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

Great post Bates.

(10-20-2022 08:55 AM)BatesUAB Wrote:  

(10-19-2022 02:29 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(10-18-2022 07:36 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  We will have a national search, the AD has said that multiple times and he isn’t going to ask for or consult the opinion of any of us regular folk.

Re-frame your headline product in the utter absence of customer input.

There's a winning strategy.

Not listening to message boards and Facebook groups populated by morons (and I'm not calling you a moron here- I'm just painting the general picture of people online) spouting opinions which they aren't qualified to give doesn't necessarily equal an "absence of customer input." I know you don't like Ingram, but you've got to agree that an AD can't just be a windsock. He can't just do whatever the 51% of people on blazertalk are yelling at him to do. A good executive is going to gather information and opinions form the best people possible, use external sources of information (think search firms), talk to the stakeholders who have the most skin in the game, and make a decision based on that. This is true whether we're talking about the UAB athletics department or JP Morgan.

I get that there's a lot of anger and resentment still floating around. And I can understand, I've been involved in UAB for nearly 25 years. I was right here in 2014. But as some point you've got to shift out of 2nd gear, you've got to start moving on from the past. People tie the events of 2014 to Ingram, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just ask you to do this- take a step back, and objectively compare where our athletic department was when Ingram arrived, and where it is now. I'm not saying it is perfect, and we could all find things that could be done better. But I've got a feeling we're going to get this coaching hire right. I really do think Ingram is going to get it done. So I think maybe we all need to just take a breath, watch some football games, and lets try not to act like a bunch of Auburn fans.

You are correct, I do not like Mark Ingram. While I typed that sentence, my phone went off; it's this dude named Curtis who calls every week from UAB Athletics, hitting me up for more money.

So on the one hand there's a message from Curtis, asking for money. On the other there's the message from Curtis' boss, telling me, "**** you, I don't need anyone else's input." These are not compatible messages.

A good executive is going to gather information and opinions form the best people possible

And here I agree completely, and that gathering must include the people you're begging for cash, whether great amounts or small. You don't have to take their advice seriously. But to strut about repeating the smartest-man-in-the-room act, which seems to be an Ingram staple, is an error of the first order.

As for Ingram not paying attention to Blazertalk, he'll likely see this post (in executive summary format) before you do.

(10-20-2022 08:55 AM)BatesUAB Wrote:  

(10-19-2022 02:29 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(10-18-2022 07:36 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  We will have a national search, the AD has said that multiple times and he isn’t going to ask for or consult the opinion of any of us regular folk.

Re-frame your headline product in the utter absence of customer input.

There's a winning strategy.

Not listening to message boards and Facebook groups populated by morons (and I'm not calling you a moron here- I'm just painting the general picture of people online) spouting opinions which they aren't qualified to give doesn't necessarily equal an "absence of customer input." I know you don't like Ingram, but you've got to agree that an AD can't just be a windsock. He can't just do whatever the 51% of people on blazertalk are yelling at him to do. A good executive is going to gather information and opinions form the best people possible, use external sources of information (think search firms), talk to the stakeholders who have the most skin in the game, and make a decision based on that. This is true whether we're talking about the UAB athletics department or JP Morgan.

I get that there's a lot of anger and resentment still floating around. And I can understand, I've been involved in UAB for nearly 25 years. I was right here in 2014. But as some point you've got to shift out of 2nd gear, you've got to start moving on from the past. People tie the events of 2014 to Ingram, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just ask you to do this- take a step back, and objectively compare where our athletic department was when Ingram arrived, and where it is now. I'm not saying it is perfect, and we could all find things that could be done better. But I've got a feeling we're going to get this coaching hire right. I really do think Ingram is going to get it done. So I think maybe we all need to just take a breath, watch some football games, and lets try not to act like a bunch of Auburn fans.

Ingram does not want to spend any more of his career at UAB than he absolutely has to. He wants an SEC job, so he has to get this one right. He made a mistake by listening to fans when he promoted Ehsan. He listened to fans, but also informed consent, when he hired Kennedy and got that right. It looks like he got the hiring of Casey Dunn in baseball right. The next couple of seasons will tell if he made the right hires in several other non-revenue sports.

However, his ability to land a bigger gig depends on this football hire and he doesn't intend to get it wrong.

(10-20-2022 08:55 AM)BatesUAB Wrote:  

(10-19-2022 02:29 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(10-18-2022 07:36 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  We will have a national search, the AD has said that multiple times and he isn’t going to ask for or consult the opinion of any of us regular folk.

Re-frame your headline product in the utter absence of customer input.

