(11-18-2014 07:50 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  I still remember when South Alabama upset Alabama in the NCAA Tournament - everyone in Mobile was talking about it.

Rarely have I been so excited about a sporting event. It was March 17, 1989. #11 seed South Alabama vs #6 seed Alabama at The Omni (RIP) in Atlanta for the Southeast Regional.

The Jags won 86-84 in truly thrilling fashion, after trailing 49-33 at the half. Jeff Hodge was the hero of the hour.

A quarter-century later, it is still an occasional topic of sports-talk in Alabama: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/...rolle.html

In the second-round game, the Jags lost to eventual national champion Michigan. But the win over the Tide was really something special for South Alabama.

I ve seen state flagships block other schools from their state from rising up by doing things like not scheduling them. Examples include Arkansas refusing to play Arkansas st, Texas refusing to play Houston anymore....I ve never seen a school block another from building a stadium though. Shame on you Alabama BOT

(11-17-2014 10:32 AM)herdfan2013 Wrote:  

(11-17-2014 03:44 AM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  

(11-16-2014 08:05 PM)herdfan2013 Wrote:  Is there any way for the undergraduate programs to break off of the UA while the graduate programs, specifically the medical school, stay with UA? If this has been mentioned already I apologize, but this thread is getting too long to comb through. It seems to me that it would be more politically sound to keep a center for higher learning in Birmingham with undergraduate programs and not just a medical school. This is of course if the thought is that UA still wants to eliminate the undergraduate programs at UAB like they were earlier in the thread. That way the new University of Birmingham or whatever can make their own decisions on the entirety of the school, UA keeps its medical school while cutting off that arm of the university (and saving money), and the largest city in the state keeps a university. It seems to me that all would win in this scenario.

I have a question.

Have you ever been to Birmingham? It would be absolutely unfathomable to do this and even if I did happen I highly doubt they would change the name of the hospital. So you would have a UAB and a UoB in a already crowded location. And you would almost cut UAB's enrollment in half.

Would be the worst decision ever made.

I've only been through Birmingham. I don't think I was clear with my question. It was mentioned earlier that UA wanted to cut everything at UAB except the medical school. Is the medical school half of the enrollment at UAB? If it is, then my opinion of this entire situation changes. If not, and UA only wants the medical school, then my question was why not cede the medical school to UA and keep the rest of the university intact, separate from UA? And it wouldn't be for UAB or UAT's benefit as someone said earlier, but to seem like these people care about the city of Birmingham from a political perspective. Again, I'm not up to speed on the situation. I read the first page or so of the thread when it was posted and that's about all I know about the situation other than a few things that happened over the last few years. Just merely asking a question.

I really think a lot of this has just been blown out of proportion by people who are rightly angered by what could happen to football. And I apologize if I sounded rude I did not mean too, I was just curious if you had ever been to Birmingham.

UAB has around 17,000+ students. 6000+ of them are graduate students, probably around 1000 of them are students looking to get priority into the graduate programs, and another huge percentage are non traditional students. That's why it would pretty much cut the enrollment of the school in half if they ever separated from the medical school.

UAB would gain absolutely no benefit in separating from UA or the medical school. In a perfect world they could go their separate ways and take the medical school with them. But without the medical school the school loses it's cash cow, the thing that it's most known for, and would take a hit to academics.

Saying it would be disastrous for the school would be an understatement.

(11-18-2014 09:21 PM)gassman Wrote:  

(11-16-2014 07:58 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(11-16-2014 07:41 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(11-16-2014 03:30 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  it's at least as likely that dropping football (and moving from C-USA to best-case the Missouri Valley or worst-case the Atlantic Sun) is the mark of a program moving backwards and not one that will attract support.

I don't know what will happen, but speaking simply as a fan who has followed college sports for 35 years and closely followed C-USA in particular since it was formed 20 years ago, I strongly believe that UAB would be permitted to remain in C-USA even if it discontinued its football program (which I hope won't happen). If that required a change in C-USA bylaws, then they would be changed.

You might be right, but I don't think that a UAB administration exploring dropping FBS could count on that. CUSA kicked out Saint Louis and Charlotte only 10 years ago because they weren't FBS.

Another question is, with all the turnover in CUSA, how much does UAB's seniority means. Charlotte returning helps a bit, but I think only USM, UAB and Charlotte were in the Red/White/Blue divisions CUSA.

I doubt Charlotte would fight making an exception for UAB. We got screwed out of CUSA 1.0 because we didn't have football and this would essentially be the same situation, BUT, we have to look at this pragmatically. UAB basketball and soccer are strong. We would hate to lose them just to bring in a school that has football but is weak in those two. Probably better for us to keep UAB Olympics and pull in a football only membership that raises the needle on football.

