UAB is restarting its football program.

[Maroon Eagle]

According to Yahoo sports.

Link: Here

 

[RebelBruiser]

Really shocked Bear Bryant Jr. and company backed down.

I think this was clearly a case of them not anticipating the push back that they received.

Good for UAB though.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Hate it had to go this way for UAB, but glad they got it back. I'd assume all the players good enough to go elsewhere have done so? Coaches too maybe?

It's like coming back from NCAA Death Penalty but they didn't do anything wrong. Terrible management by Alabama folks.

 

[patdog]

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how this goes. They're basically going to have to start the program from scratch. Will they be I-A immediately? Or will they start lower and move up like USA did? How many scholarships will they be able to offer next signing period?

 

[WayboDawg]

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how this goes. They're basically going to have to start the program from scratch. Will they be I-A immediately? Or will they start lower and move up like USA did? How many scholarships will they be able to offer next signing period?

Word I'm hearing is they will most likely sit this coming season out, and start again in 2016. One reason they were in a rush to put things back was they were about to get get kicked out of C-USA for not having a football program, which would have cost the athletic program a ton of dough. C-USA may not pay its members as much as a P5 conference, but its way better than going independent or getting knocked down to D2.

 

[patdog]

No question they won't be playing this fall and will start again in 2016. Also, no question the loss of CUSA membership is a big reason the decision is being reversed (which shows how incompetent the original decision was). But you have to wonder, what kind of shape will their program be in after sitting out a year.

 

[CoolDawg]

This will fill out the 2016 schedule

I can easily see UAB becoming the 12th game for us in 2016. I doubt this game was the one suggested by ESPN, but UAB is probably who we will play.

 

[cowbell88]

I'm thinking it's more to it. When they announce they we're ending program, October? Seems to me it's like filing for bankruptcy to wipe the slate clean and to be able to start again(Chapter 11?).

Without paying coaches salaries for 6 months, would free up a lot of "hushmoney" and would chase those away that were in the know and were a good source of being a whistleblower on the big football programs in state.

 

[Bulldogg31]

They'll be full of freshmen and JuCo transfers that were short on offers. They'll look a lot like SMU I would guess.

Might be helpful if NCAA would allow players to transfer in without sitting a year, but I can't see any grounds for allowing that.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I just hate it for the players who lost football scholarships last year because of Bryant Jr and his cronies.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Would they lose their scholarships or could all of the remaining Blazers (how many would there be? 10 maybe?) be redshirted?

 

[patdog]

I'm sure any players who stay at UAB could redshirt. But I bet very few of their 2-deep are still there. Could be wrong about that.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

An old roster is here: link.

 

[patdog]

So that's 31 potential returning players, plus 25 signees, plus probably a few early enrollments they could count back towards their 2015 class. That's gonna be a brutal 2016 for them.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Yep.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Bryant Jr. and the boys figured out a way to do something even worse than ending UAB's program.

They let it live.

 

[aTotal360]

Yup. BBJr is still going to give them a slow agonizing death this time. And give the entire program the middle finger as the ship sinks.

 

[patdog]

Yep. And right when they were starting to get competitive at the CUSA level. Pitiful that the Tide felt threatened by that program.