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I'm guessing posters will have different expectations but if you put on your future UAB Green-n-Gold glasses and look forward into the next 10 years, which program do you believe will have the most success while achieving and maintaining a positive national presence?

I believe UAB has an opportunity to achieve big things in football but still has a lot of work to do to achieve it and competes in a system that makes very difficult to break through.

Men’s basketball doesn’t have the same systemic hurdles. UAB basketball conceivably could contend for Final Fours with a couple of great recruits and a good bracket, especially if the American proves good enough to regularly get at-large bids.

My expectations for UAB Football is AAC Championships... Which in turn should be good enough some years for a playoff birth. With NIL + Transfer portal it will take a special coach to do much more than that. In Basketball... I think for now, we have that special coach. Honorable Mention... Baseball... I think given the tools, things could take off!

Most success as in on a national stage? MBB or golf. I need to see football win some OOC games before putting them over those two.

"Most successful" is too vague. What kind of success are we talking about? Bringing in Revenue to our Athletic Department? Football. Being known nationally? Basketball. Not having any negative news and having strong academic performance? Tennis. Most likely to have a standout national athlete? Golf.

(09-29-2022 03:14 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  "Most successful" is too vague. What kind of success are we talking about? Bringing in Revenue to our Athletic Department? Football. Being known nationally? Basketball. Not having any negative news and having strong academic performance? Tennis. Most likely to have a standout national athlete? Golf.

Good list there.

Winning championships is maybe a tricky one. Basketball could be a team that makes the ncaa tournament and even goes deep in it but doesn’t win a bunch of championships with Memphis, Temple, Wichita, etc. in the league.

Football could win a bunch of championships yet not sniff a playoff bid or even a major bowl.

(09-29-2022 02:18 PM)ICB Wrote:  My expectations for UAB Football is AAC Championships... Which in turn should be good enough some years for a playoff birth. With NIL + Transfer portal it will take a special coach to do much more than that. In Basketball... I think for now, we have that special coach. Honorable Mention... Baseball... I think given the tools, things could take off!

I share your expectations.

Success is whatever you guys deem it to be. What is vague about that?

(09-29-2022 02:18 PM)ICB Wrote:  My expectations for UAB Football is AAC Championships... Which in turn should be good enough some years for a playoff birth. With NIL + Transfer portal it will take a special coach to do much more than that. In Basketball... I think for now, we have that special coach. Honorable Mention... Baseball... I think given the tools, things could take off!

I agree with all of this. Football still has a lot of room to grow, but it's success is somewhat limited by the system (although that will improve with the new playoff format). Basketball is set-up for consistent, high level success as long as we have AK. I believe Casey Dunn could be as effective as AK if we give him the facilities.

(09-29-2022 02:18 PM)ICB Wrote:  My expectations for UAB Football is AAC Championships... Which in turn should be good enough some years for a playoff birth. With NIL + Transfer portal it will take a special coach to do much more than that. In Basketball... I think for now, we have that special coach. Honorable Mention... Baseball... I think given the tools, things could take off!

I think baseball will be the most improved program over the next decade. Like football was, I believe UAB baseball has been a sleeping giant in desperate need of facility upgrades. Glad to see they’re finally getting some.

(09-29-2022 06:42 PM)Marathon Blazer Wrote:  

(09-29-2022 02:18 PM)ICB Wrote:  My expectations for UAB Football is AAC Championships... Which in turn should be good enough some years for a playoff birth. With NIL + Transfer portal it will take a special coach to do much more than that. In Basketball... I think for now, we have that special coach. Honorable Mention... Baseball... I think given the tools, things could take off!

I think baseball will be the most improved program over the next decade. Like football was, I believe UAB baseball has been a sleeping giant in desperate need of facility upgrades. Glad to see they’re finally getting some.

I was scrolling through some old documents for work and there was some advertisement for the Birmingham Airport that said “UAB sponsors major men’s basketball and baseball teams. They also sponsor FBS football.” Couldn’t help but chuckle at the way that was worded and how different things are now

I'm going to go with the Softball team. That is such a popular sport in the US and world wide. I think the tools are in place for softball to become huge if they can increase their level of play.

(09-29-2022 03:14 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  "Most successful" is too vague. What kind of success are we talking about? Bringing in Revenue to our Athletic Department? Football. Being known nationally? Basketball. Not having any negative news and having strong academic performance? Tennis. Most likely to have a standout national athlete? Golf.

I would argue basketball has a standout national athlete right now.

How can anybody choose soccer? The team has been on a downhill slope for several years now. The team hasn't scored a goal in 5 of its last 6 games. It's currently sitting at 2-6. I have hope for a lot of our programs moving forward, but soccer is in one of the worst positions in the entire athletic department in my mind.

(09-30-2022 08:00 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  How can anybody choose soccer? The team has been on a downhill slope for several years now. The team hasn't scored a goal in 5 of its last 6 games. It's currently sitting at 2-6. I have hope for a lot of our programs moving forward, but soccer is in one of the worst positions in the entire athletic department in my mind.

Maybe women’s soccer, who has won their last 5 matches?

(09-30-2022 09:27 AM)Marathon Blazer Wrote:  

(09-30-2022 08:00 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  How can anybody choose soccer? The team has been on a downhill slope for several years now. The team hasn't scored a goal in 5 of its last 6 games. It's currently sitting at 2-6. I have hope for a lot of our programs moving forward, but soccer is in one of the worst positions in the entire athletic department in my mind.

Maybe women’s soccer, who has won their last 5 matches?

They are definitely improving and starting to make some headway with in-state recruiting. Beating Samford was big for them.

(09-30-2022 09:27 AM)Marathon Blazer Wrote:  

(09-30-2022 08:00 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  How can anybody choose soccer? The team has been on a downhill slope for several years now. The team hasn't scored a goal in 5 of its last 6 games. It's currently sitting at 2-6. I have hope for a lot of our programs moving forward, but soccer is in one of the worst positions in the entire athletic department in my mind.

Maybe women’s soccer, who has won their last 5 matches?

Maybe that’s the case.

The soccer team is definitely not in a current position to be considered a top UAB program for obvious reasons. However, I was at the Clemson game and they went toe to toe with the #1 team in the country. We saw what happened when football played Georgia last year. Some sports will never come close to competing at the highest level nationally. Soccer has also played 4 top 25 teams and wake forest who is the new #1. Basketball is starting to make a name for themselves which makes me rate them as the best current UAB program and with Andy Kennedy in place the future looks bright. Womens soccer, with all due respect, plays a lot of low tier programs so their success is relative. I also think baseball is moving up and will be able to compete with top level programs once facilities are upgraded.

As it's been for a long time, basketball has the easiest path to national success. We finally have a REAL coach, and very good players, that could take us on a run like that. I'm not predicting this of course, but I wouldn't be surprised to see UAB make an elite 8, or even final 4 run, with the right amount of luck and right seeding. Football will probably never have that chance. Basketball could do it any given season.

(09-30-2022 11:45 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  As it's been for a long time, basketball has the easiest path to national success. We finally have a REAL coach, and very good players, that could take us on a run like that. I'm not predicting this of course, but I wouldn't be surprised to see UAB make an elite 8, or even final 4 run, with the right amount of luck and right seeding. Football will probably never have that chance. Basketball could do it any given season.

100% agree