UAB: Answering Questions On Ending Football Program

What is the current situation at UAB?
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) announced that it will cut their football program. UAB currently competes in Conference-USA, a conference that requires all members to participate in football. As things stand now UAB will not be allowed to remain in Conference-USA and if they are forced out, their exit could spark a minor chain reaction of conference reshuffling. This marks the first time since 1995 that an FBS program has dropped football.

Why is this happening?
There are a number of factors at play. These factors are only further complicated by “spin room” talking points from proponents and opponents of this move.

The first thing to note is that UAB lives in the shadow of two major football schools (Alabama & Auburn). As a lower level G5 school UAB struggles to find its own identity in the backyard of these two schools. UAB also struggles financially. Their athletic budget is $30 million, of which 66% is subsidized. UAB struggles with attendance, and is in need of major upgrades to their facilities.

On the flip side the problems UAB is currently struggling with are the same problems that a large number of other G5 schools also struggle with. A very common idea being passed around by college sports fans is that this decision was based on political reasons rather than economic or logistical reasons.

It is no secret that college athletics is predatory by nature. This is especially true at the Division I level where stronger programs often conspire to weaken the status of smaller regional schools for personal gain. Because both schools belong to the same system, UAB shares the same Board of Trustees (BOT) with the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. This puts UAB in the unfavorable position of having a BOT that won’t always make decisions based on what is in their best interests.

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Who is to blame?
Bear Bryant Junior, a BOT member has received most of the backlash as this event became imminent. He is frequently blamed for what has been a series of decisions by the BOT that have hurt the growth of the UAB football program. In the past UAB has been unable to hire the most talented coaches available to them, been blocked from building a badly needed on-campus stadium, and unable to schedule Alabama in football.

Talk of Alabama attempting to weaken or even shut down UAB goes back several years. UAB is one of the new kids on the block in FBS football. Their program first started in 1991, and didn’t become FBS until 1996. Alabama is one of the strongest schools in college athletics and naturally looks at UAB as an unwanted pest. It’s safe to say that Alabama has always resented the rise of UAB athletics and would rather live in a world where they do not exist.

What does this mean for college basketball?
This move will most likely cause some sort of conference realignment. Unless Conference-USA (C-USA) changes its bylaws, UAB will change conferences. Of the eleven original C-USA charter members, UAB and Southern Miss are the only two currently in the conference. Charter member Charlotte returns in 2015. UAB has also been one of the more reliable basketball members for C-USA. They also are also centrally located in the conference footprint. For these reasons C-USA is more likely to attempt to retain UAB as compared to other programs. The availability of UMASS as a football only addition starting in 2016 gives C-USA an easy option to keep UAB as a non-football member.

If UAB does in fact leave C-USA, then things get a little bit more complicated. To replace UAB, C-USA can only add from the Mid American Conference (MAC) or Sun Belt Conference (SBC). C-USA will have a hard time convincing a MAC school to join. This leaves the SBC as the only expansion option.

Luckily for college athletics as a whole the SBC has remained at eleven teams. If they lose a member they have the option to simply not replace the departing member. Instability at the FBS level often causes a chain reaction of conference realignment that can reach as far down as Division II. The SBC by opting to stay at ten members can stop the chain reaction dead in its tracks before it even gets rolling.

Meanwhile UAB will look first at a non-football association with the SBC. If not they will have to look at non-FBS conferences such as the Ohio Valley Conference, or Southern Conference.