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

(10-21-2023 03:36 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 03:13 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  When do we get to have a staff and team that doesn't need time to learn? Maybe when it came time to hire a new coach going into a new, better conference hiring someone literally out of high school was the opposite direction Marky Mark and Ray Ray should've gone

No ****. It's still hard to believe. Feels like 2006-07 (and 1994) all over again. The program goes in coaching search mode and fans get their hopes up for The Guy that's gonna take us into the Top 25 and energize this market. Instead we get a WTF hire that's followed by an immediate drop in attendance and a consistently bad product on the field.

Sure, Dilfer might be decent over time. From what I've seen the learning curve looks very steep. 2/3rd's of our team is flat awful so his staff already needs an almost a total rebuild. Why did we have to hire a staff with training wheels with all the investments in facilities since The Return was announced?

In less than 24 months this program has been set back 10 years on the field and in the stands. This is totally on Mark Ingram. Thanks Mark. Please fire yourself.

Attendence is down for a few reasons:

1. People don't have a surplus of money right now.
2. The games have all been on television.
3. $20 parking around the stadium and it is very confusing to people coming to the games where to park. (Signs or maps would be great!)
4. Concession stand prices are high.
5. The team is losing games.
6. The tailgating rules suck.
7. Some damn idiot yelling into the mic during games is annoying as hell.

If I was working for UAB, then I would work on the following:

1. STOP ESPN from calling us Alabama-Birmingham. We are UAB.
2. Create a Gameday map that shows ingress/egress and where pre-game festivities are located and how to get to them. Include the clear bag policies for entrance.
3. Allow true tailgating at the tailgating lot a la Legion Field style.

Find sponsors to pay for promotions like Free Hotdogs. The BJCC would rather lose hot dog sales to 1,000 people and serve beverages to 3-5k people. Bobbleheads, t-shirts and anything else to get people in the seats.

Anything UAB can do to make it easier for fans to attend the game, would be a win.

Our student body is pathetic. We keep hearing about how we have the largest incoming classes each year, and how all these students live on or near campus, and we're less of a commuter school, but there are consistently in the neighborhood of zero students at the games. Maybe we just aren't enrolling students who care about sports, I don't know. But even in the depths of Watson and Callaway and McGee we had students at the games. But it is nothing short of embarrassing to see the complete lack of support from the UAB student body. That corner of the stadium is a ghost town.

(10-21-2023 04:17 PM)Frank Grimes Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 04:04 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 03:45 PM)rook360 Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 03:35 PM)uabblazer2012 Wrote:  Still think Trent is a better hire than any of the other options.

who honestly were our other offers?

Vincent and who.

Didn't one offer literally stand our AD up and never showed to their INVITE interview

Herman went to FAU and turned us down

Correct me if I'm wrong, who were our other serious choices not fan wished and fantasy hires.

If Dilfer was the best option available to UAB after all the $ spent on facilities then something went terribly wrong. Bill Clark was more qualified for the job when he had only one succesful season as an FCS coach and we had zero facilities.

Mark Ingram botched the biggest hire of his career. The stands are all the evidence anyone should need.

Who do people think we should've/could've hired? This program isn't nearly as prestigious as this fanbase makes it out to be. We've never finished in the Top 25, we haven't beaten a P5 team in the regular season in what, nearly two decades? We play in a stadium that, while nice, doesn't provide a significant homefield advantage at the moment. We're a very distant third fiddle to Bammer/The Barn.

Well said. Protective Stadium happened for Birmingham and NOT UAB, although without UAB, I am not sure it would have happened.

All this talk about other coaches...Dilfer gave up a chunk of his salary to be able to afford paying his assistants decent money.

How many coaches would come to UAB having to do the same?


UAB needed a new stadium....Check
UAB needed a new higher profile conference...Check
UAB needed exposure to promote athletes and be on tv...Check

There are only two thing hurting UAB at the moment: 1. Lack of fans/lower attendance; and 2. Lack of moneyfor NIL to pay for better players. NIL is tough to do unless you have some really influential boosters with lots of money that REALLY bleed green and gold.

