The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(12-09-2014 04:54 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  

(12-09-2014 01:45 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(12-09-2014 01:38 PM)thebernreuter Wrote:  Theoretically, the board could just ignore the vote of no confidence and take not action on it, right?

The Board won't take any action on the vote anyway. If the Senate votes no confidence, the most likely thing to happen would be Dr. Watts stepping down. There's an outside chance he could refuse and Dr. Witt and the Board forces him out, but I find that extremely unlikely.

Another thing to consider in the no confidence vote is that it may not pass so Watts would still be in charge & the only outcome of all this would be maybe he apologizes & says it won't happen again but does nothing about what he's already done.

It is true that the possibility exists that it may not pass, but most of the faculty senate, who don't care about football likely have serious issues with such a decision being made by consulting only a few (likely BOT members).

The comments made by the faculty were damning. It was a sight to see the faculty senate's peers assailing the quality of the the research that led to the decision, the way that the decision was made, and the dishonesty (at best) that was displayed throughout the process. Although many members of the faculty senate may not care about football, no-one wants to have a person in leadership that is dishonest and doesn't care about those who their is decisions effect.

It was officially Watts who cancelled football and he technically has the authority to act; however, we all know where his orders come from. I don't expect that Watts is willing to do this because even today he continues to "regret" the way that this was handled, but not the decision was made (and without input).

Watts is not a stupid guy. He has already managed to obtain his deans written support (likely coerced) so that it would seem that he currently has his faculty's support. Most Doctors like to practice medicine on a limited basis once they retire. Since he is only ~ 60 and probably would like to remain president of UAB he likely still listening to the true leadership of the BOT.

The media is truly important right now. The coverage of the cancellation of football last week was huge; but the resolution that passed today may lead to an even larger headline: No Confidence in President Who cancelled UAB Football. Hopefully tomorrow we will start seeing some national coverage of about the upcoming vote of no confidence.

Headlines like this will hopefully get the local and national media digging deeper into the Carr report Watts' used, the lies he made about the donors, the the powers that he really serves. The way we win this is by having light shined on Watts process and the shadowy people behind the decision they can't do what they do when their work is shown for what it is.

(12-09-2014 05:44 PM)Hopeful Wrote:  I still think Dr. Watts is finished no matter what. Saying you'll do this or that doesn't mean anything when people can point at what you did do. Actions are louder than words, and there's no way I'll ever trust him again. In addition to that, the community, the student body, athletics, and faculty are united on this issue. It'd be one thing if it was a just the faculty senate believing his mishandled some institutional situation that most of us wouldn't even noticed, but Dr. Watts has taken teams from us. People are not going to abruptly stop being angry and protesting.

I fully expect the next guy to be attached to the strings of the board, but we just have to be clear that we were wronged and we want the situation fixed before its handled. Reinstate the teams first, then we can all join hands with the new guy and set about mending and achieving.

True he is gone. The question is what is the time-frame and what are the terms of his leaving. Will he leave during a period of transition to a new president or be quickly ousted after a faculty senate vote?

He has no way to get out of a bad decision. His damage is done. One way or another... other than the Homewood Chamber of Commerce, no one will touch him in Birmingham. He will be a sore spot for UAB and the entire community. Even if he reinstated football today - there is no way he can stay as president of UAB - he has lost too much clout, political capital, and trust.

Unfortunately for us - this means there isn't much of a chance of him reinstating anything... that ship has sailed.

What we can hope for now is him resigning and moving far... far away from Birmingham.

My 02 cents worth.

(12-09-2014 06:00 PM)dblaze Wrote:  

(12-09-2014 04:54 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  

(12-09-2014 01:45 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(12-09-2014 01:38 PM)thebernreuter Wrote:  Theoretically, the board could just ignore the vote of no confidence and take not action on it, right?

The Board won't take any action on the vote anyway. If the Senate votes no confidence, the most likely thing to happen would be Dr. Watts stepping down. There's an outside chance he could refuse and Dr. Witt and the Board forces him out, but I find that extremely unlikely.

Another thing to consider in the no confidence vote is that it may not pass so Watts would still be in charge & the only outcome of all this would be maybe he apologizes & says it won't happen again but does nothing about what he's already done.

It is true that the possibility exists that it may not pass, but most of the faculty senate, who don't care about football likely have serious issues with such a decision being made by consulting only a few (likely BOT members).

The comments made by the faculty were damning. It was a sight to see the faculty senate's peers assailing the quality of the the research that led to the decision, the way that the decision was made, and the dishonesty (at best) that was displayed throughout the process. Although many members of the faculty senate may not care about football, no-one wants to have a person in leadership that is dishonest and doesn't care about those who their is decisions effect.

It was officially Watts who cancelled football and he technically has the authority to act; however, we all know where his orders come from. I don't expect that Watts is willing to do this because even today he continues to "regret" the way that this was handled, but not the decision was made (and without input).

Watts is not a stupid guy. He has already managed to obtain his deans written support (likely coerced) so that it would seem that he currently has his faculty's support. Most Doctors like to practice medicine on a limited basis once they retire. Since he is only ~ 60 and probably would like to remain president of UAB he likely still listening to the true leadership of the BOT.

