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https://thedailydragon.com/2017/11/01/wh...right-now/

"but UAB fans are kidding themselves if they think Clark will be a UAB lifer."

I feel like the person that wrote this has never actually met and talked with Coach Clark in a non-press conference setting. Might not be the case, but that sentence suggests that.

If Watts and Ingram screw around and let Clark be hired away we need to make their lives a living hell. He wants to be here, but sooner or later he's going to get tired of pushing the rock uphill in the face of institutional non-support (if not outright foot dragging and sabotage).

I consider it all but inevitable that he'll be offered more money than we can comfortably pay very soon, next season if not this. If he stays, it will be because he wants a chance to see the seeds he's planted grow, and because he and his wife like it here.

Our AD needs to get off of his fat penguin's butt and get a deal done. Every win from now until the end of the season makes Clark that much more marketable, and that much more expensive to sign. Any of this nonsense about "waiting to see what his record looks like" should be moot at this point. The team has twice as many wins as the Vegas oddsmakers predicted, and will qualify for a bowl game with the next win, in its first season back from death. Note that this only happened because Clark worked very hard to identify and sign the right players to make it happen.

Pay the man. Pay him now. Or be the sorry-ass moron who not only let the golden goose walk away but ran along behind him yelling "Shoo!".

I assume that Ingram hopes to move on up the A.D. food chain some of these days. Being the guy who was AD at UAB during such a successful comeback will look very good, even if we know how much of what happened was because of Clark, the Group of Seven, and the Vocal Few. I don't mind his taking credit though, and I know that he's worked to help things along.

On the other hand, if Clark signs elsewhere because UAB didn't bother to get a deal done, that's going to be a very serious black mark on the resume'. Just sayin'.

Yes. If he wins more, he will deserve more.

(11-01-2017 05:12 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  "but UAB fans are kidding themselves if they think Clark will be a UAB lifer."

I feel like the person that wrote this has never actually met and talked with Coach Clark in a non-press conference setting. Might not be the case, but that sentence suggests that.

We’ve met him many times. Historical president says he’ll ultimately leave unless UAB can grow quickly with his rise in commodity. No way he stays in CUSA forever. I will say he is cut from a different cloth though. Let’s hope for the best.

UAB needs tp grow into a legitimate big-time football program. Clark can definitely help make this happen. UAB needs to pay him whatever he wants. It just makes good business sense. Look at UA, they tried to go cheap with Franchione, DuBose, Price & Shula. Once they wised up and hired a top-notch coach, it made all the difference in the world on the field, and with donations!

I think that he'd be happy to stay here for a few more years, especially if the team progresses as it should and we have a stadium deal done. He can build the program and his reputation and wait for the right sort of job offer to come to him. I don't think he'll take a P5 bottom feeder job just for the check. I don't think he'll take anything but a head coaching job. He's about as popular as a coach can possibly be without a decade long winning run as it is.

That said, that bigger and better job is how success is measured in his business. He's going to take one sooner or later. I just hope that we get to keep him for a while longer, and that we don't lose him because of any internal failure on UAB's part.

If he keeps winning, the offers coming his way will outweigh his desire to be at UAB. He would be a fool to turn down jobs that could come his way and the money offered to him by some of the schools will outweigh anything UAB could pay him, even if they wanted to be as generous as they could be. The exposure in a Power 6 conference verses CUSA also plays a big factor outweighs money.

Some coaches might be happy to stay at a school for a long time. Most, like any other profession are hungry and want to move up as high as they can get in their profession. Most here seems to think Clark if the former. Hope so.

Also, has there been some change in the way things are done at UAB. In the past, it was the BOT who had final say on how much is paid to a coach. Everyone here is saying it is up to Watts and Ingram. If Watts and Ingram come up with a decent package, and the BOT disapproves it, the public won't know about that proposal. Also, if they are doing their job correctly, they are going to come up with a package that the BOT will approve. To offer Clark the moon only to be denied by the BOT serves no good.

(11-01-2017 05:38 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 05:12 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  "but UAB fans are kidding themselves if they think Clark will be a UAB lifer."

I feel like the person that wrote this has never actually met and talked with Coach Clark in a non-press conference setting. Might not be the case, but that sentence suggests that.

We’ve met him many times. Historical president says he’ll ultimately leave unless UAB can grow quickly with his rise in commodity. No way he stays in CUSA forever. I will say he is cut from a different cloth though. Let’s hope for the best.

*precedent*

Historical president would be FDR, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington etc.

Watts has been saying from the moment he announced the come back that he wanted it to be "world class." Well, you don't get world class without paying for it.

Let's get a long term deal done with a nice buyout. None of this small potatoes three year deal crap! Make it to where he not only gets paid, but incoming freshmen have an assurance that the school is as committed to coach as we want the recruit to be to our school.

Also, I would say that the time to strike with the BOT is now. With all of the good will and positive national support we've been getting, if they were to decline a reasonable package for Coach Clark, it just might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It would give credence to everything we've ever said, and it would be the second time in three years that it would be very obvious our own administrative board is sabotaging our success while also overseeing the most successful football program in the country.

