UAB Players React during President's Announcement

ChristopherRyanWilkes · December 3, 2014

http://www.myfoxal.com/story/27527142/uab-football-program-will-be-shut-down?app&clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass

Not going to lie - I shed a few sports tears watching. Worth the full watch, at the end a veteran on the team likens the brotherhood he felt during his service to that of his teammates. He describes his 3 year old son who goes to every game and is a huge UAB football fan. It's an emotional video and should serve to remind us that no matter what the level, how much football means to theses guys. "It's not about the numbers, it's about people."

Travis · December 3, 2014

That's tough.

Withers940 · December 3, 2014

WOW! That was rough to watch. These kids spill their sweat and blood into these programs and just to be swept to the curb like that is total BS.

ChristopherRyanWilkes · December 3, 2014

Worse is the callousness of the president standing there. Appears to have no remorse about it. He will surely be forced to resign after all of this

Cerebus · December 3, 2014

Worse is the callousness of the president standing there. Appears to have no remorse about it. He will surely be forced to resign after all of this

HAHAHA... *wipes tear* HAHAHA.... *phew* ... no he won't. He was hand picked just last year as the president of UAB by the UAT BOT specifically because he is a long time running buddy of Paul Bryant. Paul Bryant wants this program dead because of a long running feud against UAB.

He came and did the job. Now, sooner or later the BOT may replace him, but he's just going to get another cushy job. That's his reward for them being able to say "The president of UAB, a graduate of UAB, is the one who decided to kill UAB football."

Eagle1855 · December 3, 2014

Worse is the callousness of the president standing there. Appears to have no remorse about it. He will surely be forced to resign after all of this

I thought this too, at first. Then I thought, he's kind of stuck in the middle of this, whether by his own doing or otherwise. The board is above him, passing down this sentence. It's his job to pass it along. He could make a stand, but he'd likely be out of a job (and we have no way of knowing that he hasn't stood up to them, for the football team, in this process). I imagine he'd have a tough time finding another job with a university if the reason he lost his last job was due to disagreement/insubordination with the board.

But I may have this wrong. Does the president of a University have the ability to go against the recommendations or wishes of its board?

Eagle1855 · December 3, 2014

He was hand picked just last year as the president of UAB by the UAT BOT specifically because he is a long time running buddy of Paul Bryant. Paul Bryant wants this program dead because of a long running feud against UAB.

He came and did the job. Now, sooner or later the BOT may replace him, but he's just going to get another cushy job. That's his reward for them being able to say "The president of UAB, a graduate of UAB, is the one who decided to kill UAB football."

This answers some of my above question. I should have just waited for your post.

ChristopherRyanWilkes · December 3, 2014

HAHAHA... *wipes tear* HAHAHA.... *phew* ... no he won't. He was hand picked just last year as the president of UAB by the UAT BOT specifically because he is a long time running buddy of Paul Bryant. Paul Bryant wants this program dead because of a long running feud against UAB.

He came and did the job. Now, sooner or later the BOT may replace him, but he's just going to get another cushy job. That's his reward for them being able to say "The president of UAB, a graduate of UAB, is the one who decided to kill UAB football."

Mostly speaking of the harassment and threats he will likely receive in campus. You may be right, he will probably just lay low and wait to be transferred to a job off campus or something of that nature. But reading some of the comments about this from UAB fan, I would be sincerely fearful for my safety if I were him. Edited December 3, 2014 by ChristopherRyanWilkes