Narratives are easy. They give us a little desperate strawman to hold onto when it comes to our desperate need to be proven right by any means necessary. We create, mold, shift and move the narrative as we see fit, at times ignoring things that could very well sway our opinion until some massive change comes along that forces us to see otherwise.
The narrative for UAB, for those on the outside, was that it was a small little helpless program with no love and support. A useless program born out of a weird commuter college. One that was destined for cancellation in 2017 and whose cancellation was accelerated by three years once people caught onto the plan at hand (I’ve talked about this at length). I was always a diehard UAB supporter in college, especially after I worked for the team, but we would often joke about how bad our football program was and how nobody really seemed to care. We would go to the games, but very few of us were invested. Those of us who attended in the mid 2000s didn’t really know of a time when UAB football was competitive, all we knew was the Neil Callaway era. It wasn’t until we began learning about the program’s history and the Board of Trustees that we really understood WHY our team had trouble winning 5 games a year. Students began mobilizing after the stadium effort was squashed in 2011, people began to understand what was happening to them.
Even with an influx of financial support and a massive amount of the stench and corruption was revealed, the narrative for UAB football really didn’t change. While people were “happy” UAB got their program back, there were caveats about how people “better start going to the games” and that “it wasn’t real football and didn’t matter”. The narrative didn’t change, it just shifted into something new.
Bill Clark’s 19-12 record in what is now his 3rd season as Head Coach of the program, proves that UAB CAN be a strong program with the proper support systems in place. New facilities have made it so that rain does not force the cancellation of practice. Not because of an imminent threat of lightning, but because the practice field would flood. A new stadium will be built in time for the 2021 season, there’s excitement in the air come August and it has nothing to do with Crimson and White or Orange in Blue.
This year UAB is off to a 5-1 start with one of the nation’s 10 best defenses. Bill Clark has managed to rebuild a program that has had every bit of foundation ripped from it the moment it poured the concrete. A win on Saturday would not only result in UAB becoming Bowl Eligible for the third time in program history, it would also extend their home game winning streak to 10. A win would also put them in first place in C-USA West and in the driver’s seat to make an appearance in a conference title game.
This is a position UAB has rarely found itself in. In 2004 after a major win against (then) conference foe TCU, a 5-1 UAB team traveled to New Orleans to face Tulane. They lost 59-55 on their way to dropping 3 of their last 5 games, finishing the regular season at 7-4 with a postseason Hawaii Bowl loss to cap things off. UAB never recovered from that hangover, winning a grand total of 31 games over the next 9 seasons. In January of 2014, then Head Coach Garrick McGee bolted in the middle of the night in a move that would make the Indianapolis Colts blush, many of UAB’s biggest opponents were ready to see the program shut down. Attendance had declined, morale was low, there was no saving the program, bury it in the dirt and move on. That was the narrative.
There’s 0 reason why a program located in the prime television market for College Football, in the heart of SEC country, can’t thrive. Even if it’s not a Power 5 program. The possibilities for UAB football have always been there, but it was never supported. It was purposely left in a coma, with people who didn’t care for its existence ready to pull the plug.
Bill Clark has stated that he wants to make UAB into the Boise State of the South and he’s on the way to doing so. He still has narratives to fight in order to appeal to the masses outside of diehard UAB fans and alumni. He’s dispelling the narrative that nobody cares about UAB or goes to the games: The Blazers have been in the Top 5 in Conference USA attendance numbers in all 3 of Clark’s years as a coach (led the league in 2017). He’s dispelling the rumor that you can’t win there: he has as many wins in 2.5 seasons (19) as UAB did from Nov. 15, 2008 through the end of the 2013 season. He’s landing recruits that people said would never go there, getting national attention for all the right reasons and still keeping his guys from losing focus.
But in order to take the leap into that next realm UAB has to win conference titles. It will establish a pattern for the program, a bit of respect that could eventually lead to ranking, even if they never truly reach the level of achievement Boise State did, they would be a force to be reckoned with. A victory over North Texas won’t bring a Conference USA title to town, nor will it make the rest of the conference bow down to the Blazers, but it will prove that this team is indeed ready to challenge for the crown, it’ll make them the big dog of the conference, something it has never been before.
Saturday is a statement game, a statement that can change the narrative on UAB football forever.
thekidswearcrowns.com 