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

(11-08-2014 08:56 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  My response to you: UAB Basketball started it all. There would not have been UAB Football with Gene Bartow and UAB Basketball. So while many of you will be devastating if the school lost its football program, UAB Basketball will go on like it did before the football program came into existence; with or without you. No disrespect intended.

If UAB cuts football, this program will no longer be the one that Gene Bartow created. I will be done with it.

Competing in CUSA has raised the profile of all non-revenue sports--notably baseball, softball, soccer, women's track/cross country, and golf. In the Golden Age, we had an amazing basketball program, but nothing else. The college landscape has now progressed to where we must be affiliated with a league of this caliber (or greater) to have any shot at athletic notoriety. Gene's vision was spot on. Why else would Charlotte BEGIN football but to get their other sports (especially their highly ranked soccer program) back into CUSA?

(11-08-2014 08:56 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  My response to you: UAB Basketball started it all. There would not have been UAB Football with Gene Bartow and UAB Basketball. So while many of you will be devastating if the school lost its football program, UAB Basketball will go on like it did before the football program came into existence; with or without you. No disrespect intended.

Why do you think Gene Bartow started football in the first place? He knew that eventually it would drive the Athletics department. We really don't want to test your theory......trust me. We will loose enrollment as well as some prestige with this rumored move.

(11-08-2014 10:15 PM)kdblazer Wrote:  

(11-08-2014 08:56 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  My response to you: UAB Basketball started it all. There would not have been UAB Football with Gene Bartow and UAB Basketball. So while many of you will be devastating if the school lost its football program, UAB Basketball will go on like it did before the football program came into existence; with or without you. No disrespect intended.

Why do you think Gene Bartow started football in the first place? He knew that eventually it would drive the Athletics department. We really don't want to test your theory......trust me. We will loose enrollment as well as some prestige with this rumored move.

Don't loose enrollment, Blazers!

(11-08-2014 09:10 PM)Montgomery Blazer Wrote:  When Neil Callaway was hired, it was the beginning of the end.

I am convinced Neil Callaway killed UAB football.

Callaway didn't hire himself. Callaway didn't give himself an extension.

Who did?

And why did Callaway get a five year contract and an extension when Clark got three years and no extension, based on his performance? Any sane program would be locking this guy up before another school steals him.

Note the eagerness to welcome us.

http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic-...ility.html

(11-08-2014 10:16 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(11-08-2014 10:15 PM)kdblazer Wrote:  

(11-08-2014 08:56 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  My response to you: UAB Basketball started it all. There would not have been UAB Football with Gene Bartow and UAB Basketball. So while many of you will be devastating if the school lost its football program, UAB Basketball will go on like it did before the football program came into existence; with or without you. No disrespect intended.

Why do you think Gene Bartow started football in the first place? He knew that eventually it would drive the Athletics department. We really don't want to test your theory......trust me. We will loose enrollment as well as some prestige with this rumored move.

Don't loose enrollment, Blazers!

Hahaha!! Yes.

(11-08-2014 09:18 PM)blazr Wrote:  

(11-08-2014 08:56 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  My response to you: UAB Basketball started it all. There would not have been UAB Football with Gene Bartow and UAB Basketball. So while many of you will be devastating if the school lost its football program, UAB Basketball will go on like it did before the football program came into existence; with or without you. No disrespect intended.

Do you still own a laser disc player? The only similarity today's college athletics landscape has with the one in which Coach Gene thrived in the 80's is the acronym NCAA. I'm not a young pup. I was there, albeit with my father, for the rise of UAB basketball. UAB basketball will never thrive again without football unless it evolves to celebrate "just being there" in the NCAA tourney a la Samford, Mercer, Coastal Carolina, et. al. There is no place in the Deep South for a D-1 program without football. But feel free to continue watching and waiting. They can use the tarps from Legion Field to cover the upper sections of Bartow Arena while you do.

All I will say to you blazr is this, I enjoy reading your post and I think you are a very smart poster. Fact is you have been wrong about a lot of the things you post on several different topics. I didn't say anything about the changing landscape of athletics and so on. I simply stated UAB Athletics was started with UAB Basketball and the UAB Basketball will be here with or without the football program.

There are many universities that only have basketball as their main sport program in this day of the everchanging college landscape and they do fine. I don't care where these programs are located in the country but it's a fact. If football had never been started at UAB the basketball program would still exist. So for those that started loving UAB Athletics for football I do feel bad for you.

But I've been invested in UAB Athletics from the outset. I was at the BJCC when UAB made their run to the Elite 8. For those that think UAB Basketball is about to suffer if the football program goes away is your opinion. My opinion is that it could not be any further from the truth.

The bigger picture is if you are truly invested in UAB Athletics it shouldn't matter if the football program goes away or not. If you're all in for UAB you're all in regardless of the outcome of our football program. And sir, you are wrong about UAB Basketball not thriving without football. We will agree to disagree.

