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

Not a baseball guy but I noticed our record, 11-17. Ouch. I believe Shoop's contract runs out after this season so there's a good chance it doesn't get renewed. That's what happened with Mike Getman.

Seems like the proximity of Regions Field should be a plus.

Could UAB baseball become a revenue sport if it was an NCAA tourney caliber program?

I don’t think there is a chance of baseball becoming a revenue sport.

UAB fans would actually have to show up to games for it to stand a chance. We cant simply show up twice a year for the Gump and Auburn games (in small numbers).

Alabama’s lack of an education lottery puts teams behind the 8-ball a bit, as baseball has to ration scholarships. Not sure how much of it is Shoop vs the program to be honest. When have we ever been any good in baseball? I can only remember making the tournament once several years ago by virtue of beating Mempiss in the conference tournament.

(03-24-2019 08:54 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  UAB fans would actually have to show up to games for it to stand a chance. We cant simply show up twice a year for the Gump and Auburn games (in small numbers).

UAB's group of fans that show regardless of the opponent or our team's record is very small. It's that way in every sport. Men's soccer attendance has dropped dramatically since the NCAA appearances stopped. The nice stadium and The Legion will help some but the new coach will have to win (NCAA bids) to get the Birmingham soccer community interested again.

Soccer has a good chance of rebounding because the conference is not abysmal in the sport. At larges come from CUSA frequently. It still takes a lot of $5 soccer tickets to pay for even one coach’s salary. To become a revenue sport outside of football and basketball is extremely difficult at any school.

(03-24-2019 10:09 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  Soccer has a good chance of rebounding because the conference is not abysmal in the sport. At larges come from CUSA frequently. It still takes a lot of $5 soccer tickets to pay for even one coach’s salary. To become a revenue sport outside of football and basketball is extremely difficult at any school.

CUSA and the sport took a big hit when New Mexico folded their program. Men's soccer is not growing at the college level. It's an expendable line item when schools look to cut costs. Plus, MLS is now funding academies and 2nd teams that are siphoning talent away from college programs. As the league grows that trend will grow, modeling the Europeans.

I hope we can provide Coach Kinney with adequate recruiting $ to get us back going again. I'd love to see the Legion fan base adopt UAB as their college team. UAB soccer has had a great atmosphere in the past and it can/will again.

(03-24-2019 10:00 AM)FNblazer Wrote:  Alabama’s lack of an education lottery puts teams behind the 8-ball a bit, as baseball has to ration scholarships. Not sure how much of it is Shoop vs the program to be honest. When have we ever been any good in baseball? I can only remember making the tournament once several years ago by virtue of beating Mempiss in the conference tournament.

Had some good years under the "Hat" in the 80's. Also our best era for basketball. Kinda sad to think about it that way.

(03-24-2019 10:00 AM)FNblazer Wrote:  Alabama’s lack of an education lottery puts teams behind the 8-ball a bit, as baseball has to ration scholarships. Not sure how much of it is Shoop vs the program to be honest. When have we ever been any good in baseball? I can only remember making the tournament once several years ago by virtue of beating Mempiss in the conference tournament.

My understanding of NCAA baseball scholarship rules is that lottery based "Hope" scholarships for instate recruits are not counted against the program's total number whereas they are in FB (85) and BB (16?). This may be because baseball has so many partials divided among so many players. If true, that gives lottery states' programs a potential advantage over Alabama schools in that they can reserve regular scholarships for out of state recruits..

(03-24-2019 10:00 AM)FNblazer Wrote:  Alabama’s lack of an education lottery puts teams behind the 8-ball a bit, as baseball has to ration scholarships. Not sure how much of it is Shoop vs the program to be honest. When have we ever been any good in baseball? I can only remember making the tournament once several years ago by virtue of beating Mempiss in the conference tournament.

I've done a few posts that compare Mississippi and Georgia schools against Alabama schools, and I don't think the lottery has as much of an impact as we'd like to believe. I couldn't find those specific posts, but I did track down another one I made comparing UAB to the rest of the state & conference:

UAB RPI 5 Year Average: 137, 10 Year Average: 126. This is out of 297 D1 Baseball teams.

RPI from 2018 to 2014 and 5 year average for other programs in the state:
Alabama: 82, 175, 64, 45, 24 = 78
Auburn: 9, 38, 148, 26, 75 = 59
Troy: 41, 108, 93, 125, 193 = 112
South: 51, 32, 39, 78, 156 = 71
Samford: 90, 102, 127, 104, 74 = 99
JSU: 124, 111, 92, 179, 94 = 120
UAB 5 Year Rank: 6/6

5 year RPI average for other CUSA programs:
Charlotte: 136
FAU: 41
FIU: 122
La Tech: 147
Marchall: 182
MTSU: 117
NTU: N/A
ODU: 119
Rice 38
So Miss: 59
UTEP: N/A
UTSA: 114
WKU: 139
UAB 5 Year Rank: 9 /12

Baseball is a sport that's consolidating its talent in the south, regardless of whether you're P5 or G5. It's something I'd really like for UAB to improve at. I know several on here are Schoop fans and suggest that it's the facilities, so I hope they're able to improve that soon and make this a competitive program.

The reason I used the term "potential" is that "Hope type" scholarships are only important if the state's HS programs produce "top shelf" academic and athletic baseball prospects and they choose to stay in state for college. If a state (like GA, FL, SC, etc) is able to attract several "Hope type" instate scholarship athletes, they can then use their regular NCAA scholarship quotas for additional out of state talent. Alabama universities have only the latter to offer.