We still have the upper hand, we just need to be shrewd with how we play it. With all of that said, I trust there are those who know when and how to apply the right type of pressure should it be needed. Right now, I think I'd rather enjoy our success...it's been so dang long since we've had a chance to be excited about football...I intend to bask in it a while longer before I pick up the pitchfork again.

they don't want him at UAB. they want him gone.

(11-01-2017 05:28 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  If Watts and Ingram screw around and let Clark be hired away we need to make their lives a living hell.

heck yeah...Watts should a vote of no confidence from every possible group. that'll sink him for su...oh, wait

(11-01-2017 07:18 PM)iam4uab Wrote:  Watts has been saying from the moment he announced the come back that he wanted it to be "world class." Well, you don't get world class without paying for it.

Let's get a long term deal done with a nice buyout. None of this small potatoes three year deal crap! Make it to where he not only gets paid, but incoming freshmen have an assurance that the school is as committed to coach as we want the recruit to be to our school.

Also, I would say that the time to strike with the BOT is now. With all of the good will and positive national support we've been getting, if they were to decline a reasonable package for Coach Clark, it just might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It would give credence to everything we've ever said, and it would be the second time in three years that it would be very obvious our own administrative board is sabotaging our success while also overseeing the most successful football program in the country.

We still have the upper hand, we just need to be shrewd with how we play it. With all of that said, I trust there are those who know when and how to apply the right type of pressure should it be needed. Right now, I think I'd rather enjoy our success...it's been so dang long since we've had a chance to be excited about football...I intend to bask in it a while longer before I pick up the pitchfork again.

History has shown that UAB football playing well and getting positive national pub is not a good thing with the BOT.

Which is precisely why the BOT and Watzis will obstruct in any way possible. To take Coach Clark from $600K to $1MM over 5 years would require a $2MM fundraising effort should the school decline to contribute more (despite massive gains in enrollment and giving from #thereturn).

Now you're gonna sit here and tell me Pumpkin Spice that a group of men and women that raised over $20 million and constructed a badass facility during the death penalty can't scrounge up $2MM to make Clark #1 in C*USA and place us on a trajectory toward potentially getting into the AAC?

Don't sit idly by and watch it all happen again. It's coming unless we bristle NOW and tell Fumbles we don't negotiate with terrorists.

(11-01-2017 06:04 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 05:38 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 05:12 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  "but UAB fans are kidding themselves if they think Clark will be a UAB lifer."

I feel like the person that wrote this has never actually met and talked with Coach Clark in a non-press conference setting. Might not be the case, but that sentence suggests that.

We’ve met him many times. Historical president says he’ll ultimately leave unless UAB can grow quickly with his rise in commodity. No way he stays in CUSA forever. I will say he is cut from a different cloth though. Let’s hope for the best.

*precedent*

Historical president would be FDR, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington etc.

Sorry from my phone

(11-01-2017 07:41 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 07:18 PM)iam4uab Wrote:  Watts has been saying from the moment he announced the come back that he wanted it to be "world class." Well, you don't get world class without paying for it.

Let's get a long term deal done with a nice buyout. None of this small potatoes three year deal crap! Make it to where he not only gets paid, but incoming freshmen have an assurance that the school is as committed to coach as we want the recruit to be to our school.

Also, I would say that the time to strike with the BOT is now. With all of the good will and positive national support we've been getting, if they were to decline a reasonable package for Coach Clark, it just might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It would give credence to everything we've ever said, and it would be the second time in three years that it would be very obvious our own administrative board is sabotaging our success while also overseeing the most successful football program in the country.

We still have the upper hand, we just need to be shrewd with how we play it. With all of that said, I trust there are those who know when and how to apply the right type of pressure should it be needed. Right now, I think I'd rather enjoy our success...it's been so dang long since we've had a chance to be excited about football...I intend to bask in it a while longer before I pick up the pitchfork again.

History has shown that UAB football playing well and getting positive national pub is not a good thing with the BOT.

True enough.

I just think we have a leverage that we never had before with the program actually having been killed after we told everyone for years that they were trying to do it. Every time they meddle and start to tighten the noose, we can point back to the steps that led to our death the last time, and we aren't being paranoid anymore.

First Coach Clark CLEARLY deserve a raise. Only 2 of 13 CUSA coaches make less then him - that makes no sense. A million dollars would make him the second highest paid. Heck just pay him 1,015,000 and he would be highest paid

If we want him to get that size of a raise - the answer is simple fund raise the money. The fundraising will not be as easy as some on the board think but it can be done.

IMHO ether way if Coach Clark continues to do well - he will leave soon for more money, Better facilities, power 5 etc. Within the next few years whether or not Coach Clark gets a mid-season raise will make little difference.

More than that, all of the "no one cares" and "their attendance stinks, they're pissing away money" talk has been completely shot out of the water. Close to making a bowl game and leading the league in attendance now... so any dirty business is much more obviously just exactly that.

That won't stop it, but if it starts and we raise hell in return, we won't be rolling a rock up the hill this time around in trying to get people to believe that it is happening.

I assume, based on the timing of the article, that it is time to put the pressure on Ingram to seal the deal (with phone calls and emails)

So basically, call the AD now or we'll be doing ^at the end of this year (or next)