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

(05-26-2020 06:43 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  No excuses. We need to back up the talking and show up

AB, what are you talking about? So we've hired AK and that should be good enough for general fans to buy tickets and return to Blazers b-ball games now?

I dont think the 50 people that regularly post on this board is going to accomplish much. There's casual fans in Birmingham who aren't even familiar with Andy Kennedy. Winning and putting an entertaining product on the court is how you draw the students and the casuals needed to get the program back to even 2016 levels. I think AK is certainly capable of this. His hire will likely bring back the core fan base that dropped off after Ehsan drove our program into the ground, but he's still gotta win if he wants to get this towns attention.

UAB fans said they are staying away until there was a coaching change. Now let’s see if we show back up. Not just for games like Georgia Tech but for say Troy.

I hope we average more than half full all season but I am not convinced we will. Even when we have put a good product on the floor we have disappointed more games than not. Oh and I’m not just talking about people that post on this board. It’s time we take ownership back on this program like we have done with football. For every good crowd I can point out five bad ones. It’s time we start acting like a big time program in everything we do. I know AK will do his part. Will we step up and finish funding new basketball facilities and put money into recruiting? Will we show up more times than not? We don’t have a coach to blame now. It’s on all of us in BlazerNation.

I’ll be shocked if we have a sellout this season and I’ll be shocked if we average more than 5,000 a game. Pleased but shocked.

Prove me wrong BlazerNation. Please prove me wrong.

(05-26-2020 09:43 AM)BlazintheAtl1 Wrote:  I dont think the 50 people that regularly post on this board is going to accomplish much. There's casual fans in Birmingham who aren't even familiar with Andy Kennedy. Winning and putting an entertaining product on the court is how you draw the students and the casuals needed to get the program back to even 2016 levels. I think AK is certainly capable of this. His hire will likely bring back the core fan base that dropped off after Ehsan drove our program into the ground, but he's still gotta win if he wants to get this towns attention.

I agree. People who wanted a coaching change saw the program was in decline and wanted that trend reversed. Now hopefully we have that coach that will put the program back on an upward trajectory. But simply just hiring a new coach is not going to get the general fan back to Bartow Arena. But it is critical that the student body gets involved and behind Coach AK. If the student body gets excited about basketball again, then others on campus will follow.

Agree

(05-26-2020 09:43 AM)BlazintheAtl1 Wrote:  I dont think the 50 people that regularly post on this board is going to accomplish much. There's casual fans in Birmingham who aren't even familiar with Andy Kennedy. Winning and putting an entertaining product on the court is how you draw the students and the casuals needed to get the program back to even 2016 levels. I think AK is certainly capable of this. His hire will likely bring back the core fan base that dropped off after Ehsan drove our program into the ground, but he's still gotta win if he wants to get this towns attention.

Casual fans of what? College Basketball? Those in town would certainly know who AK is. Not from his playing days at UAB, but from the fact that the media is so SEC-centric and he was a long time HC at Ole Miss. Not to mention his 2 years on the SEC network.

Casual fans of UAB? Most should know of Andy Kennedy, even if they aren't old enough to have seen him play.

Any other type of casual fan would be those that would jump on the bandwagon if the program gets rolling.

(05-26-2020 12:47 PM)blazerjay Wrote:  

(05-26-2020 09:43 AM)BlazintheAtl1 Wrote:  I dont think the 50 people that regularly post on this board is going to accomplish much. There's casual fans in Birmingham who aren't even familiar with Andy Kennedy. Winning and putting an entertaining product on the court is how you draw the students and the casuals needed to get the program back to even 2016 levels. I think AK is certainly capable of this. His hire will likely bring back the core fan base that dropped off after Ehsan drove our program into the ground, but he's still gotta win if he wants to get this towns attention.

Casual fans of what? College Basketball? Those in town would certainly know who AK is. Not from his playing days at UAB, but from the fact that the media is so SEC-centric and he was a long time HC at Ole Miss. Not to mention his 2 years on the SEC network.

Casual fans of UAB? Most should know of Andy Kennedy, even if they aren't old enough to have seen him play.

Any other type of casual fan would be those that would jump on the bandwagon if the program gets rolling.

I follow college basketball and I can't tell you the current basketball coach of any SEC team other than Bama, Auburn, and UK. I follow CUSA basketball much closer and I can't tell you the name of any league coaches except for AK, Stansbury, D'antoni, and Jeff Jones. I think you're overestimating how much knowledge casual fans have. Id venture to say most casual fans, even of SEC schools, don't sit around watching college basketball shows on the SEC Network. Casual UAB fans who weren't around during the 80s or weren't around when Bartow was coaching may not know the history of the program and all of the great players from the 80s.

I don’t see how you can say “I follow college basketball” yet can name only UA, AU & KY Head Coaches in the SEC. Rick Barnes, Frank Martin, Tom Crean, Ben Howland, Buzz Williams, Mike White, Will Wade, Jerry Stackhouse, Cuonzo Martin, Eric Musselman and Kermit Davis should be recognizable names for anyone who follows college basketball.

Andy Kennedy is a big name, especially in the southeast, with an even bigger personality. He and Staff have obviously hit the ground running even with the Covid mess. Great things are coming... I just hope we have a season.

