05-04-2008, 03:14 PM
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I read the Birmingham News article. I've had issues before with Mandel's reliability and bias in regards to UA athletics in the past and did not read that one.
I don't believe Fisher would have taken UAB's first offer, and I don't think the school would have been able to contain costs with the salary structure as well as you think they would have.
I've been fairly clear with my position since the startup of the UAB program: It started too quickly, advanced in levels way too quickly (should still be Div-IAA, tops) and was done so in large part as a way for Gene Bartow to exercise his frustrations against Alabama. There was little regard to whether UAB needed the program, whether it had the fan support to deserve it, and there was practically no regard for the burden it would place on taxpayers of the state.
Now, it is a school that portends to want to compete for talent with Alabama. As such, I don't believe it's in UA's best interests to gift it into being. I'm not going to change the way I feel about the situation, either.
I don't believe Fisher would have taken UAB's first offer, and I don't think the school would have been able to contain costs with the salary structure as well as you think they would have.
I've been fairly clear with my position since the startup of the UAB program: It started too quickly, advanced in levels way too quickly (should still be Div-IAA, tops) and was done so in large part as a way for Gene Bartow to exercise his frustrations against Alabama. There was little regard to whether UAB needed the program, whether it had the fan support to deserve it, and there was practically no regard for the burden it would place on taxpayers of the state.
Now, it is a school that portends to want to compete for talent with Alabama. As such, I don't believe it's in UA's best interests to gift it into being. I'm not going to change the way I feel about the situation, either.
http://www.tidefans.com/forums/showthrea...ght=Bartow
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I think you far overestimate even what the "united" push of UAB fans means.
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kids don't grow up dreaming of going to UAB. Auburn or Alabama, yes they do. UAB, no. And when the kids who do want to attend Auburn or Alabama can't, they have other choices (Troy, UNA, USA, AUM).
Alabama's academic breadth in the business, communication and education fields -- as well as an underrated engineering program -- allows it to offer more attractive programs in more varied fields than does UAB, and do it in the context of an actual college campus in an actual college town. And don't even get me started on safety and security issues.
You can bet your last dime that if/when a scenario rolls out that involves splitting UAB off from the system -- once the lawmakers figure out how it would impact their standing with their UA constituents, it will be game over. Check UA's alumni giving percentage and the political "active-ness" (as well as raw numbers) of its alumni associations if you want to argue that point.
Alabama's academic breadth in the business, communication and education fields -- as well as an underrated engineering program -- allows it to offer more attractive programs in more varied fields than does UAB, and do it in the context of an actual college campus in an actual college town. And don't even get me started on safety and security issues.
You can bet your last dime that if/when a scenario rolls out that involves splitting UAB off from the system -- once the lawmakers figure out how it would impact their standing with their UA constituents, it will be game over. Check UA's alumni giving percentage and the political "active-ness" (as well as raw numbers) of its alumni associations if you want to argue that point.
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This is about $300,000 over a coaching search at a football program that gets out-drawn by the AHSAA Super Six, when you don't count freebie tickets. It puts UAB up against some of the most powerful economic and political backroom players in Alabama politics. Color me skeptical.
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The vast majority of Birmingham residents don't give half a crap about UAB football. They are Alabama and Auburn families who live and work in Birmingham. The city is not united on a UAB front, nor will they ever be. Probably won't even be majority-UAB in my lifetime or perhaps my children's lifetimes.






I am NOT A MOD! 







What he said. Also, there is no cure for self-imposed ignorance.


