Heartbroken. That is one of many words that could describe my attitude to the dismissal of the UAB football program. President Ray Watts declared on December 2 that he would be disbanding the football program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham due to a lack of funding. The Blazers are coming off one of their most successful seasons since the founding of the football program in 1991. They are 6-6 and bowl eligible for the 1st time since 2004. Whether or not they will playing in a bowl game is still up in the air. The players, coaches, and fans were more than upset when the announcement came out. Watts claimed that the reason for the dismissal was because of money. However, UAB actually made money by spending $8.96 million on their football program. That number of $8.96 million is lower than the total revenue of $8.98 million. The plan is that this will help other sports succeed with more funding. That may not be the case because a lot of athletic teams may have to drop down to Division 2 or they need to find a new conference due to the fact that you need to play football to be a Conference USA member. This whole situation is just awful. My heart goes out to those players and coaches who came from all over the country to be apart of the UAB brotherhood. Below is a link to the UAB players and coaches meeting with President Ray Watts. (Warning: Contains NSFW Language)
