I'm just wondering, how was UAB able to land Gene Bartow? I'm wanting to know from the prospective of how did the BOT allow UAB to hire Bartow. Bartow was the freakin' coach at UCLA, how did the BOT allow UAB to pay him the $$ and bring him here just for the fact that it would take away from Bryant at UAT. We know how the board is with hiring now and maybe some of you guys who were around then can inform me....
It was just basketball, and who gave a damn about that? As long as UAB didn't play football it didn't much matter, and everybody knew that would never be allowed...
Add in that Bartow was the guy who followed John Wooden at UCLA. His first year they went to the Final Four, his second and last UCLA only made the Sweet Sixteen. Such underachievement would never do, and the UCLA faithful were making his life hell. He left UCLA to come to a school that didn't even have basketballs or uniforms and start a brand new program.
We're blessed that he did so.
(12-06-2009 02:38 AM)blazinrunner Wrote: [ -> ]I'm just wondering, how was UAB able to land Gene Bartow? I'm wanting to know from the prospective of how did the BOT allow UAB to hire Bartow. Bartow was the freakin' coach at UCLA, how did the BOT allow UAB to pay him the $$ and bring him here just for the fact that it would take away from Bryant at UAT. We know how the board is with hiring now and maybe some of you guys who were around then can inform me....
Why does the $EC allow Vanderbilt to exist? It is always good to have at least one bastion of integrity on your side.
Bartow was sort of hired behind their backs. When S. Richardson Hill and Jerry Young decided to start an athletics program, the BOT believed it was going to be a small D2 or NAIA program. They hired Bartow as a consultant at first and brought him in to discuss building a program. Coach Bartow, unhappy at UCLA started thinking he might like the job and Hill and Young were happy to consider him. It was then leaked to the press that Bartow was considering the job, and his hiring sort of snowballed. One of the first things the BOT did however was make sure that Bartow, Hill and Young had no plans to start a football team (because UAB students already have a football team in Tuscaloosa). With that assurance they signed off, still thinking that the program was going to be a small program which would not be a threat to Bama.
And as pointed out, it was just basketball, so they didn't see it as a threat. However, CM Newton, the basketball coach at Bama saw it as a threat immediately to have Bartow in his backyard. He immediately announced that the two teams would not be playing each other and he didn't see why there needed to be two D1 basketball teams within the same system.
Remember that the football program was promoted the same limited way when it was first proposed. The early plans called for decades of D3, D2 and D1AA teams. It was planned that during these nonscholarship years, the infrastructure for D1 ball would be built gradually at the lower 1980s costs. Apparently even Gene Bartow didn't know that the NCAA had a rule requiring both basketball and football to operate at the same level since that had never come up at any school at which he worked.
The talk about our early football plans suggested games against Miles, Samford, Tuskegee, Stillman and the like gradually giving way to Jax St, UNA, UTC and the like years later. These plans were totally upset when the NCAA "dropped its bomb" by demanding one of 3 choices: Drop FB immediately; drop BB to D3 to match FB; take the infant FB program to D1 immediately (even though they lacked any FACILITIES to do so adequately) and take their lumps for the effort. UAB chose the last choice and that has made all the difference in how our FB program developed.
"Apparently even Gene Bartow didn't know that the NCAA had a rule requiring both basketball and football to operate at the same level since that had never come up at any school at which he worked."
I asked Gene about the split-division set up at the time, and he pointed out that Georgetown had D1 basketball and D3 football and had for some time. There was NO rule against D1 basketball/D3 football at the time Gene upgraded from club to D3; it was passed at the 1992 NCAA convention and targeted at three schools seen as unfairly taking NCAA tourney basketball dollars at the D1 level but getting off cheap on football: UAB, St. John's and Georgetown. UAB and Georgetown went to 1-AA, St. John's punted. We went the full 1-AA route, Georgetown entered the non-scholarship Patriot League.
Gene knew the rules. Gene wrote most of the rules. Gene can divide by zero.
(12-06-2009 10:44 AM)58-56 Wrote: [ -> ]"Apparently even Gene Bartow didn't know that the NCAA had a rule requiring both basketball and football to operate at the same level since that had never come up at any school at which he worked."
I asked Gene about the split-division set up at the time, and he pointed out that Georgetown had D1 basketball and D3 football and had for some time. There was NO rule against D1 basketball/D3 football at the time Gene upgraded from club to D3; it was passed at the 1992 NCAA convention and targeted at three schools seen as unfairly taking NCAA tourney basketball dollars at the D1 level but getting off cheap on football: UAB, St. John's and Georgetown. UAB and Georgetown went to 1-AA, St. John's punted. We went the full 1-AA route, Georgetown entered the non-scholarship Patriot League.
Gene knew the rules. Gene wrote most of the rules. Gene can divide by zero.
what he said
Yep. The "We're gonna hire you as a 'consultant' (with the full intention of hiring you)" approach was used to land a lot of top researchers and scientists in UAB's early days too (like the guy from the Mayo Clinic).
(12-06-2009 08:41 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote: [ -> ]And as pointed out, it was just basketball, so they didn't see it as a threat. However, CM Newton, the basketball coach at Bama saw it as a threat immediately to have Bartow in his backyard. He immediately announced that the two teams would not be playing each other and he didn't see why there needed to be two D1 basketball teams within the same system.
"The pie is ALL mine and you can't have a slice. Mine! Mine! Mine!"
We're being governed by 2 year olds, and have been for quite a while.
(12-06-2009 10:44 AM)58-56 Wrote: [ -> ]Gene knew the rules. Gene wrote most of the rules. Gene can divide by zero.
And I always thought that Chuck Norris was the man.
There have been some excellent observations put forth by Memphis Blazer, BamaBlazerFan, 58-56, and others about how UAB basketball (and football) came to be under the very noses of the BOT. What I don't think has been mentioned enough was Gene's situation at UCLA. Aside from the normal problems that anyone would have encountered following Wooden at UCLA (Gene's final four appearance in his first year at didn't impress the fans and then his team lost in the Elite 8 to directional school in year 2nd year), there were other problems for Gene in LA as well. For one thing, he wasn't paid that well. He got a good basic salary, but Wooden continued to the get all of the extra money that makes big time basketball coaches really well paid. Wooden still got all of the money from the shoe contract, the coach’s show, and all of the other side benefits even though he was no longer the coach. UAB really didn't have to dig that far deep to pay Gene more than he was making at UCLA, especially because they were going to pay him the AD's salary as well. In Addition, there had been a lot of funny business going on involving UCLA boosters and recruiting for a number of years before Gene was hired and once Gene took over he tried, unsuccessfully, to get it stopped. This, as much as anything, prompted Gene to want get out to the UCLA situation. (Is probably best that he did, because a few years after Gene left the NCAA caught a LA car dealer buying elite players for UCLA and the program went down in flames for while.) I guess that is why he will forever be known as "Clean" Gene.
(12-06-2009 12:51 PM)FNblazer Wrote: [ -> ]Yep. The "We're gonna hire you as a 'consultant' (with the full intention of hiring you)" approach was used to land a lot of top researchers and scientists in UAB's early days too (like the guy from the Mayo Clinic).
I assume you're referring to Kirklin. I think UAB's approach to bringing him here was more like,"Come here, and we'll let you do whatever the hell you please." Many Mayo-trained surgeons continue to be hired by UAB's Department of Surgery.
Thanks for all the info. It was a question that I thought about Friday night during the game as to how in the hell UAB pulled something that big off and the BOT allowed it... had to do it under the radar. So glad we did it though! Go Blazers