An important comparison would be how many such university baseball teams consistently make it to the College World Series each year.

Enjoyed watching our guys win one at the Regions Field yesterday against a good FAU team. Lots of local talent on the team, with 3 from Trussville, 2 from Helena and others from Ramsey, Clay, and Pelham.

(03-25-2019 12:33 PM)Auburn_Blazer Wrote:  

(03-24-2019 10:00 AM)FNblazer Wrote:  Alabama’s lack of an education lottery puts teams behind the 8-ball a bit, as baseball has to ration scholarships. Not sure how much of it is Shoop vs the program to be honest. When have we ever been any good in baseball? I can only remember making the tournament once several years ago by virtue of beating Mempiss in the conference tournament.

I've done a few posts that compare Mississippi and Georgia schools against Alabama schools, and I don't think the lottery has as much of an impact as we'd like to believe. I couldn't find those specific posts, but I did track down another one I made comparing UAB to the rest of the state & conference:

UAB RPI 5 Year Average: 137, 10 Year Average: 126. This is out of 297 D1 Baseball teams.

RPI from 2018 to 2014 and 5 year average for other programs in the state:
Alabama: 82, 175, 64, 45, 24 = 78
Auburn: 9, 38, 148, 26, 75 = 59
Troy: 41, 108, 93, 125, 193 = 112
South: 51, 32, 39, 78, 156 = 71
Samford: 90, 102, 127, 104, 74 = 99
JSU: 124, 111, 92, 179, 94 = 120
UAB 5 Year Rank: 6/6

5 year RPI average for other CUSA programs:
Charlotte: 136
FAU: 41
FIU: 122
La Tech: 147
Marchall: 182
MTSU: 117
NTU: N/A
ODU: 119
Rice 38
So Miss: 59
UTEP: N/A
UTSA: 114
WKU: 139
UAB 5 Year Rank: 9 /12

Baseball is a sport that's consolidating its talent in the south, regardless of whether you're P5 or G5. It's something I'd really like for UAB to improve at. I know several on here are Schoop fans and suggest that it's the facilities, so I hope they're able to improve that soon and make this a competitive program.

Short of a huge turnaround, I doubt Schoop returns. I don't think he would have gone into this season without an extension if he was on firm ground. Technically won't be fired, just won't be renewed. He and Mike Getman are great guys but their programs need a reboot.

I'm pretty sure Schoop's contract expires in July. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

(03-26-2019 04:20 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

There may have been 200-300 folks at the game at Regions Sunday for the UAB game at noon.

(03-26-2019 04:37 PM)BlazrDawg Wrote:  

(03-26-2019 04:20 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

There may have been 200-300 folks at the game at Regions Sunday for the UAB game at noon.

and if the game were played on campus there may have been about 50. Maybe.

(03-26-2019 04:20 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

It would seem that the best course for UAB baseball would be to negotiate a better deal for the use of Regions (which has a designated Blazer locker room) and then build a Young Memorial academic building on campus. Having both fields makes as much sense as renting the new BJCC Stadium while also having a smaller OCS.

(03-26-2019 05:29 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(03-26-2019 04:20 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

It would seem that the best course for UAB baseball would be to negotiate a better deal for the use of Regions (which has a designated Blazer locker room) and then build a Young Memorial academic building on campus. Having both fields makes as much sense as renting the new BJCC Stadium while also having a smaller OCS.

+1 Probably makes even less sense due to the proximity of Regions Field. Might as well be on campus.

(03-26-2019 05:29 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(03-26-2019 04:20 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

It would seem that the best course for UAB baseball would be to negotiate a better deal for the use of Regions (which has a designated Blazer locker room) and then build a Young Memorial academic building on campus. Having both fields makes as much sense as renting the new BJCC Stadium while also having a smaller OCS.

The Young Memorial site can be used for nothing other than athletic facilities or park land. It sits on a former Birmingham park (Behrens Park) that, as all Birmingham parks were dedicated for that purpose by a vote of the city during the early 20th century. Even though the ownership changed hands, the land use restrictions remain and can only be removed by another city wide vote.

(03-27-2019 07:57 AM)blazerjay Wrote:  

(03-26-2019 05:29 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(03-26-2019 04:20 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  One of the problems with baseball crowds is that we don't draw but a couple hundred (at best) for any game at Young Memorial Field on campus but we're good for 1200 or so at Regions Field (and 4000 or so for the Auburn & Bama games). BUT...we have to pay a substantial sum (well upwards of $1k) per game played at RF and we get no concessions revenue. It turns out to be a break-even proposition.

It would seem that the best course for UAB baseball would be to negotiate a better deal for the use of Regions (which has a designated Blazer locker room) and then build a Young Memorial academic building on campus. Having both fields makes as much sense as renting the new BJCC Stadium while also having a smaller OCS.

The Young Memorial site can be used for nothing other than athletic facilities or park land. It sits on a former Birmingham park (Behrens Park) that, as all Birmingham parks were dedicated for that purpose by a vote of the city during the early 20th century. Even though the ownership changed hands, the land use restrictions remain and can only be removed by another city wide vote.

Even if baseball hosted all their games at Regions, they would still need somewhere to practice. So the new football stadium and our football facility is probably more analogous. We have some great facilities on or bordering campus now. Need that basketball practice facility but we've made some big strides in a short time. BBVA Compass field is fantastic.