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

(07-02-2015 08:44 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 03:43 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  

(07-01-2015 07:53 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-01-2015 03:02 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Ingram has shown no urgency about anything to do with the process of getting football back on the field. I fully expect a 2017 return now.

Urgency by your definition. Personally, I think you and others are upset because things aren't moving at the rate you want it to move.

They have shown no urgency by Clark's definition. ;-)

Well then that would be par for the course with a UAB Athletic Dept. that is overseen by the BOTAthletic Committee and Watts still in charge. So again, I don't blame Ingram as much as the circumstances he works under.

What is the rationale of getting upset with an AD that you know does not work under the most favorable conditions and circumstances? Y'all know he doesn't have free reign to do what he feels need to be done.

You got a point there but UAB fans are very frustrated and he is an easy target now
I can see both point of view .We will see when watts is out and we start to moving forward :)

(07-02-2015 09:34 AM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 08:44 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 03:43 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  

(07-01-2015 07:53 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-01-2015 03:02 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Ingram has shown no urgency about anything to do with the process of getting football back on the field. I fully expect a 2017 return now.

Urgency by your definition. Personally, I think you and others are upset because things aren't moving at the rate you want it to move.

They have shown no urgency by Clark's definition. ;-)

Well then that would be par for the course with a UAB Athletic Dept. that is overseen by the BOTAthletic Committee and Watts still in charge. So again, I don't blame Ingram as much as the circumstances he works under.

What is the rationale of getting upset with an AD that you know does not work under the most favorable conditions and circumstances? Y'all know he doesn't have free reign to do what he feels need to be done.

You got a point there but UAB fans are very frustrated and he is an easy target now
I can see both point of view .We will see when watts is out and we start to moving forward :)

The sooner the better! There is ZERO trust of anything pumpkinhead is involved in.

(07-02-2015 09:34 AM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 08:44 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 03:43 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  

(07-01-2015 07:53 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-01-2015 03:02 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Ingram has shown no urgency about anything to do with the process of getting football back on the field. I fully expect a 2017 return now.

Urgency by your definition. Personally, I think you and others are upset because things aren't moving at the rate you want it to move.

They have shown no urgency by Clark's definition. ;-)

Well then that would be par for the course with a UAB Athletic Dept. that is overseen by the BOTAthletic Committee and Watts still in charge. So again, I don't blame Ingram as much as the circumstances he works under.

What is the rationale of getting upset with an AD that you know does not work under the most favorable conditions and circumstances? Y'all know he doesn't have free reign to do what he feels need to be done.

You got a point there but UAB fans are very frustrated and he is an easy target now
I can see both point of view .We will see when watts is out and we start to moving forward :)

The thing is, we are going to alienate him if we keep this up. Every UAB fan is frustrated with what has happened in the past few months, but we can't just attack this guy non stop and then expect him to listen to us at all. So far we don't have any definitive proof of anything he has done wrong. But, we are led to believe:

He is watts puppet(even though the atf had a say in the hiring)
He wants football to return in 2017 or later
He doesn't want bill Clark to have a contract because Clark is more popular than he is
He is stalling to deal with the NCAA instead of telling them what to do

While we are at it, I heard he was behind the rocket blowing up the other day, he doesn't care for the ISS. He was also the man behind the JFK shooting. I also heard he flies the confederate flag on weekends.

I wonder if the most vocal critics of Ingram would like to pull a chair to the table and play the hand he's been dealt.

He's got a fired up, angry, distrustful fan/community/alumni base. An incompetent, universally detested boss, and a coach with a helluva lot more leverage than him in contract negotiations.

He's either a serious badass or utter idiot to take the job. I'm crossing my fingers for badass. As of this post, I don't have enough data to know either way.

(07-02-2015 08:44 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  What is the rationale of getting upset with an AD that you know does not work under the most favorable conditions and circumstances? Y'all know he doesn't have free reign to do what he feels need to be done.

This is true, but he does have free reign to be far more transparent than he has been. He needs to understand that UAB's situation is utterly unique in many ways, not least that thanks to the well-earned distrust sown by Ray Watts things that normally would be done privately because no one else cares need to be displayed for all to see, because we do care. We care very much.

Secondly, we have eaten the Fruit of Knowledge. We will never go back into the garden. He is dealing with an engaged fanbase who rightly feel they've earned stakeholder status. Ray Watts did not give us anything - we took it. We are awake and we are powerful. We're never going back to the "write a check and shut up" mode that the UAB admin and their plant posting here wish for so deeply.

Good point. There is no such thing as "SOP" at UAB right now, particularly in regard to football.

Nobody in this administration is getting the benefit of any doubt. Punkin Head has forfeited it for the lot of them.

We'll i do know some things. That said we need to keep the pressure on him and the VPs to get he contract done. It is in Ingrams hands witth a VP. That is where we are at and that is what must be done now. Call, email, write letters. Politely demand facilities be tied to Clark's contract. Money is not the sticking point.