This is Dilfer's first year. He is recruiting hard. When he was hired, he said that nobody would out work him. The man is facing a huge challenge to recruit kids to come play here with little to no NIL money.

Anybody suggesting he is gone is a damn fool. He should get at least 3 more years to build the program up. He is facing a lot better talent than C-USA as well.

(10-22-2023 10:19 AM)LetsGoBrandon Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 04:17 PM)Frank Grimes Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 04:04 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 03:45 PM)rook360 Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 03:35 PM)uabblazer2012 Wrote:  Still think Trent is a better hire than any of the other options.

who honestly were our other offers?

Vincent and who.

Didn't one offer literally stand our AD up and never showed to their INVITE interview

Herman went to FAU and turned us down

Correct me if I'm wrong, who were our other serious choices not fan wished and fantasy hires.

If Dilfer was the best option available to UAB after all the $ spent on facilities then something went terribly wrong. Bill Clark was more qualified for the job when he had only one succesful season as an FCS coach and we had zero facilities.

Mark Ingram botched the biggest hire of his career. The stands are all the evidence anyone should need.

Who do people think we should've/could've hired? This program isn't nearly as prestigious as this fanbase makes it out to be. We've never finished in the Top 25, we haven't beaten a P5 team in the regular season in what, nearly two decades? We play in a stadium that, while nice, doesn't provide a significant homefield advantage at the moment. We're a very distant third fiddle to Bammer/The Barn.

Well said. Protective Stadium happened for Birmingham and NOT UAB, although without UAB, I am not sure it would have happened.

All this talk about other coaches...Dilfer gave up a chunk of his salary to be able to afford paying his assistants decent money.

How many coaches would come to UAB having to do the same?


UAB needed a new stadium....Check
UAB needed a new higher profile conference...Check
UAB needed exposure to promote athletes and be on tv...Check

There are only two thing hurting UAB at the moment: 1. Lack of fans/lower attendance; and 2. Lack of moneyfor NIL to pay for better players. NIL is tough to do unless you have some really influential boosters with lots of money that REALLY bleed green and gold.

This is Dilfer's first year. He is recruiting hard. When he was hired, he said that nobody would out work him. The man is facing a huge challenge to recruit kids to come play here with little to no NIL money.

Anybody suggesting he is gone is a damn fool. He should get at least 3 more years to build the program up. He is facing a lot better talent than C-USA as well.

Regarding NIL, I hate people asking us fans to help with NIL. We are in the largest city in the state, why don't you talk to any of the businesses who have HQs here or local business for NIL. Do not put that on the fans.

(10-22-2023 10:08 AM)BatesUAB Wrote:  Our student body is pathetic. We keep hearing about how we have the largest incoming classes each year, and how all these students live on or near campus, and we're less of a commuter school, but there are consistently in the neighborhood of zero students at the games. Maybe we just aren't enrolling students who care about sports, I don't know. But even in the depths of Watson and Callaway and McGee we had students at the games. But it is nothing short of embarrassing to see the complete lack of support from the UAB student body. That corner of the stadium is a ghost town.

My daughter (a current student) notes that, at least the 'Greek' side of things are such that they show up for the 'pre-game' festivities (lest they get fined for 'no-show'), hang out a bit, and then MAYBE half of those folks find their way into the game... at some point. Yesterday, she noted that the 11:00 start "didn't work" for the typical Greek Saturday itenerary, so very few actually made it into the stadium... Maybe fine them for not actually attending the game?

If anything, I wish this game would have been on Friday night instead - yeah, yeah, high school, whatever - but I would wager more overall folks would have showed up Friday night than Saturday morning... ...overall a 'minor' beef, as obviously the 'big picture' is not good - as this was the 'marquee' game on the home slate, by far, and seriously, UM fans were not that far outnumbered in the stands... looking over at the east stands during the game, it was like, "Maybe the folks asking which side is the home side actually knew what they were talking about..."

