Posts Tagged ‘UAB’
Sports Saturdays: UAB Win Means Victory Beyond the Court
Saturday, March 21st, 2015 by WLOY Staff
The University of Alabama at Birmingham shocked the sports world on Thursday when they topped 3-seed Iowa State, 60-59, providing the first major upset of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
According to brackets submitted on ESPN.com, more people picked ISU to go all the way to the Final Four than picked them to lose to 14-seed UAB in the first game.
The major upset win speaks for itself, and obviously it was an emotional win for the UAB players.
“For us, it was just huge,” UAB junior Robert Brown said. “We come here, not just to play games, but to actually make some noise and to win some games. To be able to do that and win for Birmingham, win for Coach [Jerod] Haase, it’s a great feeling.”
Brown led all scorers in the upset win with 21 points.
However, the win means so much more for UAB than just advancing. For them, it was a deep feeling of achievement and euphoria that this program, its students and its fan base desperately needed. (more…)
Tags: March Madness, UAB, UAB football
Posted in News, Sports, Sports Saturdays | No Comments »
UAB Cans Football Program
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014 by WLOY Staff
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has officially made the decision to pull the plug on their football program, citing financial reasons.
This decision was made after UAB had a consulting firm do a campus-wide study over the past year to determine whether or not keeping a football program was fiscally responsible.
In a statement from the University, UAB explains, “From an operating budget standpoint alone, the difference between maintaining and eliminating football is more than $27 million over the next five years; this is in addition to the existing $100 million institutional subsidy.” The University went on to explain, “This investment does not include additional necessary capital improvements for facilities, which is estimated at $22 million for football facilities alone, including a field house, indoor practice facility and a turf field. This $22 million investment would not include an on-campus stadium.”
University President Ray Watts defended the decision, saying, “While this will be a challenging transition for the UAB family, the financial picture made our decision very clear. We will not cut the current athletic budget, but in order to invest at least another $49 million to keep football over the next five years, we would have to redirect funds away from other critical areas of importance like education, research, patient care or student services.”
Needless to say, the students and student-atheletes don’t see it the same way as Watts.
Tags: College Football, Program Shut Down, UAB
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