Four Years After Losing Its Team, UAB Playing For Championship

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Anyone looking for a true "rags to riches" sports story can look no further than the UAB football program. This was a program that, just four years ago, was terminated by the University of Alabama Board of Trustees and did not field a team for two seasons, before pressure from fans and alumni forced the return of the Blazers to the gridiron. Now, in just its second season back, UAB will play for a Conference USA championship.

The Blazers turned heads last year in their first season back from its unfortunate termination, as the team went 8-5 and earned a bid to the Bahamas Bowl - only the team's second ever bowl game appearance. UAB head coach Bill Clark was a finalist for the AP Coach of the Year and several other national coach awards, and won the CBS Coach of the Year award. That might have been "good enough" for Clark and his program, but the team was not done.

UAB now prepares to play for its first conference championship against Middle Tennessee State Saturday, a reality that even the most respected football analysts would have never predicted just two years ago. Building a team from scratch has been something Clark for which Clark may never get the proper recognition.

When the decision was made at the close of the 2014 season that the school would terminate its football program, the Blazers were coming off a 6-6 season, after two disastrous seasons with just five total wins. However, the outpouring of support the team received in the months to follow were all Clark needed to re-energize and look to the future.

More than $27 million was raised during the six months following the announcement, and that was good enough to convince the University of Alabama Board of Trustees to reconsider its position. That was the start of the process. The next part was building on a team that only had 13 players opt to return, as other players on the 2014 squad opted to transfer or give up football altogether.

Clark went to work recruiting a team that could compete in the 2017 season, with expectations by fans and alumni understandably low. The 2017 team's success pumped new life into the fan base and the support of the city in general.

As a result, a new 45,000-seat stadium is due to open in uptown Birmingham in 2021 for the Blazers, and a new wave of excitement surrounds the team, which won the C-USA Western Division title and finished the regular season 9-3. The Blazers also went undefeated at home, and entered the Associated Press Top 25.

As well, The Blazers finished the regular season ranked eighth nationally in total defense. The 27 points Middle Tennessee scored on UAB were the most the Blazers have allowed to a C-USA opponent the entire season. UAB allowed just 88 total points in eight C-USA games this year, which included holding five of those opponents to seven points or less.

Veteran sports writer, former sports editor for the Birmingham Post-Herald and UAB alum Scott Adamson said what he has seen happen with UAB football is "phenomenal."

"When the football program was rebooted last year, I remember thinking I'd be happy with a 4-8 record," Adamson said. "That they won eight games and went to a bowl game was unbelievable. And now, two years removed from a death penalty it didn't deserve, you have a UAB team with 9 wins playing for a conference title. It truly is phenomenal. As an alum, I couldn't be more proud and I think Blazer football is part of an overall Birmingham Renaissance."

A win Saturday would solidify the UAB story as one of the best in college football, but even a loss in the championship game would not take away from what the team has accomplished. The Blazers and the Blue Raiders will be playing for the second time in as many weeks after UAB finished the regular season at MTSU last Saturday. The Blazers look to avenge a 27-3 loss in which the Blue Raiders had to win to make the championship game.

Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. CST on CBS Sports Network, although Clark said he wants UAB fans to make the trip to the game in Murfreesboro.

"Obviously, this is a huge moment in UAB history and in UAB football history, to have won the west and have a chance to play in the championship game," Clark said. "We need folks there. I'm asking our fans: we need you there. It's a 12:30 p.m. kickoff. We need to turn out and support this game and support this team. We appreciate all you've done for us. I hate that we couldn't get the game back home. Obviously, the team and I hate that we couldn't get the game back to Birmingham for everybody but it is what it is right now."

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images