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I didn't say stop making our pledge payments. In fact, we can give as much or more, just see that it goes to athletic scholarships, academic scholarships, adding to existing endowments, etc. Stop giving a single dime to Watts' pet, the Fund for UAB.

We can start raising hell on social media again, letters to al.com, etc. Do I think it will be of any great help? Probably not, but bringing scrutiny and making those guys uncomfortable in any way we can should not be hard to do.

AD Mark Ingram is learning to be an AD. He has to handle the politics between the administration and the athletic programs. Fund raising is his strength based on previous experience at Tennessee. He may or may not have been influential and/or effective in the current drive. I don't know. But I do know ADs typically have to handle the egos of coaches to keep their own jobs. They have to make sure the NCAA rules are being followed. They have to make sure the programs are not over spending. They have to make sure external influences aren't compromising the integrity of the programs and the reputation of the school. AD Mark Ingram may not be doing this as tactfully as he needs to and he may have bruised some feelings of coaches who are still raw from the past couple of years. AD Mark Ingram may need to back track a little and ease those hurt feelings while still meeting his own job requirements. If Ray Watts is starting to put his nose back in the athletic operations, AD Mark Ingram needs to leak the information and let the boosters, corporate friends and other athletic program allies know the alarms can be sounded and pressure put back on to prevent harm to our progress.

Basically Ingram needs to stop being an ass.

Anyone still defending Ingram is either completely ignorant of the situation or has a motive ulterior to that of a successful UAB athletic program.

(05-01-2016 09:05 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Basically Ingram needs to stop being an ass.

That too!

Ingram needs to understand this is clarks program. he needs back off. Players on couches for summer training, extra time bowling, phone call records is petty

I get that there are people outside our university looking critically at exactly what UAB is doing to gain so much momentum & recruit so strongly when the program was shut down just a year before.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment: if I were the AD, I'd want to cover all my bases just knowing the scrutiny the athletic dept will come under when football returns, especially when we are successful right out of the gate.

That said, there's no excuse for this to be in the news if everyone's on board and everyone has the same goal... if you aren't with us, you're against us, and it sounds like the AD is against us.

After all the media scrutiny over the last 18 months and Clark's unwavering loyalty to UAB, if he were to leave now it would be an absolute career killer for Ingram. He has no particular ties to UAB other than being employed and I'm sure this wasn't the last stop on his planned career ladder. If things to unravel now under his watch he wouldn't be able to get a job as an intern in college athletics.

I was thinking more in line with UABSlant, but, going by the article, his approach is a little out there. If you're cool with someone and trust them, then you don't abruptly make demands on them or check up behind them after the fact. It'd be one thing if this was UNC or something, but the main issue at hand is that we can't trust the administration. Compliance is not a waste of time, but if he was this zealous about the real issues around the department then we'd be seeing him in a new light for sure.

Either way, he has definitely made a mistake if he thinks he can run Clark or anything else out of here. He straight up doesn't have the clot to big boy someone, and no one is going to extend the emotional or political capital to support him. I mean, how is him pulling rank supposed to impress anyone? If it came between Clark and Ingram, I'd Fed-Ex the latter a sack of sand with a hammer ten times out of ten. If he's really as bad as folks make him out to be, I need to know what kind of magic tricks he's doing to keep the big time boosters and donors satisfied.

My two part prediction:

1. Clark will leave UAB one day for a better job.
2. Ingram will be blamed whether he had anything to do with it or not.

(05-02-2016 04:01 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  My two part prediction:

1. Clark will leave UAB one day for a better job.
2. Ingram will be blamed whether he had anything to do with it or not.

Both correct. Could've already happened...

(05-02-2016 10:00 AM)4thDownBlazer Wrote:  Ingram needs to understand this is clarks program. he needs back off. Players on couches for summer training, extra time bowling, phone call records is petty

Can't happen at a place like UAB where budgets are under a microscope. Also, this mentality is the reason D1 HC salaries have tripled in the past decade.

Ingram is only going to get blamed if Clark gets angry enough to quit because the administration continues to fight with him and undercut him. If he has a couple of good seasons, has things moving in the right direction and decides he's tired of fighting the administration to get things done Ingram will deserve part of the blame. If Clark wins and gets hired away by a better program for more money and advances his career, well, I think we all hope it won't happen but we sort of expect it. Did Ingram get blamed when Haase left for Stanford?

After talking to a couple of people I read this article as something of a warning shot. Nobody is rallying the troops to hit the streets and start raising hell. I know that there is some unrest within the athletic department, but I suspect that this might be coming from the big booster side of the table. There are a number of heavyweight CEO types on that list, guy who are not accustomed to being cockblocked, argued with, told no, especially by a guy they are giving money to.

The problem may be poor communication and a lack of a shared vision for UAB. We know that Clark is all about doing things the right way, requiring excellence. I strongly suspect that the big donors think in much the same way - "Let's do this, get it done right the first time, and fix the problem". Watts certainly does not see athletics as a priority, and Ingram takes his cues from Watts. If those two and (to whatever degree) the BOT are taking an attitude of "Oh, well, that's good enough for UAB" and halfassing while the FF guys have excellence as a priority, that's going to be a major culture clash. I don't think Clark wants to accept "oh well, that's good enough". That's not his mindset. It's not the mindset of people who rise through through the ranks to CEO or who build their own business to the point that they can donate hundreds of thousands of dollars, either.

There are people on the UAB football/Bill Clark train who are accustomed to getting what they want, when they want it, the way they ordered it. They are accustomed to playing big and winning. They are not accustomed to people telling them why they can't do things. They fire people who tell them **** like that and replace them with a can-do guy who gets the job done.

Nah, that's definitely true.

In reality, I feel like everyone accepted that Clark will eventually move on and he should. UAB isn't and shouldn't be the goal for the caliber of coaches we want. That's not saying that we'll never be a destination job, but it is what it is.

The work Clark is doing is an integral part of getting us closer to where a lot of our peers are already. As proven by the what happened, Clark is the kind of coach you don't come across often. Ingram, however, is someone that is easily replaced. It's not so much that I hate Ingram or anything like that. I think he's just awkwardly settling in and, with time, will learn how to maneuver without imposing or agitating. That's okay and understandable, but we can ill afford to let him get in the way of progress because he wants to impose his will.

Do I feel like Ingram didn't get a fair chance? Yeah, but it has always been on him to shake that off. Part of his job is built on not just establishing but also maintaining relationships. He had a whole year, but I haven't seen anyone of the guys in the know make mention of him as anything other than someone more likely to get in the way than actually help. This is something he needs to address in some manner instead of chasing ghosts in the name of compliance.