(10-21-2023 06:40 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 06:21 PM)Frank Grimes Wrote:  It had been declining every year since we've come back, because things had gotten stale. Beat up crappy teams, get blown out anytime we play a quality OOC team, and have a chance to win a mediocre conference.

Are there fewer people in the stands this year? Sure, but it's nothing more than I'd expect losing being 2-5 going into today.

We needed a shakeup. Dilfer does two things needed to make a program successful: recruit and market (and he's done these better than any previous coach thus far). He's learning the last thing, which is coaching at this level, which I think he's shown at times he can do. This team is young and inexperienced in some key areas. On top of that, today we were missing our starting QB. We've also played a tougher seven game stretch schedule wise than I've seen in my nearly 15 years as a fan. There were growing pains to be expected this year. I went in to this season thinking 6-6 and a bowl game would be a wildly successful season, because I knew the combination of factors we were up against. I'm sorry if the rest of y'all didn't see that, and expected instant success.

Therein lies the big issue. Why was UAB forced to hire such an inexperienced coach? Why was the big gamble necessary? We spent 10's of $millions upgrading facilities. What has it gotten us? Don't tell me the AAC because Charlotte got in with a 15,000 seat stadium. Demiveeman did a good job illustrating that we have not significantly upgraded recruiting/talent since The Return. Then when the time came the fancy new stuff didn't help us land an upgrade in coaching staffs.

Why the hell not? I'd say it's been a failure of leadership, starting with Mark Ingram, Ray Watts, Bill Clark, and now Trent Dilfer. UAB football had so much momentum and it has been pissed away by squabbling, buddy hires, and incompetence. UAB fans deserve better for bringing this program back.

1. Money for coaching hire and assistants, was a big factor.
2. We spent? Birmingham money built Protective Stadium because of World Games and to promote Birmingham. They wanted Bill Clark's word he wouldn't leave if they built it. UAB was a tenant that would use it, so it was not wasted.
3. UAB fans had zero effect in bringing the program back. It was Birmingham money that wrote the check to save the program.

No offense, but your love of the Blazers has created some delusional thoughts.

Take a deep breath. Let the season play out. Give Dilfer time to get more players in and trust the process. The guy knows how to win. A house divided will always fall.

(10-22-2023 10:29 AM)blazerblazer Wrote:  Regarding NIL, I hate people asking us fans to help with NIL. We are in the largest city in the state, why don't you talk to any of the businesses who have HQs here or local business for NIL. Do not put that on the fans.

Right. Squeeze the same people over and over again while doing nothing to attract new fans and build the fan base. Somehow USA, Troy, and freaking Jax State have been able to build better teams under the same rules at smaller schools and in smaller markets.

(10-22-2023 10:35 AM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  this was the 'marquee' game on the home slate, by far, and seriously, UM fans were not that far outnumbered in the stands... looking over at the east stands during the game, it was like, "Maybe the folks asking which side is the home side actually knew what they were talking about..."

There is no interest or excitement for this athletics program. It's probably at an all time ebb. NOT the fans fault. The problem with UAB is the same as it's always been when it comes to athletics: poor leadership. No vision and no real ambition to succeed.

Their NILs are blowing us away. They are ponying up. We are not. It has to be a combination of fans, boosters, and businesses. Not just one is going to do it. If we can't at least pony up $10 bucks a piece, we might as well get ready to watch teams like JSU start poaching players. Every team we play will be watching film seeing who they want.

Oh I am in agreement about lack of marketing etc but the NIL is something WE can control. Not Ingram, not Watts, and not the BOT.

Ok back to the ranting.....