The problem is that if we don't have football we will be booted from C-USA. There is no replacement conference that we have a realistic chance of being invited to that will not be a huge downgrade. C-USA is not the greatest, but the difference in financial returns from the conference if we have to drop to the A-Sun or the Sun Belt are huge.

It will gut our Athletic Department, and the other schools in the conference either won't have the programs we do or the drop in SOS will kill us. As bad as the SOS is on the bottom of C-USA it beats hell out of what we would be faced with if we were no longer in C-USA. Getting decent OOC games would be much harder, and the ones we got would be buy games on the road.

UAB would become the equivalent of the teams we play early in the season to tune up. That's not what Gene built. It's not what our basketball fans want to see. The Frozen 100 (and their donations) would fall away.

The foundations have shifted in terms of athletics and conference affiliation. Do you remember when conference realignment was going on and no one really wanted Kansas because their football blows? If that does not tell you that football drives the bus you're not listening.

(11-09-2014 02:17 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  The problem is that if we don't have football we will be booted from C-USA. There is no replacement conference that we have a realistic chance of being invited to that will not be a huge downgrade. C-USA is not the greatest, but the difference financial returns from the conference if we have to drop to the A-Sun or the Sun Belt are huge.

I understand not having football means not being in CUSA. But we also don't know what type of conference UAB could end up in if the worst case scenario happens. So why even worry about something that hasn't happen yet?

All I am telling you and many others here is that not having a football program isn't going to stop me from supporting a program that started it all for UAB Athletics, good or bad or regardless where it ends up at.

(11-09-2014 02:22 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  So why even worry about something that hasn't happen yet?

All I am telling you and many others here is that not having a football program isn't going to stop me from supporting a program that started it all for UAB Athletics, good or bad or regardless where it ends up at.

If your car starts running rough and making funny noises, you can fix it or run it till it quits. Of course, it might not quit, why worry about something that hasn't happened yet?

Maybe because the cost of neglect is more than you want to pay?

I understand that you are reacting to the people who say that losing football means that they will walk away from the program and take their donations with them. They are saying that to try to express in the baldest possible way their anger at how UAB is being treated by those entrusted with growing it. Money talks. Administrators understand money and power, and the two are interlinked.

Many of us would remain UAB fans out of love for the school and what it stands for. Others of us would be so embittered that they would not be able to stomach continuing a fandom that is so disregarded, held so cheaply, by those at the top of UAB and UA.

UAB fans are a diverse group of people, so yes, some will simply agree to disagree. I hope that this situation is resolved and the program goes forward, strengthened by UAB fans uniting to defend the program. My hopes are tempered by having seen the actions of the BoT in the past and my fear that they will actually be able to complete what they have attempted before.

(11-09-2014 02:33 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:22 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  So why even worry about something that hasn't happen yet?

All I am telling you and many others here is that not having a football program isn't going to stop me from supporting a program that started it all for UAB Athletics, good or bad or regardless where it ends up at.

If your car starts running rough and making funny noises, you can fix it or run it till it quits. Of course, it might not quit, why worry about something that hasn't happened yet?

Maybe because the cost of neglect is more than you want to pay?

I understand that you are reacting to the people who say that losing football means that they will walk away from the program and take their donations with them. They are saying that to try to express in the baldest possible way their anger at how UAB is being treated by those entrusted with growing it. Money talks. Administrators understand money and power, and the two are interlinked.

Many of us would remain UAB fans out of love for the school and what it stands for. Others of us would be so embittered that they would not be able to stomach continuing a fandom that is so disregarded, held so cheaply, by those at the top of UAB and UA.

UAB fans are a diverse group of people, so yes, some will simply agree to disagree. I hope that this situation is resolved and the program goes forward, strengthened by UAB fans uniting to defend the program. My hopes are tempered by having seen the actions of the BoT in the past and my fear that they will actually be able to complete what they have attempted before.

I understand that. And I also know that people say things when they are upset. That's fine. There are people they support UAB Athletics only because we have a football program. But it sickens me when I read that some how, some way, basketball is going to irrelevant without football. If UAB Basketball survived 20+ plus years before the arrival of football, it will survive if football is not part of UAB anymore.

That's all I'm saying.

I think that most football fans want basketball to thrive too. They just want to see it thrive alongside our football team, in C-USA.

(11-09-2014 02:55 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  I think that most football fans want basketball to thrive too. They just want to see it thrive alongside our football team, in C-USA.

That's not what I am reading here.

(11-09-2014 02:48 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:33 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:22 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  So why even worry about something that hasn't happen yet?

All I am telling you and many others here is that not having a football program isn't going to stop me from supporting a program that started it all for UAB Athletics, good or bad or regardless where it ends up at.

If your car starts running rough and making funny noises, you can fix it or run it till it quits. Of course, it might not quit, why worry about something that hasn't happened yet?

Maybe because the cost of neglect is more than you want to pay?

