Announcement at 4 pm re UAB Football reinstatement.

So, I would presume that theoretically, guys who were freshmen or sophomores at UAB could transfer out to University B and play the 2015 season, then transfer back to UAB in 2016 and play out their remaining one or two seasons of eligibility, and anyone who tried to stop them, I.e. NCAA, would get ass-sued to the moon.

 

I would certainly think any lawyer worth the paper his diploma's printed on could construct a case that the university and its deputized representatives (AD, head football coaches and assistant coaches) had given the players quite explicit verbal assurances that the program would continue to exist.

 

Seems like that would be an odd exchange and question to ask during the recruiting process and before the signing period, but I'm sure it's possible.

 

I don't see why any of them would want to go back to begin with. Even if they were allowed immediate eligibility, they'd have to sit out a year anyway.

 

First time in my life I've done UAB Football research.

Looked up Watson Brown, who coached the Blazers for 12 years.

He has been a head coach for 30 years. He's never won more than 7 games in a season. That is hard to accomplish.

 

Not to mention they'll be God-awful for the next couple of years.

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Last season, Brown became the first Division I coach to lose 200 games. Amos Alonzo Stagg lost 199.

 

It only took Stagg something like 80 years to do it.

 

And, two years after they come back, no one will show up anymore and they'll be back at square one.

 

I hereby offer you the worst imaginable press conference. This is a man announcing a positive, something that makes his fans very happy, and he is so busy trying to deflect blame for what he did previously and find someone else to hang it on that he turns a positive into a clusterfuck. His PR people had to be ready to slit their wrists. Warning, the first few minutes are pure corporate doublespeak. You'll be several minutes into it before you are certain that he actually intends on bringing back the programs. The fun is late when he actually takes a few questions, which he has assiduously avoided all through this mess.

The Q&A portion of this has been edited out of the speech as offered on UAB's web site.

What a maroon. Remember as you watch that this man is the 11th highest paid public university president at $853k.

UAB football returns, Recorded on 6/1/15 advancedigital on USTREAM. Breaking News

Local reporter John Archibald said afterward "Watts not only cemented his position as the most hated man in Birmingham, he retired the trophy."

Edit: This is sound only, which is a pity, because as he took questions he would stand at the podium, answer a question, then walk off to one side as if to allow someone else to take the next one. Then he would get another question, walk back to the podium, take a drink of water, answer that question, then head back stage right. Rinse and repeat. He so obviously did not want to be there that it was painful to watch, and I outright despise the man.

 

It might be noted that Stagg lost 199, but won 317. Watson Brown is 134 - 204 - 1.

 

While the NCAA will have to be very careful not to impose any unusual restrictions which would impact individual players, it's a pretty good bet they will NOT give any UAB any special breaks or exemptions which might help speed up the rebuilding process, for fear of setting a precedent which would tempt other marginal/borderline teams to try something similar.

Watts should be fired within 30 days.

 

They can't. Judy Bonner has already resigned at UA, and Robert Witt, the system chancellor is widely expected to retire and be replaced next. UAB is hung with him unless he commits some egregious crime against humanity or pictures of him naked with a goat and a small boy emerge.

He's a disaster. He's a very good neurosurgeon, but he has a bad case of "smartest guy in the room" and does not bother to disguise that such is his opinion. I know several of the Faculty Senate have very serious questions as to whether he is a sociopath in a clinical sense. Seriously.