(10-22-2023 11:00 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Their NILs are blowing us away. They are ponying up. We are not. It has to be a combination of fans, boosters, and businesses. Not just one is going to do it. If we can't at least pony up $10 bucks a piece, we might as well get ready to watch teams like JSU start poaching players. Every team we play will be watching film seeing who they want.

Oh I am in agreement about lack of marketing etc but the NIL is something WE can control. Not Ingram, not Watts, and not the BOT.

Ok back to the ranting.....

I'll bring this up again. Make a UAB NIL beer and that will be an easy sell. Our peers are already doing that. It's such a no brainer in a craft beer city like Birmingham.
Get Cahaba to do it since they did the Return beer and are now sponsoring BVP.
Have it available at Protective and Bartow.

(10-22-2023 10:54 AM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 10:29 AM)blazerblazer Wrote:  Regarding NIL, I hate people asking us fans to help with NIL. We are in the largest city in the state, why don't you talk to any of the businesses who have HQs here or local business for NIL. Do not put that on the fans.

Right. Squeeze the same people over and over again while doing nothing to attract new fans and build the fan base. Somehow USA, Troy, and freaking Jax State have been able to build better teams under the same rules at smaller schools and in smaller markets.

(10-22-2023 10:35 AM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  this was the 'marquee' game on the home slate, by far, and seriously, UM fans were not that far outnumbered in the stands... looking over at the east stands during the game, it was like, "Maybe the folks asking which side is the home side actually knew what they were talking about..."

There is no interest or excitement for this athletics program. It's probably at an all time ebb. NOT the fans fault. The problem with UAB is the same as it's always been when it comes to athletics: poor leadership. No vision and no real ambition to succeed.

If the fans don’t show up, it is their fault.

(10-22-2023 10:40 AM)LetsGoBrandon Wrote:  1. Money for coaching hire and assistants, was a big factor.
2. We spent? Birmingham money built Protective Stadium because of World Games and to promote Birmingham. They wanted Bill Clark's word he wouldn't leave if they built it. UAB was a tenant that would use it, so it was not wasted.
3. UAB fans had zero effect in bringing the program back. It was Birmingham money that wrote the check to save the program.

No offense, but your love of the Blazers has created some delusional thoughts.

Take a deep breath. Let the season play out. Give Dilfer time to get more players in and trust the process. The guy knows how to win. A house divided will always fall.

No offense but you are way wrong. It was UAB fans and students that didn't lay down and kept the issue in front of the press, It was UAB faculty that voted no-confidence in Watts. It was UAB supporters who built that practice facility. Protective wouldn't have been built without the resurgence in spirit and support for UAB football. Sure a bunch of fat cats wrote checks to bring it back but that would have never happened without a huge effort by UAB fans and students.

Just like with Callaway, it was our leadership that has divided this house by collapsing our program. It was obvious from the beginning that Callaway would fail and it was obvious to the rest of the US about Dilfer as well. Now UAB fans are left only to hope it gets better. After coming so far only to see it thrown away should infuriate those that love this program..

(10-22-2023 11:00 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Their NILs are blowing us away. They are ponying up. We are not. It has to be a combination of fans, boosters, and businesses. Not just one is going to do it. If we can't at least pony up $10 bucks a piece, we might as well get ready to watch teams like JSU start poaching players. Every team we play will be watching film seeing who they want.

Oh I am in agreement about lack of marketing etc but the NIL is something WE can control. Not Ingram, not Watts, and not the BOT.

Ok back to the ranting.....

If USA and Jax State are "blowing us away" in fund raising then that's on UAB, not the fans. We have a huge university with literally thousands of ties to the economy in this state and we can't attract enough support to compete with South Alabama, JSU, or Troy? That's a ******* mind-boggling failure of leadership and for damn sure not the long-time Blazer fans fault. You can't squeeze the same people infinitely. Definitely not when you have failed to make a significant breakthrough in any sport. Watts has been the head of the Birmingham Business Alliance for Gene's sake. Something doesn't add up.