There's a winning strategy.

Not listening to message boards and Facebook groups populated by morons (and I'm not calling you a moron here- I'm just painting the general picture of people online) spouting opinions which they aren't qualified to give doesn't necessarily equal an "absence of customer input." I know you don't like Ingram, but you've got to agree that an AD can't just be a windsock. He can't just do whatever the 51% of people on blazertalk are yelling at him to do. A good executive is going to gather information and opinions form the best people possible, use external sources of information (think search firms), talk to the stakeholders who have the most skin in the game, and make a decision based on that. This is true whether we're talking about the UAB athletics department or JP Morgan.

I get that there's a lot of anger and resentment still floating around. And I can understand, I've been involved in UAB for nearly 25 years. I was right here in 2014. But as some point you've got to shift out of 2nd gear, you've got to start moving on from the past. People tie the events of 2014 to Ingram, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just ask you to do this- take a step back, and objectively compare where our athletic department was when Ingram arrived, and where it is now. I'm not saying it is perfect, and we could all find things that could be done better. But I've got a feeling we're going to get this coaching hire right. I really do think Ingram is going to get it done. So I think maybe we all need to just take a breath, watch some football games, and lets try not to act like a bunch of Auburn fans.

Really good post. I agree with you. I don't get the hate for Ingram, I really don't. I think he will make a good coaching hire for the football program.

I think he will too. But Mark can only hire based on a contract he can get approved that a candidate will accept. I mean I would love a Tesla Plaid but my bank ain’t approving the loan. Lol

Should keep in mind that the definition is actually “best coach available who meets that criteria and doesn’t have a better offer elsewhere.” That is nowhere the same as “best choice available.”

After the Ehsan hire, I hope Ingram never even thinks to consider who a bunch of message board fans want as the next head coach of any UAB program. I don't care how much money is being donated.

You should thank your lucky stars he hired Ehsan. It enabled football to get its facilities built, enabled us to keep Clark to cement the foundation and raise a bunch more money, allowed us to keep upgrading all the other facilities. UAB basketball didn’t fall off the map and while it sucked to have subpar seasons, half this conference would have been thrilled to be near .500. It enabled us to fire him when it didn’t work without having to eat millions of dollars and have the timing and resources to get AK and now be rolling going into the AAC.

I would gladly trade 4 eh seasons with Ehsan to be where we are now.

(10-20-2022 03:36 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  You should thank your lucky stars he hired Ehsan. It enabled football to get its facilities built, enabled us to keep Clark to cement the foundation and raise a bunch more money, allowed us to keep upgrading all the other facilities. UAB basketball didn’t fall off the map and while it sucked to have subpar seasons, half this conference would have been thrilled to be near .500. It enabled us to fire him when it didn’t work without having to eat millions of dollars and have the timing and resources to get AK and now be rolling going into the AAC.

I would gladly trade 4 eh seasons with Ehsan to be where we are now.

The net result of the Ehsan hire does not mean hiring Ehsan was a good decision. It was a terrible decision and I hope a similar one is not made for football.

It wasn’t a terrible decision if your other choice was Chuck Person.

That made me laugh aloud.

Did we really just spin Ehsan into a good hire?

Ingram also botched the men’s soccer hire.

I think Kennedy was a no brainer, so I don’t give him a ton of credit for that one. He made that hire, but any of us on this board would have made that same hire in his position.

Getting this hire right is crucial toward his goal of finding an SEC job, if that’s what he wants.

I am going to repeat this: Coaching hires are always made in context of who is interested and available within budget. One can also be the best hire at the time, in that context, and still prove to be a bad hire in hindsight. But that still doesn’t make the others a better choice when it was time to make the choice.

It isn’t like UAB’s choices to replace Haase were Mark Few, Brad Stevens or Coach K’s top assistant. They were Ehsan, Person, Jason Terry and a couple of guys like Steve LAvin. Would LAvin have won more? Yeah, probably. I would guess floating around 18-19 wins, getting overpaid for that, being expensive to fire for the third time in his career, battling Stansbury for least return on investment while in meantime, we miss the window for AK and he is the coach at somewhere like LSU today. Or we hire Person as a favor to Bruce Pearl and our Coach spends more time IN court than on it for his first season.

Yay team!

Hey, of course Mark should shoot his shot with a football coach and I hope he has some fantastic candidates and budget to really go for it. But in the end the best choice might well be VIncent at the time and some of y’all will either need to eat your words, stick some bigger checks in the mail or return to complaining every other game. Or hope you win the Powerball and hire who YOU want.

