Study out on UAB Football closing

LOL. How well I know. I've been watching this slow motion train wreck for over a decade.

There are so many layers over so long that if you try to tell the story people start to look at you with that "black helicopter conspiracy nut" look in their eye.

Someone on the inside at UAB leaked a document dump that showed that the decision had been made to kill UAB's football team well before the season started. They hired Coach Clark to a three year contract knowing they were going to shut it down at season's end, and let him hire and move to town his staff. Hell, they signed a contract for a 2016 OOC game at Kentucky with a $500,000 buyout after the decision had been made to close the program. Costs relating to closing it down are over seven million that we know of. President Watts has used four different PR firms now trying to polish the turd that is his reputation.

President Watts was in front of cameras in November denying that any decision had been made, saying that they needed to see the Carr Report before they knew what the future of football was. Funny thing is that well before the season started they got a consultation report from Sard Verbinnen, "Spin Doctors of the Apocalypse" laying out the strategic plan to kill it and laying out a timeline. This is the go to firm for big Wall Street firms who have put their foot in it... they spun Goldman Sachs, they were hired by Elliot Spitzer, they're working for Tanaka on the defective airbags in Japanese cars now. They don't come cheap.

Documents suggest UAB decided to kill football before the 2014 season began | AL.com

Sard initially advised announcing that it would be closed after the third game, but UAB was afraid there would be blowback from the athletes.

"Why did UAB not announce the elimination of football, rifle and women's bowling in September? An "Amended Confidential Memorandum" from Sard Verbinnen to UAB director of media relations Jim Bakken dated Sept. 5, 2014 recommends "a post-season announcement on Monday Dec. 1, 2014 or Tuesday Dec. 2, 2014, is the most suitable option to communicate the results of the athletic department's strategic review."

***Closing football was announced on Dec. 2.***

That memo offers "our basis for opposing a mid-season announcement." It suggests the potential for "a critical mass of immediate transfer requests ... where students refuse to finish out the season" or "a full team boycott."

"If not effectively managed," the memo says, "it is conceivable that UAB would not be able to field a competitive team - or any team."

The memo also suggests the possibility that UAB football players "may react very badly if an announcement is made during the season."

***Gee, you think?***

Or as Carr Sports put it:

"Further, it is our professional opinion that an announcement at any point during the regular season would be extremely problematic for all parties," the memo says. "For example, a significant number of student-athletes might choose not to compete further this season and seek relief regarding their NCAA eligibility. Therefore, CarrSports recommends that notification be delivered as soon as possible after conclusion of football's regular season."

That Sept. 5 memo further indicates that the decision to kill UAB football had already been made. It says, "It is plausible that the Blazers finish the season with a winning record. The team's record, however, is not the primary rationale behind this announcement and it will be critical to develop messaging that effectively communicates that."



UAB owed its football players the truth, but instead they got a lie | AL.com

I love Kyle Whitmire's line regarding Ray Watts:

"He has misled the public, making statements through the media that are now provably untrue.

He has misled public officials, including the mayor of Birmingham.

He has misled faculty, telling them not to heed the rumors that UAB would kill football, even when that decision had already effectively been made months earlier.

UAB President Ray Watts' credibility is gone. At this point, if he banged on my door in the middle of the night yelling that my house was on fire, I'd roll over and go back to sleep. "

 

Study Shows UAB Football Program Was Financially Solvent - Forbes

 

Do we need to put an APB out for Neutral Corner?

Wonk suggests University of Alabama is a billion dollars in debt:

UAB football first step in hidden agenda to crush undergrad programs at UAB | AL.com

 

I don't know as I'm sold on that guy's projections, but he's certainly not coming from out of left field with what he describes as actually happening. I have professional/personal connections with upper administration at one of the other UA schools, and it's pretty amazing what Tuscaloosa's been up to. I'm told they've become quite good at targeting prospective out-of-state students who aren't strong enough for their in-state flagship but who're willing to pay for that experience. Having found those students (via some pretty sophisticated techniques), they offer very, very modest financial aid packages that offset a small portion of the out-of-state tuition differential. These packages are contingent on academic performance of course, and that's defined such that very, very few can actually live up to it.

Until this year, I had only heard about this from my connection. However, I saw it in action a few weeks ago when a golfing buddy was bragging about this $24,000 scholarship his granddaughter had been awarded. Turns out it's $6,000 per year, and to keep it she's got to maintain a 3.5 GPA. And, of course, as she couldn't get into either of the flagship schools here in Texas, it's likely the case that she's going to have a hard time performing at the level required to maintain it.

If this girl's experience is representative -- and I'm told it is -- she's going to wind up being on the hook for a lot of college-related debt that's absolutely unrelated to the quality of the education she'll receive. Indeed, based on what she says she's going to study, she's going to borrow this extra money to be in a program that's less well-regarded than others that are just down the way.

 

That is very interesting, dq. I just met a couple out here in the Bay Area whose daughter goes to UA and I could not for the life of me figure out how in the heck that happened. Her mom is Latina and grew up in one of the poorer sections of the region, got into public service etc. UA just didn't seem like it ever would have popped up on the radar. But now it makes more sense.