So your average season ticket holders are supposed to pay for tickets, pay for the donation that allows you to get those tickets, AND pay the players? Plus pay exorbitant prices for concessions too. That's bull**** and a fantasy without some Top 25 finishes and big wins over the P5.

If it really is about $ and not leadership, how about UAB increases university support to athletics so that current donations can be diverted to pay the players through NIL? Quit pretending the school is trying to compete in athletics and actually do it. But see there again that will take leadership. It will also take fans and stakeholders agitating for it.

Is there NIL data on what school get what?

(10-22-2023 11:20 AM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 11:00 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Their NILs are blowing us away. They are ponying up. We are not. It has to be a combination of fans, boosters, and businesses. Not just one is going to do it. If we can't at least pony up $10 bucks a piece, we might as well get ready to watch teams like JSU start poaching players. Every team we play will be watching film seeing who they want.

Oh I am in agreement about lack of marketing etc but the NIL is something WE can control. Not Ingram, not Watts, and not the BOT.

Ok back to the ranting.....

If USA and Jax State are "blowing us away" in fund raising then that's on UAB, not the fans. We have a huge university with literally thousands of ties to the economy in this state and we can't attract enough support to compete with South Alabama, JSU, or Troy? That's a ******* mind-boggling failure of leadership and for damn sure not the long-time Blazer fans fault. You can't squeeze the same people infinitely. Definitely not when you have failed to make a significant breakthrough in any sport. Watts has been the head of the Birmingham Business Alliance for Gene's sake. Something doesn't add up.

So your average season ticket holders are supposed to pay for tickets, pay for the donation that allows you to get those tickets, AND pay the players? Plus pay exorbitant prices for concessions too. That's bull**** and a fantasy without some Top 25 finishes and big wins over the P5.

If it really is about $ and not leadership, how about UAB increases university support to athletics so that current donations can be diverted to pay the players through NIL? Quit pretending the school is trying to compete in athletics and actually do it. But see there again that will take leadership. It will also take fans and stakeholders agitating for it.

Exactly. If this is the game plan, it’s never going to work.

(10-22-2023 10:29 AM)blazerblazer Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 10:19 AM)LetsGoBrandon Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 04:17 PM)Frank Grimes Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 04:04 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-21-2023 03:45 PM)rook360 Wrote:  who honestly were our other offers?

Vincent and who.

Didn't one offer literally stand our AD up and never showed to their INVITE interview

Herman went to FAU and turned us down

Correct me if I'm wrong, who were our other serious choices not fan wished and fantasy hires.

If Dilfer was the best option available to UAB after all the $ spent on facilities then something went terribly wrong. Bill Clark was more qualified for the job when he had only one succesful season as an FCS coach and we had zero facilities.

Mark Ingram botched the biggest hire of his career. The stands are all the evidence anyone should need.

Who do people think we should've/could've hired? This program isn't nearly as prestigious as this fanbase makes it out to be. We've never finished in the Top 25, we haven't beaten a P5 team in the regular season in what, nearly two decades? We play in a stadium that, while nice, doesn't provide a significant homefield advantage at the moment. We're a very distant third fiddle to Bammer/The Barn.

Well said. Protective Stadium happened for Birmingham and NOT UAB, although without UAB, I am not sure it would have happened.

All this talk about other coaches...Dilfer gave up a chunk of his salary to be able to afford paying his assistants decent money.

How many coaches would come to UAB having to do the same?


UAB needed a new stadium....Check
UAB needed a new higher profile conference...Check
UAB needed exposure to promote athletes and be on tv...Check

There are only two thing hurting UAB at the moment: 1. Lack of fans/lower attendance; and 2. Lack of moneyfor NIL to pay for better players. NIL is tough to do unless you have some really influential boosters with lots of money that REALLY bleed green and gold.

This is Dilfer's first year. He is recruiting hard. When he was hired, he said that nobody would out work him. The man is facing a huge challenge to recruit kids to come play here with little to no NIL money.

