RE: Status of Athletics & Expectations Going Forward: Football
Anyone have suggestions on better ways to post tables? This series is going to involve collecting tables of data and I'd hate for them all to look like that. I tried to include the information for the past 10 seasons of play, and needed to throw in an extra couple to make up for 2015 and 2016. It seemed like UAB did a pretty good job supporting the program until 2011 or so, despite the records not really showing much. Does anyone know what specifically might have happened that seemed to break the fanbase?
1) Faith in current coach
I don't know how anyone could not have faith in Clark. The only concerns that I could think of would be how high his ceiling is...is he an 8-4 every season guy, or is he championship caliber? Given the overall history of the program, it's hard to be disappointed if his ceiling turns out to be rather low. The other concern would be how long he plans on staying at UAB. I have no inside knowledge of this, but I get the feeling that he's only leaving for a "big" job close by (i.e. Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, etc.). We all know he had opportunities to actually coach during 2015 and 2016 but elected to stay at UAB. Just curious what that means about his longevity at the program.
2) Win & Loss expectations
I'm suffering from a recency bias with coach Clark, given that UAB has averaged only 4.11 wins over the past 10 seasons of play, but I think the program in its current state and against its current competition should be expecting between 7 and 9 wins every season. I'd also expect/allow for a down year with 4-6 wins every four years or so.
3) How frequently you expect to compete for conference championships
I'd like to see UAB competing every other year, or at least once every 4 years or so.
4) Where you expect to be in recruiting, relative to the conference
Alabama is an underrated state for football recruiting. Birmingham is in a good spot as well given its proximity to the football talent pool in Georgia. I'd hope that Coach Clark is able to be in the top third of the conference in recruiting. I realize this is a tough task with Kiffin and Davis being in the conference. Going to contradict myself a bit here as well, but I'm also perfectly content if Clark feels as though he's pulling in the players he needs to make his system work (i.e. Dantonio at Michigan State or Mike Leach at Washington State)
5) Where you expect attendance to be
I think it's going to take a dip overall this season, and will settle closer to the 23k-24k range that it was at after removing the 48k first game. Clearly 48k will be the ceiling, and the administration, fanbase, and city have to see that as the potential going forward. Actually that number made me a bit nervous...I was planning on holding out for cheaper ticket deals, but decided to suck it up and get good seats to make sure I'll have priority at the new stadium. I think the combination of Clark & the new stadium will cause attendance to jump to the 30k-32k range for the 2021 season, but we're quite a ways off from that.
I hope some of you will also contribute, share your thoughts, and will tell me what a spoiled football fan I am.
(This post was last modified: 06-11-2018 02:27 PM by Auburn_Blazer.)
|