(12-04-2019 08:18 AM)randy22263 Wrote: And yet it was the best thing that ever happened to UAB football aside from hiring Clark. If it hadnt happened we wouldnt have had the outrage which fueled the passion that led to a commitment to fund facility upgrades. Clark would have left as soon as the first decent assistant coaching job came available and we would be drawing about 11, 000 a game now. Probably less.
UAB was an hour-long flight away from hiring Jimbo Fisher and had every single suite sold and a fully funded business plan for an on-campus UAB owned stadium before the shutdown.
It was not necessary to shut down the program to get a good coach or a stadium. Not to mention the whole on-campus stadium debacle cost UAB one of its best Presidents to date, replaced with an absolute dunsel of a man who has done irreparable damage to the university far beyond athletics. The growth the university has had since then is in spite of him, not because of him. As good as things are now, they would've been *so much better* had none of this happened and the plans that were laid in 2011 come to fruition
Not only would UAB be in a better athletic conference like the AAC, I fully believe UAB would be well into the process of joining the AAU. The problems that manifested themselves in the shutdown of football go much, much deeper and were not necessarily resolved with the reversal of that decision
(This post was last modified: 12-05-2019 06:34 PM by mixduptransistor.)
Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility, a coach 1000 times better than Neil "throw me another beer" Calloway, a likely bowl win, and in line to move up with Memphis, et al when realignment happened)
Instead UAB will be a tenant, like always, in a facility that it doesn't own or control, with the same Machiavellian puppeteers in control (who have purged all of the non-True Believers by getting Fess into the Chancellor's office) in a second rate Conference USA with no real path to anything better
They failed at killing UAB athletics, but they have succeeded in knee-capping it, making sure that the growth will be much slower, if at all, and that mediocrity will be the watchword more often than not. Just look at what has happened to basketball since then. Their plan didn't backfire as much as it was an abort to orbit. A successful failure, an Apollo 13. UAB football isn't dead but there's no chance it'll ever get even close to a P5 conference, and they'll settle for that.
Anyway, football or not, Watts is still on the 10th floor of the Administration Building wreaking havoc. Fire Ray Watts
(This post was last modified: 12-05-2019 11:12 PM by mixduptransistor.)
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility,......
No disrespect but I stop reading after that comment and started.....
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility,......
No disrespect but I stop reading after that comment and started.....
Yeah, we're definitely better off not having a stadium on campus, and we're definitely better for having had Neil Calloway, who I ran into doing his laundry in Blount Hall one night. I'm not saying things are bad now, but they definitely could've been better
But, as always, just good enough is good enough for most so UAB will be stuck with its peers Troy and La Tech instead of peers like USF, Cincinnati, VCU, UCSD, etc
Just OK is not OK
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2019 09:48 AM by mixduptransistor.)
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility,......
No disrespect but I stop reading after that comment and started.....
Yeah, we're definitely better off not having a stadium on campus, and we're definitely better for having had Neil Calloway, who I ran into doing his laundry in Blount Hall one night. I'm not saying things are bad now, but they definitely could've been better
But, as always, just good enough is good enough for most so UAB will be stuck with its peers Troy and La Tech instead of peers like USF, Cincinnati, VCU, UCSD, etc
Just OK is not OK
I don't think people are ok with that. One thing we have now that we haven't in the past is an athletics foundation with heavy hitters around Birmingham's business community that are invested in seeing UAB go to new heights. People now better understand the link between UAB's success and Birmingham's success.
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility,......
No disrespect but I stop reading after that comment and started.....
Yeah, we're definitely better off not having a stadium on campus,
So ok I'm going to stop you right there. I have long stated that UAB deserves an OCS. We're the only university in this state (FBS or FCS) that does not have an OCS. Garrison introduced an plan for an OCS and the BOT shot it down. It was then when I and some others here realized the intents of the BOT regarding UAB Football, other chose to ignore it.
Your comment about UAB being on an upward trajectory was never going to happen because when they hired Clark, the plan was already in motion to shutdown the program. You understand the university lied to Clark about promising to build new practice facilities and wutnot when he was hired right? It was a lied because the plan was to shut the program down.
But even if the BOT and Watts had not shutdown the program, previous history suggested that the BOT would not have helped UAB retain Clark. The BOT would have dragged out building new practice facilities, Clark would have gotten frustrated with the lack of support from the administration and probably would not have made it past the 2016 season. And UAB Football would have still been in the same predicament, no new practice facilities and definitely no immediate or future plans for an OCS.
So I don't how you can say UAB would have been on this upward trajectory when the BOT was purposely making sure the program would not be successful. So yeah, shutting down the football program sucked. It did more harm than good. But it was a wake up call for fans, students, the community, and UAB and the city leadership. The shutdown shined the light on the albatross that was UAB practice facilities and the cockroaches who sole purpose was to ensure that remained status quo.
