Letters from Mark Ingram
March 9, 2016
Dear Blazer Nation,
This past Saturday, our men’s basketball team was officially crowned as the Conference USA Regular-Season Champion! This is a tremendous honor for our program and university, and we couldn’t be more proud of Coach Jerod Haase, his staff and our team. Their 26 regular-season wins set a school record. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the C-USA Tournament, which will be held this week in Birmingham. The men’s team is the No. 1 seed and plays against the winner of Western Kentucky vs. North Texas at noon Thursday at Legacy Arena. Our women’s team is the No. 8 seed and plays Southern Miss at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bartow Arena. Having these two tournaments in Birmingham is a huge advantage for our teams. Please take time this week to come out and support the Blazers as they make a run at another championship.
A number of Blazers were recognized for their outstanding achievements with postseason honors this week. Special congratulations to Brittany Winborne, Chelsee Black and Deanna Kuzmanic from the women’s basketball team and Robert Brown, Chris Cokley, Nick Norton and William Lee from the men’s program on being selected to All-Conference USA teams. In addition, William Lee was named C-USA Defensive Player of the Year and Dirk Williams was selected the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. We are proud of all of our standout student-athletes!
This past season was a tremendous year at Bartow Arena. Our attendance numbers were significantly greater than in years past as we grew closer to a sell-out each week. Let’s start thinking about next year and recruit new friends and fans to join us in supporting Birmingham’s team. The Jumpstart Blazer Club program has already had great success, allowing our fans to make deposits on season tickets for next year. This program runs through April 1, so don’t miss this special opportunity.
Spring football practice is nearly at an end, and last Saturday, we held an open practice for over 2,500 fans who wanted to get a sneak peek at the Blazers. We had a great day at BBVA Compass Field and welcomed nearly 100 former UAB football players back to meet the team, including NFL standouts Roddy White, Joe Webb and Ty Long. Following practice, we held our annual “Sons of UAB” flag football game, which was great fun for our alumni.
Both our baseball and softball teams have started their seasons. Baseball plays the majority of its home games at Regions Field, and softball calls the recently dedicated Mary Bowers Field its home. We held the dedication ceremonies on March 1 in recognition of the generosity of Keith Bowers, who wanted to honor his late wife, and avid Blazer fan, Mary. It was a special day, and our team is proud to call the field that bears Mrs. Bowers’ name home. Please come out and support both teams as they push for C-USA titles this spring.
Coach Bill Clark and our staff continue to work diligently with architects to design a first-class football operations facility. We are making strong progress in our fundraising efforts for the project and continue to push aggressively toward a goal of breaking ground later this summer. Our student-athletes, coaches and fans deserve it. This facility will allow us to continue recruiting at the highest level so we can provide a great product for Birmingham and UAB when we’re back on the field in 2017.
Thank you all for your continued support of our programs. We are making tremendous progress as we work together toward our common goal of achieving comprehensive excellence in athletics. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Go Blazers!
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Letters from Mark Ingram
