if we had a young, hungry coach like Bill Clark assume that role starting with the 95 season. Sigh.

But Watson Brown was not the death of this program. That started with the hiring of Neal Callaway and naming Brian Mackin AD.

I don't think Watson ever intentionally tried to damage the program. I believe his pain his real. Watson's problem was that he retired while still on active duty.