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility,......
No disrespect but I stop reading after that comment and started.....
Yeah, we're definitely better off not having a stadium on campus,
So ok I'm going to stop you right there. I have long stated that UAB deserves an OCS. We're the only university in this state (FBS or FCS) that does not have an OCS. Garrison introduced an plan for an OCS and the BOT shot it down. It was then when I and some others here realized the intents of the BOT regarding UAB Football, other chose to ignore it.
Your comment about UAB being on an upward trajectory was never going to happen because when they hired Clark, the plan was already in motion to shutdown the program. You understand the university lied to Clark about promising to build new practice facilities and wutnot when he was hired right? It was a lied because the plan was to shut the program down.
But even if the BOT and Watts had not shutdown the program, previous history suggested that the BOT would not have helped UAB retain Clark. The BOT would have dragged out building new practice facilities, Clark would have gotten frustrated with the lack of support from the administration and probably would not have made it past the 2016 season. And UAB Football would have still been in the same predicament, no new practice facilities and definitely no immediate or future plans for an OCS.
So I don't how you can say UAB would have been on this upward trajectory when the BOT was purposely making sure the program would not be successful. So yeah, shutting down the football program sucked. It did more harm than good. But it was a wake up call for fans, students, the community, and UAB and the city leadership. The shutdown shined the light on the albatross that was UAB practice facilities and the cockroaches who sole purpose was to ensure that remained status quo.
(12-05-2019 09:20 PM)randy22263 Wrote: Im not saying Watts and company didnt want to shut us down permanently. Im saying their plan backfired. I stand by my belief that the shutdown ultimately was the best thing for us. Im also saying we cant relax or we will be back where we were. We must improve schedule to make ourselves attractive for a better conference.
And I stand by my belief that your belief is wrong. UAB was on a better trajectory than it is now (a fully on campus and fully UAB controlled facility,......
No disrespect but I stop reading after that comment and started.....
Yeah, we're definitely better off not having a stadium on campus,
So ok I'm going to stop you right there. I have long stated that UAB deserves an OCS. We're the only university in this state (FBS or FCS) that does not have an OCS. Garrison introduced an plan for an OCS and the BOT shot it down. It was then when I and some others here realized the intents of the BOT regarding UAB Football, other chose to ignore it.
Your comment about UAB being on an upward trajectory was never going to happen because when they hired Clark, the plan was already in motion to shutdown the program. You understand the university lied to Clark about promising to build new practice facilities and wutnot when he was hired right? It was a lied because the plan was to shut the program down.
But even if the BOT and Watts had not shutdown the program, previous history suggested that the BOT would not have helped UAB retain Clark. The BOT would have dragged out building new practice facilities, Clark would have gotten frustrated with the lack of support from the administration and probably would not have made it past the 2016 season. And UAB Football would have still been in the same predicament, no new practice facilities and definitely no immediate or future plans for an OCS.
So I don't how you can say UAB would have been on this upward trajectory when the BOT was purposely making sure the program would not be successful. So yeah, shutting down the football program sucked. It did more harm than good. But it was a wake up call for fans, students, the community, and UAB and the city leadership. The shutdown shined the light on the albatross that was UAB practice facilities and the cockroaches who sole purpose was to ensure that remained status quo.
I think you are closer to what I said than you think. The shutdown was just a continuation of the Board meddling, and it is not over even today. Being told no to Fisher, being told no on the OCS, those are just two acts of the same crime that resulted in the program being shut down. If they weren't on a track to shut down the program, UAB wouldn't have been prevented from hiring the coach they wanted or building the stadium. You seem to think all of that would've happened and then they never shut down the program. They were all linked.
All of that, and in addition, the Board is still meddling, and Watts is still President, and he's still holding things back.
Anyway, this whole discussion is dumb and I will continue to think anyone who thinks the shutdown happening was good is dumb, and I'm done arguing about it.
(12-06-2019 01:00 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote: Anyway, this whole discussion is dumb and I will continue to think anyone who thinks the shutdown happening was good is dumb, and I'm done arguing about it.
The conversation isn't dumb. I know plenty of people who thought the shutdown did wonders for UAB Football. I know plenty of folks that thought it was unnecessary. Some don't even care. And some think it was the dirtiest thing ever done to a college program.
How people choose to interpret the shutdown is their choice. Arguing and disagreeing about a topic are not one of the same:
A disagreement is when both parties express their opinions without getting emotional. It's just that they may see things differently. An argument involves being hurt or angry that the other will not see things the same way.
(12-06-2019 02:58 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote: The shutdown was incredibly dirty, but it has obviously and unequivocally revitalized and resurrected the program
Thank you. Its good to see there a few fans on here capable of critical thinking. The party line subscribed by the delusional wont allow for the fact that two things could be true at the same time.
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Five Years Ago Today
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