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(12-30-2019 05:14 PM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  

(12-29-2019 01:47 PM)BlazeOn Wrote:  Let me preface this by saying first that my thoughts are worth exactly what you're paying for them (maybe less). And second, I fully support Bill Clark. Clark is the best thing ever to happen for UAB Football and it is no stretch to say that football at UAB wouldn't exist without him.

1. Probably more than most fans, I appreciate good defense. Football scores should not look like basketball scores. When I coached I was a defensive minded coach. I like defense. I believe in the adage "defense wins championships". In C-USA the gap between the number one team and the number seven or eight team is often not that big. There is a good deal of talent parity. I've felt for years that a team that prioritized defense would have an advantage in the conference. In the early 2000s under Watson Brown, UAB had some very good defenses. UAB was winning 6-7 games a year (in an 11 game season), becoming bowl eligible, but not getting bowl invitations (fewer bowls then). Brown made a decision to begin prioritizing offense in an effort to become more attractive to bowls. The key choice was where to put the best athletes; at that time UAB did not have enough athletes to excel at both offense and defense. He chose offense. The result was that UAB got its first bowl invite and had a first round draft pick at wide receiver. But the defense suffered. The wins eventually declined and Brown went elsewhere. Then came Neil Callaway and Garrick McGee. Neither prioritized defense and neither was very successful.

In 2002 Bryan Thomas was drafted in the first and Eddie Freeman in the 2nd. Watson has two seven and one six win season out of 12.

Yeah, let's look at the Brown Streak:

1996 5–6
1997 5–6
1998 4–7
1999 5–6
2000 7–4
2001 6–5
2002 5–7
2003 5–7
2004 7–5
2005 5–6
2006 3–9

And that's just wins and (many) losses, on his way to becoming college football's all-time losing-est coach. That doesn't include stabbing Pat Sullivan in the back, running to Baby Bear to save his job, academic eligibility shenanigans and the general air of thuggery and despair around the program (anyone else remember the interesting practices with more players outside the fence than inside?).

Any comparison of Bill Clark to Watson Brown that finds anything in Watson's favor, besides his hairline, is bammer-level moronity.

Edit: In the interest of fairness, Watson did have really, really good hair.