Trust me on this. ;-)

(07-02-2015 10:58 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  It is in Ingrams hands witth a VP.

One guess as to which VP

(07-02-2015 10:00 AM)58-56 Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 08:44 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  What is the rationale of getting upset with an AD that you know does not work under the most favorable conditions and circumstances? Y'all know he doesn't have free reign to do what he feels need to be done.

This is true, but he does have free reign to be far more transparent than he has been. He needs to understand that UAB's situation is utterly unique in many ways.......

So what is it that we want Ingram to be more transparent about? The negotiations of Clark's contract? The current update of UAB's reinstatement to FBS? Current status with the NCAA process?

And what makes you think or believe that Ingram doesn't understand UAB's unique situation? If Ingram doesn't understand this by now then he is truly a misguided soul. If the average UAB supporter understands the unique of UAB situation, I'm pretty sure he does as well. Ijs.....

(07-02-2015 11:05 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 10:58 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  It is in Ingrams hands witth a VP.

One guess as to which VP

Kahn!

(07-02-2015 11:26 AM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 11:05 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 10:58 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  It is in Ingrams hands witth a VP.

One guess as to which VP

Kahn!

Shirley Salloway Kahn, Ph.D., Senior Vice President
Development, Alumni and External Relations

Why would she be involved in the contract of the Head Football Coach? If you say because he is demanding facilities be tied in his contract, then I can see that. But otherwise, why would she be involved?

Just trying to gain an understanding, not discredit your comment.

I have no idea. She is probably the closet one to Pumpkinhead. That was just my guess, but I have been told that she is in the thick of things with this, and is actually (sort of) on the side of football & Clark.

I'm thinking the announcement was about a facility upgrade. When I drove by yesterday, it looked like they were about ready to pour new concrete for the sidewalk by the football office.

Of freaking course he wants the facilities in writing! They already lied to him about them on his first contract. St. John blocked putting turf on the practice field when there was a single donor who wanted to pay for it. Punkinhead refused to allow the Football Foundation to pay to build the Indoor Practice Facility. The coach's offices are in a 1960's era concrete block building that used to be a dentist's office.

We are in no way ready to build the OCS, no matter how much we want it. Those three things, though, are pretty much necessary. If we don't get them built then there will continue to be high schools in town with better facilities. We need to build those to show that we are serious about staying in the football business. We need them to recruit, because that is a program's life blood. Clark can do that extremely well, but he needs something to sell.

We also need them because the BoT's strategy under PBJ was to slowly strangle the program by refusing to invest in it. PBJ put in the athletic committee so that he could more easily cockblock our progress. These are necessary facilities, not luxury items. If they are not built then that policy is still continuing, and Clark needs to tell them to stick it and go somewhere that is serious about playing football. He has proven that he *wants* to be here. Now UAB needs to prove that it REALLY wants to be in the top third of the conference, to build facilities that are at least middle of the pack conference wise.

So get off of the stalling tactics and do what needs to be done. I'd bet my back teeth that the problem is not money for Clark. It is that building permanent facilities at UAB implies that the program is here to stay, and that pisses off St. John and Espy to no end.

We need to continue to write to Watts, Ingram, and all of the VP's and continue to push for them to do this. It's important.

(07-02-2015 11:47 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Of freaking course he wants the facilities in writing! They already lied to him about them on his first contract. St. John blocked putting turf on the practice field when there was a single donor who wanted to pay for it. Punkinhead refused to allow the Football Foundation to pay to build the Indoor Practice Facility. The coach's offices are in a 1960's era concrete block building that used to be a dentist's office.

We are in no way ready to build the OCS, no matter how much we want it. Those three things, though, are pretty much necessary. If we don't get them built then there will continue to be high schools in town with better facilities. We need to build those to show that we are serious about staying in the football business. We need them to recruit, because that is a program's life blood. Clark can do that extremely well, but he needs something to sell.

We also need them because the BoT's strategy under PBJ was to slowly strangle the program by refusing to invest in it. PBJ put in the athletic committee so that he could more easily cockblock our progress. These are necessary facilities, not luxury items. If they are not built then that policy is still continuing, and Clark needs to tell them to stick it and go somewhere that is serious about playing football. He has proven that he *wants* to be here. Now UAB needs to prove that it REALLY wants to be in the top third of the conference, to build facilities that are at least middle of the pack conference wise.

So get off of the stalling tactics and do what needs to be done. I'd bet my back teeth that the problem is not money for Clark. It is that building permanent facilities at UAB implies that the program is here to stay, and that pisses off St. John and Espy to no end.

We need to continue to write to Watts, Ingram, and all of the VP's and continue to push for them to do this. It's important.

Pretty good analysis. I'd be willing to bet you're exactly right about St John and Espy trying to block the facility talk.

The problem, I'm afraid, is that UAB (BOT & Watts) doesn't want to prove they desire to be in the top 3rd of the conference because they are perfectly content to starve investment, watch us continue to struggle, then blame the fans.