I understand that you are reacting to the people who say that losing football means that they will walk away from the program and take their donations with them. They are saying that to try to express in the baldest possible way their anger at how UAB is being treated by those entrusted with growing it. Money talks. Administrators understand money and power, and the two are interlinked.

Many of us would remain UAB fans out of love for the school and what it stands for. Others of us would be so embittered that they would not be able to stomach continuing a fandom that is so disregarded, held so cheaply, by those at the top of UAB and UA.

UAB fans are a diverse group of people, so yes, some will simply agree to disagree. I hope that this situation is resolved and the program goes forward, strengthened by UAB fans uniting to defend the program. My hopes are tempered by having seen the actions of the BoT in the past and my fear that they will actually be able to complete what they have attempted before.

I understand that. And I also know that people say things when they are upset. That's fine. There are people they support UAB Athletics only because we have a football program. But it sickens me when I read that some how, some way, basketball is going to irrelevant without football. If UAB Basketball survived 20+ plus years before the arrival of football, it will survive if football is not part of UAB anymore.

That's all I'm saying.

You know what's scary. People said UAB football would be around long after PBJ was gone. So think about that, basketball isnt immune either. I hate it's becoming an either or thing.

(11-09-2014 07:26 AM)rook360 Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:48 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:33 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:22 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  So why even worry about something that hasn't happen yet?

All I am telling you and many others here is that not having a football program isn't going to stop me from supporting a program that started it all for UAB Athletics, good or bad or regardless where it ends up at.

If your car starts running rough and making funny noises, you can fix it or run it till it quits. Of course, it might not quit, why worry about something that hasn't happened yet?

Maybe because the cost of neglect is more than you want to pay?

I understand that you are reacting to the people who say that losing football means that they will walk away from the program and take their donations with them. They are saying that to try to express in the baldest possible way their anger at how UAB is being treated by those entrusted with growing it. Money talks. Administrators understand money and power, and the two are interlinked.

Many of us would remain UAB fans out of love for the school and what it stands for. Others of us would be so embittered that they would not be able to stomach continuing a fandom that is so disregarded, held so cheaply, by those at the top of UAB and UA.

UAB fans are a diverse group of people, so yes, some will simply agree to disagree. I hope that this situation is resolved and the program goes forward, strengthened by UAB fans uniting to defend the program. My hopes are tempered by having seen the actions of the BoT in the past and my fear that they will actually be able to complete what they have attempted before.

I understand that. And I also know that people say things when they are upset. That's fine. There are people they support UAB Athletics only because we have a football program. But it sickens me when I read that some how, some way, basketball is going to irrelevant without football. If UAB Basketball survived 20+ plus years before the arrival of football, it will survive if football is not part of UAB anymore.

That's all I'm saying.

You know what's scary. People said UAB football would be around long after PBJ was gone. So think about that, basketball isnt immune either. I hate it's becoming an either or thing.

Basketball isn't going anywhere. It's not a threat.

Yet.

(11-09-2014 07:03 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:55 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  I think that most football fans want basketball to thrive too. They just want to see it thrive alongside our football team, in C-USA.

That's not what I am reading here.

Trust me, many of us predate the origins of football. If kids go out and compete with UAB on their jersey we support them and want to give them the best chance to succeed at the highest level possible. That's really what all this is about. The reality is now football drives the bus in athletics and that's just a fact of life. Competing at D1 with no football, in the south, puts UAB at an immediate disadvantage. It also puts us at a HUGE disadvantage when it comes to recruiting the non athletes. Kids want to have that fall football experience at part of campus life.

(11-09-2014 08:48 AM)biglizard Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 07:03 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 02:55 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  I think that most football fans want basketball to thrive too. They just want to see it thrive alongside our football team, in C-USA.

That's not what I am reading here.

Trust me, many of us predate the origins of football. If kids go out and compete with UAB on their jersey we support them and want to give them the best chance to succeed at the highest level possible. That's really what all this is about. The reality is now football drives the bus in athletics and that's just a fact of life. Competing at D1 with no football, in the south, puts UAB at an immediate disadvantage. It also puts us at a HUGE disadvantage when it comes to recruiting the non athletes. Kids want to have that fall football experience at part of campus life.

I'm so tired of the "football drives the bus" cliches. Football doesn't drive the bus at UAB. We want football to drive to bus here but it doesn't because of the BOT and some other factors. And again, there are plenty of programs that don't have football programs that does just fine thank you very much.

It's time we separate the football aspect from the basketball aspect. Fact is we don't know what the state of UAB Basketball will be without football. All we're doing is speculating. What we do know is that the BOT is keeping UAB Football from being the driving influence you and others want it to be on campus and in Brmingham.

I am basketball first when it comes to UAB; always have been and always will be. If UAB Basketball ends up in the SWAC it will still have my support because of Gene Bartow. I do not want to see the football program go away and I will do everything in my power to have save it. Students, graduates, us deserve to have it.

But UAB Basketball is going to move on regardless end of story.

Have fun with your 3 friends watching UAB in the SWAC.

The majority will support something else.