http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/sports...ref=sports

In the turbulent weeks since the University of Alabama at Birmingham announced that it would shutter its Division I football program, rallies and protests have erupted on campus, powerful donors have threatened to withhold their support, and the faculty senate approved a resolution of no confidence in President Ray L. Watts’s ability to lead the university.

The message was delivered: Football is a serious matter in Alabama. And up against a wave of opposition, Watts and U.A.B. have cracked open the door for a potential reinstatement of the football program in 2016.

A task force is reviewing the finances of the athletic department, which has two-thirds of its $30 million operating budget subsidized by the university, and reappraising the findings from an independent consulting company, CarrSports, that led to the decision to drop football. The task force will make recommendations, but the university reserves the right to decide whether football is feasible.

It is a humbling turnabout from the confident statements by Watts and the board of trustees in the wake of the original decision on Dec. 2, when they asserted that the escalation of the arms race in top-tier college football had made the sport financially untenable for a program like that of U.A.B. But the community, with its voracious appetite for football, did not take the conclusion lightly. Questions about the consultant’s report have emerged, too.

At the annual N.C.A.A. convention outside Washington last month, the five biggest conferences voted to allow their members to increase the value of scholarships to cover student-athletes’ full cost of attendance, leaving administrators at other midmajor programs to face the same changing landscape. The midmajor programs do not receive the same millions of dollars from lucrative television contracts, and many report already strained athletic budgets even as some count on football as an important marketing tool. Many have stated that they plan to follow the lead of the larger programs as they examine how football and other sports fit into their budgets and on their campuses....

Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

Bring it back right. On-campus 30K seat stadium and funded properly.

(02-09-2015 10:31 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "grow or prosper." If you mean reach P5 prosperity than I think you have a point. But it's beginning to sound like the football program, even with it's G5 status, is a net positive for the University. If that's the case it would be silly to drop the program.

(02-09-2015 10:31 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

The ONLY way this will work (UAB comes back) is if Watts get FIRED! Firing Watts will give the UABOT a public "fall guy" (because he deserves it anyway), and give everybody an opportunity to re-set the table.

NO REMORSE!

(02-09-2015 02:01 PM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 10:31 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "grow or prosper." If you mean reach P5 prosperity than I think you have a point. But it's beginning to sound like the football program, even with it's G5 status, is a net positive for the University. If that's the case it would be silly to drop the program.

I believe he means "prosper as a comprehensive university pursuing excellence in undergraduate education, graduate study, research and athletics. A place where art, music and science are all valued, plus football, rifle and bowling, and many hyper-intelligent hot chicks attend as well, even some hot by Scorpio standards."

(02-09-2015 06:29 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 02:01 PM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 10:31 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "grow or prosper." If you mean reach P5 prosperity than I think you have a point. But it's beginning to sound like the football program, even with it's G5 status, is a net positive for the University. If that's the case it would be silly to drop the program.

I believe he means "prosper as a comprehensive university pursuing excellence in undergraduate education, graduate study, research and athletics. A place where art, music and science are all valued, plus football, rifle and bowling, and many hyper-intelligent hot chicks attend as well, even some hot by Scorpio standards."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yup!!!

(02-09-2015 06:29 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 02:01 PM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 10:31 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "grow or prosper." If you mean reach P5 prosperity than I think you have a point. But it's beginning to sound like the football program, even with it's G5 status, is a net positive for the University. If that's the case it would be silly to drop the program.

I believe he means "prosper as a comprehensive university pursuing excellence in undergraduate education, graduate study, research and athletics. A place where art, music and science are all valued, plus football, rifle and bowling, and many hyper-intelligent hot chicks attend as well, even some hot by Scorpio standards."

You got all of that out of "grow and prosper"?

Seemed pretty obvious.

(02-09-2015 11:14 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  Bring it back right. On-campus 30K seat stadium and funded properly.

This!

LOL

(02-10-2015 10:50 AM)Matrix Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 11:14 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  Bring it back right. On-campus 30K seat stadium and funded properly.

This!

XACLY! ....designed with room for more to boot that BOT up their (own) arse.....

(02-10-2015 03:09 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(02-10-2015 10:50 AM)Matrix Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 11:14 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  Bring it back right. On-campus 30K seat stadium and funded properly.

This!

XACLY! ....designed with room for more to boot that BOT up their (own) arse.....

This, too! What up, Stink?!

(02-09-2015 10:31 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Football is not the major issue at UAB. That was just the straw that potentially will break the back of President Watts and the UABOT. If UAB has to continue to operate under the hand of the BOT, even if football is brought back the BOT will never let it grow or prosper.

Agreed, it's not just about football, but the football program was their primary target and that is why hell is coming for breakfast!

An OCS with 30k seating capacity..Watch how (bleeping) fast those season tickets go if that happens! I got dibs on two sets!

(02-10-2015 08:43 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Agreed, it's not just about football, but the football program was their primary target and that is why hell is coming for breakfast!

The attack on football got moved up by at least a year: Bill Clark wasn't supposed to triple the win total and double attendance in his first year with McGee's leftovers. It had to be shut down quickly, before he did even more in 2015.

Ray Watts wants to return UAB to the one he attended: a half-assed commuter school attached to a medical center. He must be stopped.

(02-11-2015 12:25 AM)58-56 Wrote:  

(02-10-2015 08:43 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Agreed, it's not just about football, but the football program was their primary target and that is why hell is coming for breakfast!

The attack on football got moved up by at least a year: Bill Clark wasn't supposed to triple the win total and double attendance in his first year with McGee's leftovers. It had to be shut down quickly, before he did even more in 2015.

Ray Watts wants to return UAB to the one he attended: a half-assed commuter school attached to a medical center. He must be stopped.

In the words of John Archibald..."Premeditated Murder..." And yes, Watts must be pushed aside before he can inflict further damage, but the longer he's allowed to fester, the greater his chances of completing his "mission."

(02-10-2015 08:44 PM)Matrix Wrote:  An OCS with 30k seating capacity..Watch how (bleeping) fast those season tickets go if that happens! I got dibs on two sets!

Once y'all do rise from the dead and build your 30k OCS, I hope that y'all do one thing:

Provide lifetime season tickets to every member of the UABOT that made this happen. Put those in a visible area in the stadium. Allow those empty seats to serve as a reminder and a slap in the face of the UABOT members who tried - and failed - to kill the program.

UAB football will be back and it'll be bigger than it was when it left. All this attention will surely bring big donors out of the woodwork to financially support an OCS. You guys must get out of Legion Field. Fans hate it and you can't recruit good athletes to play in it. Y'all need a place to call your own, something that's a money-maker and that people enjoy going to. Stop paying rent to play in decrepit Legion Field. It's sapping the program dry.

(02-10-2015 08:41 PM)Matrix Wrote:  

(02-10-2015 03:09 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(02-10-2015 10:50 AM)Matrix Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 11:14 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  Bring it back right. On-campus 30K seat stadium and funded properly.

This!

XACLY! ....designed with room for more to boot that BOT up their (own) arse.....

This, too! What up, Stink?!

just sittin' on the sidelines.....hoping you get to again soon my friend!