UAB President Ray Watts yesterday announced that the school is "'taking steps' to reinstate" the football program just six months after he disbanded the program in a "highly controversial move, citing financial feasibility concerns," according to John Talty of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. Outside donors have pledged $17.2M to "cover operational costs for football." But Watts stated that there was "still work to be done to pay for necessary facilities." Private donors will "need to come up with" an additional $13M "in an unspecified period of time to build facilities if football is to return officially in Birmingham and head back to the FBS level." Watts said that the school "wouldn't increase its institutional support or borrow money to build facilities." Talty notes there was "little detail" provided about the "process of getting football back on the field." Neither Watts nor UAB AD Mark Ingram "indicated when exactly the team would return or the timeline to make that possible." Ingram said that the goal was to "play as soon as possible 'which may be in 2016' but didn't elaborate." Talty notes the speed at which UAB "can rebuild its roster should play a big role in the transition back to FBS and Conference USA." UAB "would have been forced to leave" the conference "if it didn't revive football as conference bylaws clearly state that each school must play FBS-level football." In addition to football, UAB also is bringing back bowling and rifle, which also were cut in December (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 6/2). In N.Y., Ben Strauss notes Watts in December announced that the school "was ending football," a move that came "not long after the largest and wealthiest conferences were granted new latitude to make some of their own rules, which included allowing them to increase the value of scholarships by a few thousand dollars each." But in the state of Alabama, "where football is king, the team became a flash point for long-held frustrations" at UAB, where many felt the Univ. of Alabama System BOT had "favored the flagship university in Tuscaloosa" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/2).
A NEW ERA? Watts said that Bill Clark "will remain the Blazers' coach" when the program returns to active status. Watts also said that he has "discussed with city and business leaders in Birmingham the possibility of building a new stadium" (
USA TODAY, 6/2). Watts said that "no deadlines have been set as to when private money needs to start rolling in to get the program up and functioning again, but said those dates would be ironed out soon" (
SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/1). Watts: "The biggest single difference is we now have tangible commitments for additional support that we have never had before. Without that additional support, we could not have maintained a balanced budget moving forward" (
ESPN.com, 6/1).
LIFE AFTER DEATH: CBSSPORTS.com's Jon Solomon wrote UAB "essentially gave itself a self-imposed death penalty, raising legitimate questions of how much damage will have to be overcome upon reinstatement." But in the process, UAB football "arguably generated more support and exposure than at any time in its history" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/1). CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd wrote UAB football in "death" became "more attractive than anything it achieved on the field." The resuscitated program "has a shinier veneer than any marketing department could have applied" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/1). SEC Network's Paul Finebaum said, "Everyone stood up for this program, they became ‘America’s Team’ and the guys in the blue suits, the people in the ivory towers listened” ("OTL," ESPN, 6/1). In Birmingham, John Archibald writes, "Give UAB faithful their day. ... It's like -- damn! It's like this whole UAB nightmare never happened." No matter "how Twilight Zone" yesterday's press conference "might have been, football is back" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 6/2). Archibald added, "This community has come together really in ways I haven’t seen in 30 years.” But he noted it could be “one of those situations where be careful what you wish for." Archibald: "Now we’re bringing football back and now you’re going to have to pay for it and now you’re going to have to go put fannies in the seats” ("OTL," ESPN, 6/1).
THE DAMAGE IS ALREADY DONE: SPORTS ON EARTH's Matt Brown wrote despite the "joy of Monday, the last six months cannot be undone." The "SMU death penalty-level punishment" came without "any sort of NCAA violations or investigations." Brown: "This is all happening because of administrative incompetence. ... The university decided to enact the nuclear option first, because it worked hard to save the football program only after it killed it" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 6/1). USA TODAY's Paul Myerberg writes it "might take years to re-create the momentum destroyed during the program's six-month pause." UAB will "be a startup program, more or less, and likely destined for years of familiar clumsiness as it rediscovers its footing" (USA TODAY, 6/2). In Birmingham, Kevin Scarbinsky wrote, "I want to believe the work of so many UAB supporters and Birmingham community leaders, named and unnamed, in public and private, led to total victory in the end, but it's hard to believe in a university president who once again was short on details and completely devoid of contrition." It is "hard to throw an unbridled party celebrating football's return when the school's leaders didn't or couldn't say exactly when it'll return and what the timeline is to hit the financial target to upgrade facilities" (AL.com, 6/1).
