Make a Contribution to Remove NSFW Ads

U of Alabama-Birmingham shutting down football program

Hotlantan

Hotlantan

Beep beep. Who's got the keys to the Jeep? VROOM!
OG Investor
Report: UAB shutting down football program
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/30/report-uab-shutting-down-football-program/

cd0ymzcznguwzdbhnduynddiytjhm2yyzthlmtjjotqwyyznptg4ymu4m2vmzjkzytu3nmq5ztu5n2fkzgm1ndvizgnm.jpeg


After weeks and months of speculation about the future of the UAB football program, it appears the program has seen its final days. USA Today is reporting the program will be shut down as early as this week.

The end has appeared to be near for some time now. Earlier in November UAB athletics director Brian Mackin failed to issue a commitment to the football program’s future. The concern had been increasing from UAB alums as support for the program from the university appeared to be diminishing. The lack of scheduling future opponents set off red flags and the cost of running the program was becoming a significant issue.

the timing of such a decision comes at a rough time. UAB finally showed some promise this season and managed to become bowl-eligible with six wins. Official bowl pairings will be announced next Sunday, but now you have to wonder if UAB will even send a team to a bowl game or not.

With UAB shutting down its football program, Conference USA will have a vacant spot in its football line-up. The loss of UAB will drop the football membership to 12 members, which would make for two even divisions without the need to shuffle the divisions. UAB played in the East Division, which included seven members, such as this year’s division champion Marshall. With 12 football members and even divisions, the need to expand in football is not there. This may come as bad news for a program like UMass, which has played its final game in the MAC before playing as an independent for the time being.
The impact of losing UAB in football for other sports at the university and in Conference USA remains unknown for now.
 
Alabama Birmingham shuts down football program....

DTwieg_Football.jpg




Tuesday, December 2, 2014
UAB shutting down football program
ESPN.com news services

UAB has shut down its football program, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad on Tuesday.

School officials had said they were evaluating the viability of UAB football, and coach Bill Clark told ESPN.com on Sunday that he expected the school to end a program that has struggled financially.


UAB finished 6-6 this season and is eligible to play in a bowl game should the Blazers get an invitation. Players will meet later Tuesday to decide if they want to play should a bowl berth be extended.

Playing in the shadows of Alabama and Auburn and lacking an on-campus stadium, UAB has struggled to develop a fan base and consistent attendance in the nearly two decades since it joined the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Average attendance doubled this year under Clark to more than 20,000 fans per game, but reports circulated that administrators might kill the program even as the Blazers compiled their best record in a decade.

Eliminating football would jeopardize UAB's membership in Conference USA and associated programs including the school's marching band. Members of the band and cheerleaders joined in the protest at the administrative offices on Monday.

The last FBS school to eliminate football was Pacific in 1995.

ESPN's Joe Schad and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


UAB would be forced to leave Conference USA if it moves forward without football, according to the conference's by-laws. Conference USA decided in 2005 that all conference members must play football at the Football Bowl Series level or be in the process of moving to that level. UAB's only chance to stay in the conference would be convincing other conference members to create an amendment to the bylaws that would allow a school without football to stay a member.
 
Re: Alabama Birmingham shuts down football program....

i guess the players that are underclassmen are looking to transfer.....no sense in staying after the season.
 
Re: Alabama Birmingham shuts down football program....

Well people go to uab for a good science based degree, or chances to get in their exceptional medical school, so I imagine football is not tops on the list, plus it's not easy to get into uab, so most kids rather go to the hbcus or north or west Alabama, and with the rise of south Alabama it's even harder to get those second teir kids, that uab had become acustomed to.
 
Give Me 3ft. said:
:yes:i saw somewhere, where they said football

may not even exist in 20 years!
Click to expand...

with all the concussion problems going on today, more parents aren't letting their kids play football...during the Thanksgiving weekend I saw parents buying their kids soccer gear
 
will they allow the current players to transfer without having to shit out a year ?

this is no fault of theirs so they should be able to transfer and be immediately eligible
 
Re: Alabama Birmingham shuts down football program....

Coldchi said:
i guess the players that are underclassmen are looking to transfer.....no sense in staying after the season.
Click to expand...

Especially since they'd be allowed to play immediately. Sad overall though. They should drop down to FCS and play...competing with Bama & Auburn is a losing proposition financially
 
ballscout1 said:
will they allow the current players to transfer without having to shit out a year ?

this is no fault of theirs so they should be able to transfer and be immediately eligible
Click to expand...