UAB is not a school with unlimited bankroll. The same 10-15 people and same 10-15 businesses are asked to pay for all the big decisions. Everything cannot be done at once. There has to be strategy around the long game. Fans can look at things emotionally and for instant satisfaction. Mark cannot and I am glad he won’t.

We hire Vincent and I’m gone. He is not, has not, and will not be the best option for UAB football. We have seen enough of him to know that. I don’t expect UAB to be 12-0 and competing for a NY6 bowl.i do expect to see improvements made and problems addressed in game and as the season progresses. We haven’t seen that, and have enough history to know we won’t see that. I don’t have some perfect solution for the next coach, but I’m ready to move onto whoever that is when the time comes.

You say there is no improvement? Other than the brain fart of the Rice game, I see quite a bit of improvement in some areas that were costing this team W’s. Season isn’t over.

How have our penalties improved this year from last? How has our passing game progressed? How has our ability to put away inferior opponents progressed?

The penalties are way down except for the Rice game. The passing game is a work in progress and we will see over the next 6 games.

UAB is 2-1 in conference with every remaining game against the others in the top 6 of the standings — WKU, FAU, UTSA, NT and La Tech. Rice will most likely drop another so Blazers in good position to prove you wrong.

Btw, uab could go undefeated and play in a major bowl and that *still* not make BV the clear choice, or they could drop a couple of these but BV still be the best option for Mark depending on the landscape. Straight up wins and losses don’t tell the whole story and shouldn’t.

Mark Ingram may or may not be a lot of things but one thing he isn’t is a reactionary foot stamper like the folks here.

(10-20-2022 04:46 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  We hire Vincent and I’m gone. He is not, has not, and will not be the best option for UAB football. We have seen enough of him to know that. I don’t expect UAB to be 12-0 and competing for a NY6 bowl.i do expect to see improvements made and problems addressed in game and as the season progresses. We haven’t seen that, and have enough history to know we won’t see that. I don’t have some perfect solution for the next coach, but I’m ready to move onto whoever that is when the time comes.

Please don’t leave if he’s hired. We’ll miss your excellent opinions of UAB football & basketball.
Signed, Literally no one on this board.

(10-20-2022 08:22 PM)mobileblazer Wrote:  

(10-20-2022 04:46 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  We hire Vincent and I’m gone. He is not, has not, and will not be the best option for UAB football. We have seen enough of him to know that. I don’t expect UAB to be 12-0 and competing for a NY6 bowl.i do expect to see improvements made and problems addressed in game and as the season progresses. We haven’t seen that, and have enough history to know we won’t see that. I don’t have some perfect solution for the next coach, but I’m ready to move onto whoever that is when the time comes.

Please don’t leave if he’s hired. We’ll miss your excellent opinions of UAB football & basketball.
Signed, Literally no one on this board.

He has great, informed opinions and is a good fan.

Vincent is a less than mediocre candidate. We know what he is. He isn't the coach to take us into the AAC or to lead us to a level above where we are now and have been for 5-6 years.

Tons of people will be extremely disappointed if Vincent is hired. The offense hasn't improved, the quarterback hasn't improved, the stupid boneheaded mistakes and penalties haven't improved that much, the playcalling hasn't improved or changed, the time out management and clock management hasn't changed, the ability to final knock an opponent out when we have them on the ropes hasn't changed. He is the diet coke version of Clark. No one likes it but they will guzzle it down and claim it's healthy for you.

I knew this board was full of old head sunshine pumpers, but spinning the Ehsan hire to be a good hire is one of the most asinine things I've ever read.

He took a talented, deep, experienced, and young team coming off of a 2nd round appearance in the NCAA tournament in most of the group's FIRST YEAR playing D1, and then winning over 25 games the next season, and then ran them into the ground. He couldn't coach, he couldn't recruit, and he couldn't lead a group that he was supposedly super close to and that supposedly respected him. He was A TERRIBLE coach. Winning 16-18 games with our schedule is bad. Look at the results from Haase at Stanford - with Ehsan as an assistant - they are not great. Haase was a pretty good recruiter and a decent coach. Ehsan was terrible.

I like Diet Coke

Hey Answer, it isn’t spin. Your choice was roll the dice with Ehsan or roll the dice with Chuck Person. Ehsan was clearly the better choice, whether he won or he lost even more. He was a stop gap and sometimes that is the choice you have.

If that is your choice, you take Ehsan every time and if he fails, he’s a cheap buyout after the 10 checkbooks who have to pay for it have finished paying for the football facility. And it would definitely be those same handful who pay for everything because most of the biggest loudmouths get real quiet when asked to kick in.