Maybe UMASS but maybe there is a good sunbelt football team that could put their Olympics in another league?

Maybe a service academy?

No, service academy will join. Navy is in the AAC. Army turned down the AAC. Air Force in in the MWC.

No Sun Belt team would join this version of CUSA as football only. It's essentially just another variation of the Sun Belt. Not to mention the school would have to put all it's other sports in a non football playing league which is next to impossible to find in the south.

You either would need to make a rule to keep the Olympic sports or UAB would join the Sun Belt as a non football school. UAB soccer would be able to remain in CUSA since the SBC does not sponsor the sport.

(11-19-2014 02:29 AM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  No Sun Belt team would join this version of CUSA as football only. It's essentially just another variation of the Sun Belt. Not to mention the school would have to put all it's other sports in a non football playing league which is next to impossible to find in the south.

You either would need to make a rule to keep the Olympic sports or UAB would join the Sun Belt as a non football school. UAB soccer would be able to remain in CUSA since the SBC does not sponsor the sport.

The Sun Belt started sponsoring men's soccer again this year. Granted it's shaky with just six teams (three full members, three affiliates) but it does have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in that sport. UAB could put their program in the SBC if needed.

(11-19-2014 01:32 AM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  

(11-17-2014 10:32 AM)herdfan2013 Wrote:  

(11-17-2014 03:44 AM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  

(11-16-2014 08:05 PM)herdfan2013 Wrote:  Is there any way for the undergraduate programs to break off of the UA while the graduate programs, specifically the medical school, stay with UA? If this has been mentioned already I apologize, but this thread is getting too long to comb through. It seems to me that it would be more politically sound to keep a center for higher learning in Birmingham with undergraduate programs and not just a medical school. This is of course if the thought is that UA still wants to eliminate the undergraduate programs at UAB like they were earlier in the thread. That way the new University of Birmingham or whatever can make their own decisions on the entirety of the school, UA keeps its medical school while cutting off that arm of the university (and saving money), and the largest city in the state keeps a university. It seems to me that all would win in this scenario.

I have a question.

Have you ever been to Birmingham? It would be absolutely unfathomable to do this and even if I did happen I highly doubt they would change the name of the hospital. So you would have a UAB and a UoB in a already crowded location. And you would almost cut UAB's enrollment in half.

Would be the worst decision ever made.

I've only been through Birmingham. I don't think I was clear with my question. It was mentioned earlier that UA wanted to cut everything at UAB except the medical school. Is the medical school half of the enrollment at UAB? If it is, then my opinion of this entire situation changes. If not, and UA only wants the medical school, then my question was why not cede the medical school to UA and keep the rest of the university intact, separate from UA? And it wouldn't be for UAB or UAT's benefit as someone said earlier, but to seem like these people care about the city of Birmingham from a political perspective. Again, I'm not up to speed on the situation. I read the first page or so of the thread when it was posted and that's about all I know about the situation other than a few things that happened over the last few years. Just merely asking a question.

I really think a lot of this has just been blown out of proportion by people who are rightly angered by what could happen to football. And I apologize if I sounded rude I did not mean too, I was just curious if you had ever been to Birmingham.

UAB has around 17,000+ students. 6000+ of them are graduate students, probably around 1000 of them are students looking to get priority into the graduate programs, and another huge percentage are non traditional students. That's why it would pretty much cut the enrollment of the school in half if they ever separated from the medical school.

UAB would gain absolutely no benefit in separating from UA or the medical school. In a perfect world they could go their separate ways and take the medical school with them. But without the medical school the school loses it's cash cow, the thing that it's most known for, and would take a hit to academics.

Saying it would be disastrous for the school would be an understatement.

Gotcha. You're right. 5,000ish students wouldn't survive as a public FBS. At least not without some serious funding from the state up front to help rebuild academics, which most definitely wouldn't happen in this scenario.

Bills aim to loosen UA's grip on UAB

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index....cart_river

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - In the next legislative session, state Rep. John Rogers plans to introduce two bills.

One would restructure the board that oversees the University of Alabama, UAB and University of Alabama Huntsville to require equal representation from graduates of all three schools among the trustees.

The other bill would sever UAB's connection to the UA System Board and allow it to have its own board.
"I've got both bills ready to go, and we're going to see which bill we can get the most traction on," Rogers says.

Free UAB: Birmingham council members joining chorus supporting UAB football, independence

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index....ed_stories

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Birmingham City Council members are joining the call for more independence for the University of Alabama at Birmingham as the fate of the school's football program remains uncertain.

The council Tuesday will vote on a resolution from Council President Johnathan Austin supporting the UAB football program and its impact on the Birmingham area.