(07-02-2015 11:47 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Of freaking course he wants the facilities in writing! They already lied to him about them on his first contract. St. John blocked putting turf on the practice field when there was a single donor who wanted to pay for it. Punkinhead refused to allow the Football Foundation to pay to build the Indoor Practice Facility. The coach's offices are in a 1960's era concrete block building that used to be a dentist's office.

We are in no way ready to build the OCS, no matter how much we want it. Those three things, though, are pretty much necessary. If we don't get them built then there will continue to be high schools in town with better facilities. We need to build those to show that we are serious about staying in the football business. We need them to recruit, because that is a program's life blood. Clark can do that extremely well, but he needs something to sell.

We also need them because the BoT's strategy under PBJ was to slowly strangle the program by refusing to invest in it. PBJ put in the athletic committee so that he could more easily cockblock our progress. These are necessary facilities, not luxury items. If they are not built then that policy is still continuing, and Clark needs to tell them to stick it and go somewhere that is serious about playing football. He has proven that he *wants* to be here. Now UAB needs to prove that it REALLY wants to be in the top third of the conference, to build facilities that are at least middle of the pack conference wise.

So get off of the stalling tactics and do what needs to be done. I'd bet my back teeth that the problem is not money for Clark. It is that building permanent facilities at UAB implies that the program is here to stay, and that pisses off St. John and Espy to no end.

You have , particularly in your last paragraph, stated very succinctly why the UAB football program has had to struggle for so many years. All of its opponents were NOT on the playing fields. The willingness of the UA System leadership to harm UAB (and UAH) in their passion to "protect THEIR crimson school's interests (as they see them)" at the expense of the whole system is hard for those outside the state to comprehend. Such bodies in most other states (perhaps ALL) don't behave in such a limited objective fashion.

There is nothing that would please its opponents more than for UAB FB to be forced return to the field with the same infrastructure that made 6-6 a banner year. Perhaps their stalling tactics are made more credible by NCAA delays, but those needed facilities must be built ASAP in order for UAB to compete with C-USA contemporaries in recruiting and on the playing fields..

What would be the enforcement mechanism in the contract? I could see a couple of routes.

1) if facilities aren't built by X date Coach Clark can leave with no buyout.

2) If facilities aren't built by X date UAB has to pay Coach Clark some form of compensation. Since the UAB has already stated that the athletic subsidy is fixed that payment would have to come out of the athletic budget.

I don't see how either option is good for UAB football. To me it seems ike they give the powers that want to see UAB football killed extra leverage to hurt the program and run Clark off.

(07-02-2015 12:18 PM)JxGx78 Wrote:  What would be the enforcement mechanism in the contract? I could see a couple of routes.

1) if facilities aren't built by X date Coach Clark can leave with no buyout.

2) If facilities aren't built by X date UAB has to pay Coach Clark some form of compensation. Since the UAB has already stated that the athletic subsidy is fixed that payment would have to come out of the athletic budget.

I don't see how either option is good for UAB football. To me it seems ike they give the powers that want to see UAB football killed extra leverage to hurt the program and run Clark off.

That sums up the whole problem of finding ways to "get back at the BOT and President Watts". All of our attack points ("not another dime") turn out to be aimed at UAB, not the campus they (BOT & Watts) actually care about. We have no way to negatively affect THEIR favored teams or programs on THEIR favored campus. If they renege on any promises to FBHC Clark, any retribution harms only UAB in one way or another, not the system.

Effectively, all we can do is donate our money and cross our fingers.

(07-02-2015 11:24 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 10:00 AM)58-56 Wrote:  

(07-02-2015 08:44 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  What is the rationale of getting upset with an AD that you know does not work under the most favorable conditions and circumstances? Y'all know he doesn't have free reign to do what he feels need to be done.

This is true, but he does have free reign to be far more transparent than he has been. He needs to understand that UAB's situation is utterly unique in many ways.......

So what is it that we want Ingram to be more transparent about? The negotiations of Clark's contract? The current update of UAB's reinstatement to FBS? Current status with the NCAA process?

And what makes you think or believe that Ingram doesn't understand UAB's unique situation? If Ingram doesn't understand this by now then he is truly a misguided soul. If the average UAB supporter understands the unique of UAB situation, I'm pretty sure he does as well. Ijs.....

So far he is a misguided soul. ;-)

(07-02-2015 12:09 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  Pretty good analysis. I'd be willing to bet you're exactly right about St John and Espy trying to block the facility talk.

The problem, I'm afraid, is that UAB (BOT & Watts) doesn't want to prove they desire to be in the top 3rd of the conference because they are perfectly content to starve investment, watch us continue to struggle, then blame the fans.

That's true, but Watts went on record saying that. We need to hold him to it. In general, the only time we have made any progress is when enough of us got together and exerted pressure on a given issue. We need to stay up their nose about Clark's contract, be it by calling, email, comments on AL.com, Facebook, whatever rabble rousing we can do.