Anybody suggesting he is gone is a damn fool. He should get at least 3 more years to build the program up. He is facing a lot better talent than C-USA as well.

Regarding NIL, I hate people asking us fans to help with NIL. We are in the largest city in the state, why don't you talk to any of the businesses who have HQs here or local business for NIL. Do not put that on the fans.

Because the fans are supposed to care and the business community does not. UAB does not have enough fans for businesses to allocate money for UAB NIL.

(10-22-2023 11:20 AM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 11:00 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Their NILs are blowing us away. They are ponying up. We are not. It has to be a combination of fans, boosters, and businesses. Not just one is going to do it. If we can't at least pony up $10 bucks a piece, we might as well get ready to watch teams like JSU start poaching players. Every team we play will be watching film seeing who they want.

Oh I am in agreement about lack of marketing etc but the NIL is something WE can control. Not Ingram, not Watts, and not the BOT.

Ok back to the ranting.....

If USA and Jax State are "blowing us away" in fund raising then that's on UAB, not the fans. We have a huge university with literally thousands of ties to the economy in this state and we can't attract enough support to compete with South Alabama, JSU, or Troy? That's a ******* mind-boggling failure of leadership and for damn sure not the long-time Blazer fans fault. You can't squeeze the same people infinitely. Definitely not when you have failed to make a significant breakthrough in any sport. Watts has been the head of the Birmingham Business Alliance for Gene's sake. Something doesn't add up.

So your average season ticket holders are supposed to pay for tickets, pay for the donation that allows you to get those tickets, AND pay the players? Plus pay exorbitant prices for concessions too. That's bull**** and a fantasy without some Top 25 finishes and big wins over the P5.

If it really is about $ and not leadership, how about UAB increases university support to athletics so that current donations can be diverted to pay the players through NIL? Quit pretending the school is trying to compete in athletics and actually do it. But see there again that will take leadership. It will also take fans and stakeholders agitating for it.

You've been around long enough that I'm amazed that you actually expected the Ray Watts administration to lift a finger or spend a buck to build our athletics profile. There is perhaps less overt opposition from the BoT (Perhaps, they're masters at low profile having things the way they want them in this state. It would not surprise me if they have some subtle influence on BJCC policies forex.) The East side of the campus has looked at money spent on athletics as money stolen from their programs for decades.

What we need are a university president and an AD who are dedicated to Big Picture growth of UAB as a campus power in all phases, with an emphasis on athletics as a flagship marketing tool. Sadly, I still expect such a hire to be drowned at birth.

As to NIL, as Attalla was saying above, it's something that no one can control. One of our biggest beefs pre-Return was that we were not allowed to give money directly to support the football program. NIL is even more direct than that - it goes to the players. If we have more money there, maybe we can prevent some of our best players from being lured away. We can use it to help get recruits here in the first place. Paying $10 for the coverage that Steve Irvine and Tim Stephens are providing, which is by far the best coverage of our programs I can remember, is a pretty painless way for the ordinary fans to chip in.

(10-22-2023 01:07 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  You've been around long enough that I'm amazed that you actually expected the Ray Watts administration to lift a finger or spend a buck to build our athletics profile. There is perhaps less overt opposition from the BoT (Perhaps, they're masters at low profile having things the way they want them in this state. It would not surprise me if they have some subtle influence on BJCC policies forex.) The East side of the campus has looked at money spent on athletics as money stolen from their programs for decades.

What we need are a university president and an AD who are dedicated to Big Picture growth of UAB as a campus power in all phases, with an emphasis on athletics as a flagship marketing tool. Sadly, I still expect such a hire to be drowned at birth.