In addition, Councilwoman Sheila Tyson is pledging her support for state legislation to either create a separate board of trustees for UAB or ensure equal representation for all three schools within the University of Alabama system.

"It's a shame that once again we have to have this discussion about UAB," Austin told AL.com. "One of the biggest problems is we obviously have trustees who don't have the best interest of UAB in mind."

UAB really should have its own board.

I never thought of UAB as merely a branch controlled by UAT, it's just one of 3 that happens to be smaller than UAT. NIU has a branch in Naperville but it's not established as basically a separate university like UAB is.

(11-09-2014 12:07 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:04 AM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I can't think of a single city that size that doesn't have a large public university. I guess they really do value football over education down there.

Cleveland. Hartford. New Orleans. Tulsa. Grand Rapids. Jacksonville. Kansas City.

FWIW, Kansas City has UM-Kansas City (14k enrollment with grad and undergrad). Jacksonville has UNF (16k students), and Florida State College (mostly a community college, but also has 4 year degrees). New Orleans has the University of New Orleans (10k), and Cleveland has Cleveland St (17k). Hartford is a hop skip, and a jump from UConn. Grand Rapids is a bit of a stretch, but it has Grand Valley State which is probably the biggest school on this list. That really leaves only Tulsa as fitting the description.

(11-16-2014 07:04 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  You seem like the Harvey Updyke type of poster. You probably wipe yer azz with Crimson Tide toilet paper, wear Tide draws, and own a Roll Tide mason spit jar for the yer toe-backo sauce that you spit outta yer mouth.

In this scenario, I would assume the TP would be Auburn Tigers decorative, if you get my drift.

(11-19-2014 04:59 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 12:07 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:04 AM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I can't think of a single city that size that doesn't have a large public university. I guess they really do value football over education down there.

Cleveland. Hartford. New Orleans. Tulsa. Grand Rapids. Jacksonville. Kansas City.

FWIW, Kansas City has UM-Kansas City (14k enrollment with grad and undergrad). Jacksonville has UNF (16k students), and Florida State College (mostly a community college, but also has 4 year degrees). New Orleans has the University of New Orleans (10k), and Cleveland has Cleveland St (17k). Hartford is a hop skip, and a jump from UConn. Grand Rapids is a bit of a stretch, but it has Grand Valley State which is probably the biggest school on this list. That really leaves only Tulsa as fitting the description.

(11-16-2014 07:04 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  You seem like the Harvey Updyke type of poster. You probably wipe yer azz with Crimson Tide toilet paper, wear Tide draws, and own a Roll Tide mason spit jar for the yer toe-backo sauce that you spit outta yer mouth.

In this scenario, I would assume the TP would be Auburn Tigers decorative, if you get my drift.

Hartford has Central Connecticut State in New Britain, which is a suburb of Hartford, and has 12K enrollment.

(11-19-2014 03:23 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Bills aim to loosen UA's grip on UAB

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index....cart_river

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - In the next legislative session, state Rep. John Rogers plans to introduce two bills.

One would restructure the board that oversees the University of Alabama, UAB and University of Alabama Huntsville to require equal representation from graduates of all three schools among the trustees.

The other bill would sever UAB's connection to the UA System Board and allow it to have its own board.
"I've got both bills ready to go, and we're going to see which bill we can get the most traction on," Rogers says.

Best of luck to Rep. Rogers, but keep in mind these bills have been introduced to the House before and went nowhere. The JeffCo delegation (state House and state Senate) needs to be 100% unified for UAB before either of these bills will succeed, IMHO.

It would be nice if the two members of Congress (AL-06 and AL-07) from JeffCo would speak up, too.

#FreeUAB

(11-19-2014 05:21 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(11-19-2014 03:23 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Bills aim to loosen UA's grip on UAB

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index....cart_river

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - In the next legislative session, state Rep. John Rogers plans to introduce two bills.

One would restructure the board that oversees the University of Alabama, UAB and University of Alabama Huntsville to require equal representation from graduates of all three schools among the trustees.

The other bill would sever UAB's connection to the UA System Board and allow it to have its own board.
"I've got both bills ready to go, and we're going to see which bill we can get the most traction on," Rogers says.

Best of luck to Rep. Rogers, but keep in mind these bills have been introduced to the House before and went nowhere. The JeffCo delegation (state House and state Senate) needs to be 100% unified for UAB before either of these bills will succeed, IMHO.

It would be nice if the two members of Congress (AL-06 and AL-07) from JeffCo would speak up, too.

#FreeUAB

Rally for UAB: Birmingham City Council, mayor, boosters unite in call to save Blazers football, support school

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index....ed_stories

"The chamber today was filled with supporters as council members unanimously approved a resolution supporting UAB football and urged officials to save the program."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/119078...ll-program
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White has joined the fight to save football at his alma mater

(11-06-2014 09:58 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:46 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:43 AM)Gray Avenger Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:30 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:09 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  I can't say I'm surprised. It's a waste of resources anyways.