Yeah, it would be a hardship. The NCAA would want no part of that bad pub. No different than when Penn State's players were allowed to play immediately in wake of the Sandusky scandal.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>This photo of the UAB logo being removed for the last time is heartbreaking <a href="http://t.co/2CQvaAKlXr">http://t.co/2CQvaAKlXr</a> <a href="http://t.co/qYtj8Ymki1">pic.twitter.com/qYtj8Ymki1</a></p>&mdash; Bill Handturkey (@sundownmotel) <a href="https://twitter.com/sundownmotel/status/539921519615307776">December 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Last edited:
video of Univ. President's meeting with the players

The guy who starts talking around 3:30 is the starting TE, Tristan Henderson. He's 26 and served in Iraq prior to joining the UAB football team.

 
University of Bama board never supported UAB football which is why they wanted a separate board. They would never want to support nor eventually build a contender that could challenge Bama.

UAB is a basketball school when it comes to sports. Nobody attended the football games but basketball games would be cracking on the regular. Still fucked up.
 
:smh: UAB prez gonna need 24/7 security



Study: UAB football proved financially viable

cd0ymzcznguwzdbhnduynddiytjhm2yyzthlmtjjotqwyyznptq3njy4ytlkzwjjnwrimtvjzmm4n2qxngvhyzk5mdbm.jpeg


In March, the task force evaluating UAB’s decision to cancel its football program hired California-based consulting firm OSKR to produce an independent analysis of the financial number-crunching used to justify cutting the sport. Less than a month later UAB fired OSKR and hired Collegiate Sports Solutions out of concerns that OSKR, the same group that consulted on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Ed O’Bannon vs. the NCAA trial, could not provide an unbiased report. Still, OSKR continued on with its study, and the 156-page findings compiled by Daniel Rascher and Andrew Schwartz were released Thursday.

And they don’t look good for UAB.

“We find that the three sports in question did not cost the university anywhere near the $3.75 million indicated on UAB’s accounting statements,” the pair wrote. “Instead, after making the sort of adjustments suggested by the economics literature, we conclude that the three sports were effectively break-even to slightly positive. Football and bowling showed a modest positive return for 2013-14, the last year for which complete data was available. Rifle showed a deficit, but the three-sport balance was positive to the tune of $75,000.”

OSKR differs from UAB’s conclusions on two main points. First, the cost of the 85 required scholarships, the consultants say, are 65 percent less than what the university reported; OSKR cited the a full scholarship’s actual cost to the university, rather than the price UAB would have otherwise charged a regular student. Second, OSKR says UAB did not properly account for rising revenues from the College Football Playoff and increased ticket sales generated by a successful debut season under head coach Bill Clark.

Not only could the school afford to keep its football (as well as rifle and bowling) program, it could also afford to provide cost of attendance scholarships. “We conclude that going forward, anticipated improvement in ticket sales from 2013-14 levels and new College Football Playoff revenues will outpace new expenses from Cost of Attendance stipends and unlimited food allowances,” OSKR wrote. “Once these new revenues and expenses kick in, we anticipate the aggregate annual surplus from football, bowling, and rifle would exceed $500,000, even without including the anticipated but hard-to-quantify benefits to admissions and enrollment, donations, and media exposure.”

What does this report mean in the real world? Likely nothing. It’s more ammunition for those that would like to see UAB president Ray Watts removed from his post, but nothing more than that. UAB commissioned the study to provide a third-party analysis ahead of annual Conference USA meetings in June. The conference has hinted it may boot the Blazers from the conference, citing a bylaw that all of its institutions must sponsor a football program. UAB would like to remain in the conference, and Collegiate Sports Solutions’s report – not OSKR’s – will be what UAB uses to justify its decision.


http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/23/study-uab-football-proved-financially-viable/
 

Make a Contribution to Remove NSFW Ads
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mask
Tuskegee University revives flight training legacy with new aviation program aka we want more of our pilots
Replies
10
Views
96
Jumbodicc
Jumbodicc
Lexx Diamond
Trump's DOJ forces the state of IL and 6 colleges to stop a Black scholarship program
2
Replies
58
Views
1K
Tdot_firestarta
T
DC_Dude
A scholarship program helped boost diversity at University of Michigan. Trump’s DEI crackdown just killed it.
Replies
4
Views
135
DC_Dude
DC_Dude
Lexx Diamond
Job Corps closing
2 3 4
Replies
123
Views
3K
letsshoot
letsshoot
Mask
US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts, whole milk drinker be alarmed
Replies
22
Views
561
Darrkman
Darrkman
Back
Top