The media is truly important right now. The coverage of the cancellation of football last week was huge; but the resolution that passed today may lead to an even larger headline: No Confidence in President Who cancelled UAB Football. Hopefully tomorrow we will start seeing some national coverage of about the upcoming vote of no confidence.

Headlines like this will hopefully get the local and national media digging deeper into the Carr report Watts' used, the lies he made about the donors, the the powers that he really serves. The way we win this is by having light shined on Watts process and the shadowy people behind the decision they can't do what they do when their work is shown for what it is.

I read the Deans did not sign it, but who knows.

Actually he can do more now than he could when first hired. He can reverse course have a press conference apologizing to the UAB community and accepts the business community offer to donate to program and accept the city offer work toward a joint football stadium near campus. What could the BOT say to that......nothing because all the noise to date is "It at the president of the university discretion". So if he rescind the decision we probably could get more out this than we even imagined during the season.

I wish.

(12-09-2014 07:53 PM)kdblazer Wrote:  Actually he can do more now than he could when first hired. He can reverse course have a press conference apologizing to the UAB community and accepts the business community offer to donate to program and accept the city offer work toward a joint football stadium near campus. What could the BOT say to that......nothing because all the noise to date is "It at the president of the university discretion". So if he rescind the decision we probably could get more out this than we even imagined during the season.

The problem is that people like Watts never admit that the made the wrong decision. Under duress, they may they went about implementing all wrong, but admitting that the decision itself was wrong - never. Reversing a decision they have made that they consider still to be the right one - not a chance in hell.

He has received his marching orders & will be stuck to them until the end.

Yeah, Watts will most likely stick to his guns and UAB football will die in the short-run. In the long run perhaps we can get our teams back and our freedom as well.

I was just talking with my wife about him working with a PR firm going forward. In crisis communication the heartfelt "mea culpa" is the thing that professionals would call for in this situation. He will not do this and has done a really bad job at feigning this, by saying that he regrets that the decision was made the way it was and this will change as we move forward.

He will be gone soon and probably may not reverse his decision. If this is the case we need to figure out how to get someone who is Pro-UAB after Jr leaves the BOT.

I thought Whitmire's article about the passive language used is the most clear example of his general lack of emotional intelligence, as well as his fundamental lacking of f***s to give.

(12-09-2014 08:28 PM)dblaze Wrote:  Yeah, Watts will most likely stick to his guns and UAB football will die in the short-run. In the long run perhaps we can get our teams back and our freedom as well.

I was just talking with my wife about him working with a PR firm going forward. In crisis communication the heartfelt "mea culpa" is the thing that professionals would call for in this situation. He will not do this and has done a really bad job at feigning this, by saying that he regrets that the decision was made the way it was and this will change as we move forward.

He will be gone soon and probably may not reverse his decision. If this is the case we need to figure out how to get someone who is Pro-UAB after Jr leaves the BOT.

Some medical doctors are literally incapable of offering a simple apology. This is as close to an apology as you will get from him because the undergrad side is beneath him.

I think he resigns if the vote is no confidence so nothing comes out. My only concern is leaving the choice for the next president to the BoT. Is a new person better than one that we have on a short leash right now?

Do we have any precedent to go on regarding prior resolutions? Today's news was certainly a huge win, but I'd like to think this move was a gutsy one and not one of "well we have to placate the mob, so..."

(12-09-2014 08:30 PM)FNblazer Wrote:  I thought Whitmire's article about the passive language used is the most clear example of his general lack of emotional intelligence, as well as his fundamental lacking of f***s to give.

facts?

(12-09-2014 08:41 PM)Blazer86 Wrote:  I think he resigns if the vote is no confidence so nothing comes out. My only concern is leaving the choice for the next president to the BoT. Is a new person better than one that we have on a short leash right now?

UAB will have a search team they will conduct several interviews and select the best candidate. Then the BOT will approve or deny the choice.

Hi guys,

I don't often comment on blazertalk, but I've been lurking around for years. I appreciate y'all carrying the torch in the darkness here for all these years, and especially during this last month. I sent a personal letter to all the faculty senate members (as requested) late Monday night after I got off work and, coincidentally, it hit the in-boxes of the chairmen and senators around the same time news broke about the emergency session. Fateful timing, indeed! My comment on this subject is this:

I don't think the members of the faculty senate would risk their careers over political fallout of a "no confidence" resolution just to let it die. In other words, the fact that they spent two hours in executive session and voted on these resolutions means they're going to go through with the vote of no confidence. I think this gives Watts time to do the right thing and resign.

(12-09-2014 10:03 PM)Agent Orange Sauce Wrote:  Hi guys,

I don't often comment on blazertalk, but I've been lurking around for years. I appreciate y'all carrying the torch in the darkness here for all these years, and especially during this last month. I sent a personal letter to all the faculty senate members (as requested) late Monday night after I got off work and, coincidentally, it hit the in-boxes of the chairmen and senators around the same time news broke about the emergency session. Fateful timing, indeed! My comment on this subject is this:

I don't think the members of the faculty senate would risk their careers over political fallout of a "no confidence" resolution just to let it die. In other words, the fact that they spent two hours in executive session and voted on these resolutions means they're going to go through with the vote of no confidence. I think this gives Watts time to do the right thing and resign.

Agree. They probably think the votes are there if they have to pull the trigger

I sure hope you are right.