UAB needs to be refocused on their original mission. There isn't enough money to support these types of things that merely drain the resources of the whole system.

It sucks for the fans though. But, such is the life of an extension school.

The BOT has been slowly moving much of the teaching in the medical school, which is the UA School of Medicine, back to Tuscaloosa. Without that UAB is largely without purpose.

That's pretty ridiculous. As had been said above, the state's largest city without a university?

But they don't necessarily need to play FBS football.

This

If it can't support itself the Board must shut it down. After all, the Board is bound to look out for the interests of UA.

So by that logic, all women's sports and any men's sports other than football and basketball should just shut down, too right? They're not self-supporting.

Hockey is largely self supporting also but your point is made. Women's athletics have never supported themselves nor are they likely to, ever. If being self supporting is the criteria for maintaining a collegiate sport than we'd be down to foorball, men's hoops, ice hockey(in some states) ans baseball (in some states)

(11-19-2014 04:59 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(11-09-2014 12:07 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(11-06-2014 09:04 AM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I can't think of a single city that size that doesn't have a large public university. I guess they really do value football over education down there.

Cleveland. Hartford. New Orleans. Tulsa. Grand Rapids. Jacksonville. Kansas City.

FWIW, Kansas City has UM-Kansas City (14k enrollment with grad and undergrad). Jacksonville has UNF (16k students), and Florida State College (mostly a community college, but also has 4 year degrees). New Orleans has the University of New Orleans (10k), and Cleveland has Cleveland St (17k). Hartford is a hop skip, and a jump from UConn. Grand Rapids is a bit of a stretch, but it has Grand Valley State which is probably the biggest school on this list. That really leaves only Tulsa as fitting the description.

(11-16-2014 07:04 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  You seem like the Harvey Updyke type of poster. You probably wipe yer azz with Crimson Tide toilet paper, wear Tide draws, and own a Roll Tide mason spit jar for the yer toe-backo sauce that you spit outta yer mouth.

In this scenario, I would assume the TP would be Auburn Tigers decorative, if you get my drift.

Grand Valley State is the largest university that plays D2 football with a full time enrollment of 20K Northwest Missouri is also only 30-40 miles from Kansas City NWMO has won or played in several D2 football title games.

Have any definitive dates been released? When the report will be released? When a decision would be made? I know in most cases when a sport is dropped no one hears about it till the last minute.

The more I think about it the more I wonder if they would even play lame duck seasons and instead just make the move and use any savings from not operating to buy out pre existing OOC games?

I would think the student athletes are starting to wonder about their options. If it is phased out at least the kids can plan for it. Wouldn't take the sting off having to transfer and leave friends behind to play your last year or two of college ball but something needs to be done. Waiting in Limbo is worse than finding out the ugly truth, at least they will be able to move on.

There are so many many factors at play, some are unique to Alabama of course.

But two things popped out at me looking at the posted budget numbers. Troy and Alabama State bring in less and spend less, but their budgets are appropriate for their conferences. Both play in either new or recently remodeled facilities where people paying premium prices for luxury seats are closer to the field than most of the seats at Legion Field.

The UAB/Jimbo thing, I saw AState's board hold our president's feet to the fire over coaching contracts so that isn't wildly unusual.

The bigger factor is the refusal to approve the stadium. I've heard conflicting claims regarding how solid the financing was but I think the real issue is that UAB football probably is not viable without a different venue. I won't be stunned if that isn't part of the report when it emerges.

A buddy who lives near Birmingham seriously begrudges UAB adding football. Yes he loves him some Bama football but is a former UAB basketball season ticket holder who believes football denied UAB its chance to be a premier hoops team. I'm not sure what league he thinks UAB would have landed in during the great non-football purge of CUSA but he clings to the belief that football robbed him of premier hoops. Is he typical? I doubt it except for the Bama football part.

Demographically, the concern that has to be the largest is that Birmingham is absolutely college football crazy. Per capita it leads the nation in TV viewership of college football and in google searches related to college football. That level of interest coupled with the lack of support for UAB football means it's not fungible interest. Birmingham is college football crazy because so much of the market has made its mind up about who to support already.

Can a stadium conquer that? Probably not but a stadium can produce a better game day experience and maybe a sustainable niche can be carved out.

The stadium remains the key to UAB's fate in my mind. Get it approved and built and things are OK. Without it UAB fans are going to forced to keep playing kick the can down the road to keep the team they love.

After the rally: What are the next steps for the save UAB football effort?

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index....cart_river