(05-26-2020 04:37 PM)Ima Blazer Wrote:  I don’t see how you can say “I follow college basketball” yet can name only UA, AU & KY Head Coaches in the SEC. Rick Barnes, Frank Martin, Tom Crean, Ben Howland, Buzz Williams, Mike White, Will Wade, Jerry Stackhouse, Cuonzo Martin, Eric Musselman and Kermit Davis should be recognizable names for anyone who follows college basketball.

Andy Kennedy is a big name, especially in the southeast, with an even bigger personality. He and Staff have obviously hit the ground running even with the Covid mess. Great things are coming... I just hope we have a season.

Forgot Stackhouse went to Vandy (only know because its Jerry Stackhouse) and Kermit Davis went to Ole Miss (only know because he was at MTSU). I follow college basketball meaning i pay attention to whats going on nationally and locally, as well as whats happening in CUSA.

Regognizable names for anyone who follows college basketball? So the college basketball fan in California or Pennsylvania should know that Eric Musselman is a coach in the SEC? The only reason I know who he is is because he coached the Warriors and the Kings. Sounds like youre a pretty serious fan of SEC basketball. Good for you.

Yep, I‘m pretty serious w/ my Bball, been to 20 plus SEC Tourneys and I’d see some if not most of all the games while there. I’m excited to be a Blazer.

Musselman would prolly be the last SEC Coach fans could name... maybe California folks know him as ex Sacramento & Golden St HC. I’ll admit I couldn’t have named any CUSA HC other than Stans. I certainly remember Jeff Jones as a player and coach at Va. didn’t know/remember he’s at Marshall. I have a ways to go on my CUSA Bball knowledge.

One of you long timers w/ UAB help me out. There was an AA Coach and fixture, w/ UAB and B’ham basketball in general back in the 80’s. Ossie comes to mind but I may be way off. I knew him through AAU ball tourneys way back. Also, when was Blazer Arena built? I could swear an AAU team that I coached played there but that would’ve been 1989 to 1991. I remember staying at that old Holiday Inn (torn down now) just off the interstate near baseball field I believe

(05-27-2020 06:29 PM)Ima Blazer Wrote:  One of you long timers w/ UAB help me out. There was an AA Coach and fixture, w/ UAB and B’ham basketball in general back in the 80’s. Ossie comes to mind but I may be way off. I knew him through AAU ball tourneys way back. Also, when was Blazer Arena built? I could swear an AAU team that I coached played there but that would’ve been 1989 to 1991. I remember staying at that old Holiday Inn (torn down now) just off the interstate near baseball field I believe

I'm as "long-timer" as we get around here, but I don't know which AAU coach you are talking about. But I do know "UAB Arena" was opened in November, 1988, vs. C.M. Newton's Vanderbilt Commodores. (We won, of course.) If I recall correctly, that was the first home game for one Andy Kennedy.

This guy didn’t coach AAU, he was just a fixture at the tourneys and helped on the organizational end. I think he was an Asst Coach for UAB. Older guy way back then. Everybody knew and seemed to love this guy.

(05-27-2020 07:16 PM)Ima Blazer Wrote:  This guy didn’t coach AAU, he was just a fixture at the tourneys and helped on the organizational end. I think he was an Asst Coach for UAB. Older guy way back then. Everybody knew and seemed to love this guy.

The Big O....Oscar Catlin? He was a former high school coach in the area who was an assistant for Coach Bartow for four or five years.

(05-27-2020 08:14 PM)bftb Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 07:16 PM)Ima Blazer Wrote:  This guy didn’t coach AAU, he was just a fixture at the tourneys and helped on the organizational end. I think he was an Asst Coach for UAB. Older guy way back then. Everybody knew and seemed to love this guy.

The Big O....Oscar Catlin? He was a former high school coach in the area who was an assistant for Coach Bartow for four or five years.

BINGO!! Thx

(05-27-2020 08:42 PM)Ima Blazer Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 08:14 PM)bftb Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 07:16 PM)Ima Blazer Wrote:  This guy didn’t coach AAU, he was just a fixture at the tourneys and helped on the organizational end. I think he was an Asst Coach for UAB. Older guy way back then. Everybody knew and seemed to love this guy.

The Big O....Oscar Catlin? He was a former high school coach in the area who was an assistant for Coach Bartow for four or five years.

BINGO!! Thx

Oscar was an assistant coach when I worked there and a few years after. As you said, he was already up in the years at that time, and passed away back in the late 90’s. I attended his funeral.

Oscar Catlin and "Cap" Brown were two of the "biggest guns" in the metro B'ham HBHS era. They both produced talented basketball players who usually left the state because the state's major pegrams would not / could not sign them for many years. I believe Gene Bartow brought Catlin in as a "bridge" to the HBHS coaches so that UAB could more effectively recruit those metro area schools. The confrontation over the recruiting of "Buck" Johnson was one of the earliest Bama vs Blazer controversies.

I found a picture of him online... accepting 1971 Coach of the Year Award while he was at Tuskegee Univ. I also see he had a stint at Miles College and he’s in their HOF.

I was involved in AAU ball (nothing like it is today) for several years and Oscar left quite an impression on me. He’s worthy of a Wiki Page. Another AAU (called Jr Olympics back then) side note. I stumbled across an old program from 1975 when the team (14/15 yr old) I played on lost in the finals to a Bham Team. Damn if I don’t look at their roster and Mike Davis and Mike Anderson were on that team. No wonder we lost.