The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Trying to keep the Blazer chatter going during the dog days of summer, so I thought of another concept to engage with everyone on the board. Each thread will focus on UAB's performance in a specific sport. I'll include some stats and references of where the sport has been historically, and will provide my views of where I think this specific program should be going forward. I'm pretty new to UAB and would love to get other, longer term, fan's perspectives of each program. I think some points to hit on would be:
1) Faith in the current coach
2) Win & Loss expectations
3) How frequently you expect to compete for conference championships
4) Where you expect for attendance to be

These are the sports that will be covered, in order. Please let me know if I should switch any around.
1) Football
2) Men's Soccer
3) Softball
4) Baseball
5) Women's Basketball
6) Men's Basketball

Coach Mike Getman has been at UAB since 1992 and has 3 CUSA regular season championships. I had gathered attendance for individual games for something else but I left it on another computer. You could see a huge spike when the team was good (duh), and it's really plummeted the last few years.

YEAR RPI WIN LOSS DRAW
2017 107 5 7 4
2016 120 7 10 4
2015 126 5 12 1
2014 30 12 9 2
2013 35 15 5 1
2012 40 12 8 3
2011 17 14 5 4
2010 60 12 7 2
2009 58 14 4 2
2008 126 7 10 4

Just speaking to attendance, the quality of the team has played a big part in the decline but also the move to the new field. WCF certainly had its drawbacks but it also had a certain ambiance. Kids loved being able to watch the game for a bit and then go play around on the practice field. In the last few years of playing there we had added a food truck and the whole experience was pretty festive.
The pitch at BBVA is beautiful plus the lighting and scoreboard are much improved. It just doesn't have the same feel. If we could win some big games it would certainly help but it's going to be hard to replace the area for kids to play. Glad mine got to enjoy it while it lasted.

(06-17-2018 09:00 PM)Auburn_Blazer Wrote:  Trying to keep the Blazer chatter going during the dog days of summer, so I thought of another concept to engage with everyone on the board. Each thread will focus on UAB's performance in a specific sport. I'll include some stats and references of where the sport has been historically, and will provide my views of where I think this specific program should be going forward. I'm pretty new to UAB and would love to get other, longer term, fan's perspectives of each program. I think some points to hit on would be:
1) Faith in the current coach
2) Win & Loss expectations
3) How frequently you expect to compete for conference championships
4) Where you expect for attendance to be

These are the sports that will be covered, in order. Please let me know if I should switch any around.
1) Football
2) Men's Soccer
3) Softball
4) Baseball
5) Women's Basketball
6) Men's Basketball

Coach Mike Getman has been at UAB since 1992 and has 3 CUSA regular season championships. I had gathered attendance for individual games for something else but I left it on another computer. You could see a huge spike when the team was good (duh), and it's really plummeted the last few years.

YEAR RPI WIN LOSS DRAW
2017 107 5 7 4
2016 120 7 10 4
2015 126 5 12 1
2014 30 12 9 2
2013 35 15 5 1
2012 40 12 8 3
2011 17 14 5 4
2010 60 12 7 2
2009 58 14 4 2
2008 126 7 10 4

The program has taken a sharp decline recently, and it’s really quite embarrassing for a program with our history. We are in a really solid conference, so big wins are available, but we need to actually win. It’s fixable, but it’s time for Getman to do a better job, or move on to another coach.

My faith in Getman is wavering big time, i think it’s probably time for a change if this season goes poorly.

I expect 2009-2014 records most years. Off years happen, but UAB should not have a losing record.

Conference championships are tough to compete for with some of the teams we have in conference, but we should make the tournament.

I’ll be curious where attendance is. I’d say we expect it to be in the 100’s most nights though.

Attendance: All other years not ranked in national top 50.


2015: 856
2014: 919
2013: 968
2011: 1000
2007: 730
2006: 853
2003: 1077
2002: 732

I think what Birmingham is doing with soccer, attracting pro teams, will help the overall soccer interest in the area including at UAB.

Soccer had many young players last year and should be a lot better this year.

Getman has earned a few mulligans. He is running out of them though.

With the enhancements there is no reason why UAB shouldn't be back in the top 3 or 4 in the conference.

Getman has made many recruiting errors over the years, particularly in state. At times it’s like he fails to realize soccer is played in areas other than Birmingham.

I expect to compete for a national championship once in a while.

(06-19-2018 02:52 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I expect to compete for a national championship once in a while.

it wasnt THAT long ago that this was a perfectly reasonable statement. it seems pretty far fetched these days