and they kill the football team.

Great job folks, get the team decent and then kill it.

I guess UofA didn't like the competition.

what they couldn't do to UAH Hockey they did to UAB Football.  

Obviously, UAB isn't taking recruits from UAT.  I don't understand why the UA System BOT can't support UAB athletics.  Between the Bryant Jr/Gene Bartow history and the Jimbo Fisher ordeal it seems like the UA System BOT wanted UAB football to fail.

UAB = U Ain't Ballin'

President Watts is one of Bryant Jr's pawns, I've heard that next week the faculty is going to hold a vote to see if there is there is a vote of no confidence.

The protests this weekend and yesterday are just the beginning.

It's a damn shame that I spent a few years of my life to try to get my teammates better while I was on the team, not turn anything around, and the first year we have a non-losing record in 10 years that bastard shutters not only the football, but also rifle and bowling teams.

As a former player, it really pisses me off.  I was part of the first class to come in on full scholarship in 1994 and was there in 96 when we went division 1A.  I enjoyed going to games and tailgating with old teammates and guys that came through after myself.  The bad blood that Bryant Jr has for UAB goes back to the 80s when Gene Bartow and Bryant Sr. and the board of trustees had personal issues.  It really came down to Bartow wanting the best for UAB athletics which wasn't ever the best thing for UA.  I was at UAB when Bartow was AD and he actually spoke to the team on the matter. How it was going to be hard to succeed with UA in total control.  In 2006 UAB had Jimbo Fisher lined up to be head coach.  They had the details worked out and all that was need was approval of the UA board headed by Bryant Jr.  The BOT rejected the hire of Fisher.  They tried to get an on campus stadium since I was there and the BOT would never approve it.  UAB could and did draw 30-40K fans but that looks really empty at Legion Field and it isn't a great atmosphere.  It's a bad situation all the way around.  I hope Watts is forced out, but you are right.  He's in Bryant Jr's hip pocket and does whatever he's told to do.  

Although I have no connection with the UAB athletic program, I sympathize with the supporters of the program, who were backstabbed by the UAB / UA administration. They stated that it was a business decision, to cut financial losses. Well, wait until they see the financial losses related to drops in new or current students. I'm sorry, but athletics draws students to colleges. My own HS alma mater, Marion Military Institute, was a 4-year high school and 2-year junior college when I attended. The JC football program was nationally-ranked while I was there, and was a big draw for student-athletes. Some players even eventually made it to the NFL. If I recall correctly, in the late 1980s or early 1990s, a new college president came in to MMI and declared that the JC football program would be dropped, because it was a military school, not a football school. The result? Enrollment dropped dramatically the next year, and continued to decline until the high school was discontinued around 2007-2008 and the JC was taken over by the Alabama JC system about 3 years ago. Since the state takeover, MMI has started to add more athletics, and the enrollment has increased as a result, but sadly, still no football. On the other hand, Huntingdon College in Montgomery got smart a few years ago and started adding athletic programs, including D3 football, and their enrollment has increased 88% in the last 10 years. HC is one of the fastest growing small colleges in the Southeast. Athletics helps, not hurts. UAB administration, you dropped the ball, literally and figuratively.

As far as program cost is concerned, maybe UAB should drop down to D2 or D3 level. It's like this, just because you drive a gas-guzzler, doesn't mean you get rid of your transportation altogether, you down-size / get a more efficient vehicle.

JMHO, YMMV.

Maybe its time for public universities to focus on education and leave the sports entertainment business for others to manage.

 

They have been planning this for a while.  Its all in the contract.  http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/12/evidence_mounts_that_killing_o.html#incart_river

The rumor running around is that UA wants to gut UAB into nothing but a Graduate, Nursing, and Medical School. UA, UAB, and UAH would all become one school, as UA. So no UAB Blazers, or UAH Chargers. It would all be Tide. Most of all undergraduate schools would be in Tuscaloosa. Again, this is a gargantuan rumor, that I've only heard. And It's hard to believe with the amount of money being spent on infrastructure at UAB. (i.e.: New dorms, new student center, etc.)

The loss of the football program is definitely going to affect enrollment in the future. Either way, Ray Watts will not be able to stay as the President. He cannot do his job, because of all the protestors and students keep swarming him at every opportunity. Graduation ceremony is on Dec. 13th, and that'll be interesting to see if anyone in Bartow Arena lets him speak at all.

A rumor just like not shuttering the football program. My source told me that numerous colleges had coaches poaching our football players today.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zzaslawsky/everything-you-should-know-about-the-uab-football-15p89?s=mobile

If anybody would like more information from the UAB side of this, feel free to browse blazertalk.com. The forum has many threads devoted to this ordeal containing a wide variety of information, e-mail correspondences, and actions which are being taken.

That won't get much traction, unfortunately.  Pointing out that UAB has had major research programs critically underfunded (which resulted in the loss of cutting edge technology) for the past 15 years won't gain much sympathy either.