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Quote:Dear students, faculty and staff,

I am sorry that a communication like this is needed while many of you are enjoying Spring Break, but Rep. Jack Williams made a number of inaccurate accusations covered in the media today that need to be corrected. Mr. Williams makes reckless and untrue charges about Bill Carr and CarrSports Consulting, Chancellor Robert Witt, Governor Bentley, the UA System Board of Trustees, and me.

Mr. Williams claims the football decision was made prior to the 2014 season. This is categorically untrue. A comprehensive review of the Athletic Department was begun as a part of the overall campus wide strategic planning process I announced when I became president. We conducted a specific review of the football program and the budget, based on known expenses. With information in hand, I began the decision-making process. I made the final decision in November and felt it was appropriate to wait until after the regular season to tell the team and the UAB family.

At UAB, as with any major organization, it is common to prepare for potential scenarios from a communications standpoint, even prior to a final decision being made. The documents shared by Mr. Williams are consistent with such a process. While proactive communications were drafted based on a potential scenario and timing, additional deliberation and review were necessary for a final decision that was eventually made in November.

Regarding CarrSports Consulting, the fact is that the firm never made a recommendation regarding the Blazer football program. Their assignment was to assist with a strategic plan and provide us with financial data so we could make an informed decision. Their work was based on financial realities and reasonable projections.

At a time when UAB is achieving greatness, I hope we can soon return our focus to the amazing work happening across all pillars of our mission, and I want to thank you for your continued efforts amid these distractions.

Sincerely,

Ray L. Watts

Ray L. Watts

I take this to mean he is not going to abide by the request to resign.

RLMAO @ Watts

No one is listening to you Ray.

I find it amazing that he accuses Jack Williams of lying. Williams won't stand for that.

It's all semantics by him - no officially known to the public decision had been made, they had already made the decision in private just not announced it

So why did they hire a PR firm out of New York for the sole purpose of advising how to break the news of dismnatling football? What about the parts where it talks about waiting until they end of the season to avoid a big disaster publicly?

Seems to me we have spent more money keeping the decision to disband football secret, buying out contracts of coaches and oponents, and defedning Ray Watts image than we ever did on football.

I'm sure he attached the drafts and notes from all the other scenarios they contemplated right?

This is not even worthy of a response. If he thinks Jack Williams incorrectly called him a liar and further damaged his reputation, he should sue Jack and let the courts, after much discovery, determine who is lying and who is telling the truth.

Watts is so scared. LOL

Then file a lawsuit against him and UAB footbal fans for libel and slander.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!

I just want to laugh at how stupid this respond is.

Why the hell are they hiring PR firms anyway? We have a PR department who is paid handsomely.

It is poorly calculated. Now everyone who didn't know about Jack William's info will know to look it up.

(03-23-2015 05:20 PM)sadolakced Wrote:  It is poorly calculated. Now everyone who didn't know about Jack William's info will know to look it up.

I'm certain Williams knew this too. He timed this all out well, and knew exactly what he was doing.

It has already been shown that Watts and Bakken tried to deceive Soloman. Soloman requested documents through the Alabama Open Records Act. Several of these documents were left out... intentionally. Bakken claims they didn't feel that they were required by the law, and therefore only included the "final" reports.

Why include incriminating evidence? What are you people thinking?

Those who know the laws on this sort of thing, help me out. Did Bakken and UAB violate the Open Records Act or not? Soloman requested ALL documents related to the Carr Sports consultation. He received, apparently, only the "final" documents from Carr. Seems that the preliminary memos back in late summer/early fall should been included.