As to NIL, as Attalla was saying above, it's something that no one can control. One of our biggest beefs pre-Return was that we were not allowed to give money directly to support the football program. NIL is even more direct than that - it goes to the players. If we have more money there, maybe we can prevent some of our best players from being lured away. We can use it to help get recruits here in the first place. Paying $10 for the coverage that Steve Irvine and Tim Stephens are providing, which is by far the best coverage of our programs I can remember, is a pretty painless way for the ordinary fans to chip in.

Again, if Jax State is "blowing us away in NIL" then we're doing something very wrong. UAB is the economic engine of this state. We should be leaving the other in-state G5 schools in the dust. If we're not it's because our leadership doesn't make the effort.

I don’t see things changing until FRW is gone. As I recall, every campus constituency voted “no confidence” in his presidency as result of discontinuing Football. What makes us think that his feelings towards the program has changed? Any advancements in our athletic programs will have to occur in spite of him. Non-attendance of our programs events by the fan base and/or alumni works in his favor by validating his “vocal few” remark and his closure of the program.

By all means complain about things but attend the games.

(10-22-2023 01:29 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 01:07 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  You've been around long enough that I'm amazed that you actually expected the Ray Watts administration to lift a finger or spend a buck to build our athletics profile. There is perhaps less overt opposition from the BoT (Perhaps, they're masters at low profile having things the way they want them in this state. It would not surprise me if they have some subtle influence on BJCC policies forex.) The East side of the campus has looked at money spent on athletics as money stolen from their programs for decades.

What we need are a university president and an AD who are dedicated to Big Picture growth of UAB as a campus power in all phases, with an emphasis on athletics as a flagship marketing tool. Sadly, I still expect such a hire to be drowned at birth.

As to NIL, as Attalla was saying above, it's something that no one can control. One of our biggest beefs pre-Return was that we were not allowed to give money directly to support the football program. NIL is even more direct than that - it goes to the players. If we have more money there, maybe we can prevent some of our best players from being lured away. We can use it to help get recruits here in the first place. Paying $10 for the coverage that Steve Irvine and Tim Stephens are providing, which is by far the best coverage of our programs I can remember, is a pretty painless way for the ordinary fans to chip in.

Again, if Jax State is "blowing us away in NIL" then we're doing something very wrong. UAB is the economic engine of this state. We should be leaving the other in-state G5 schools in the dust. If we're not it's because our leadership doesn't make the effort.

They aren't blowing us away.

(10-22-2023 11:09 AM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 10:40 AM)LetsGoBrandon Wrote:  1. Money for coaching hire and assistants, was a big factor.
2. We spent? Birmingham money built Protective Stadium because of World Games and to promote Birmingham. They wanted Bill Clark's word he wouldn't leave if they built it. UAB was a tenant that would use it, so it was not wasted.
3. UAB fans had zero effect in bringing the program back. It was Birmingham money that wrote the check to save the program.

No offense, but your love of the Blazers has created some delusional thoughts.

Take a deep breath. Let the season play out. Give Dilfer time to get more players in and trust the process. The guy knows how to win. A house divided will always fall.

No offense but you are way wrong. It was UAB fans and students that didn't lay down and kept the issue in front of the press, It was UAB faculty that voted no-confidence in Watts. It was UAB supporters who built that practice facility. Protective wouldn't have been built without the resurgence in spirit and support for UAB football. Sure a bunch of fat cats wrote checks to bring it back but that would have never happened without a huge effort by UAB fans and students.

Just like with Callaway, it was our leadership that has divided this house by collapsing our program. It was obvious from the beginning that Callaway would fail and it was obvious to the rest of the US about Dilfer as well. Now UAB fans are left only to hope it gets better. After coming so far only to see it thrown away should infuriate those that love this program..

Ray Watts could give two turds about the faculty vote of no confidence or the 30 people marching down university boulevard with the great young man leading the charge in his wheelchair.

What brought the program back was the million dollar checks. Without that money, UAB would still not have football. But you keep telling yourself how much pressure you put on Ray Watts and the UA BOTs that answer to nobody.

???