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

I wrote the following in reply to an email of a friend and fellow Blazer addressing his concerns about the contract offer made to Coach Clark. I want to share it here:

Clark's contract insult is only one of several signs that bringing back football was only one great victory in single battle in what will surely be a long war to bring back Blazer football in a manner in which we can all be proud. Forcing the vote on student fees and the firing of Shannon Ealy and other supporters of the football program in the athletic department provide ample evidence that the BOT is digging in their heels and will make us fight tooth and nail for even the opportunity to make the program relevant. They know that if they can run of Coach Clark they will have won a major victory because we will not only lose our best chance of future success, but also because they will chose our next coach.

It is time to shake off of the cobwebs of our victory party and again suit up for battle. The first step is to secure Coach Clark's contract. Compared to the cost of new facilities, the cost of providing Coach with a decent five or six year contract is small. I firmly believe that everyone who can contribute should step up and put the necessary funds in escrow to cover the entire cost of his contract and then dare the BOT to show their true colors and turn it down. Next we have to follow through on our pledges and get shovels in the ground on the new football complex. The business leaders of Birmingham who have rallied to our call need to speak out publicly with one voice to condemn the BOT for the latest obstacles they have thrown in our path. Also, last but not least, the students need to step up with an overwhelming vote.

However, those are only the first steps. Where I come from there is a saying, "Sooner or later you have to quit battling the alligators and drain the swamp" and we all know what the swamp is in this case. That is stinking cesspool which the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. We should be preparing now for a new legislative effort to "drain the swamp", and this time we should take no prisoners in our fight. We have no choice but to start raising hell again now to again focus local and national media attention to our cause. If that means doing something other than just attending their next meeting, I will certainly consider that possibility if that is what it takes. Frankly, I am tired of sitting quietly with the rest of you in their meeting with our signs while they simply ignore us.

In short, all of us, students, faculty, alumni, boosters and fans, have to again rise up and meet this challenge which has been laid before us head on. This time we won't be alone. This time we have many of the most prominent members of the Birmingham business community with us. We also have the City of Birmingham and over 50 of surrounding cities and towns, large and small, metropolitan and rural, in our corner. We simple need to get together and plan our next steps.

We will not fail!!! We fight!!! And this time we will not only win the battle, but we will win the war!!!

Well said, Cajun.

#FREEUAB is the only solution and everybody know where I stand toward the BOT for a long time BOTSK :)

I'm with you

Nice

I remember posting several times that if the pressure for a Free UAB got too strong the trustees would throw us a bone with the return of football.

Check.

Now that the pressure is off, they think they can go back to business as usual. That's the whole story of the Clark contract IMHO.

If we settle for anything less than autonomy we lose, no matter how many football games the fighting Bill Clarks win

The bone was thrown because we were days away from getting booted from CUSA.