Jon Solomon's Nov. 19 column asked to have a real conversation about UAB football, so let's have one. To do that, let's take a look at three other schools to compare.
In 2001, School A played in a top-10 media market surrounded by multiple national football powers. It played its games in a decaying stadium that is no longer in use. In 2001, School A went 0-11. Average attendance was 20,646. Its final conference game that year drew a paid attendance of 11,647.
In 2004, School B played in a top-20 media market surrounded by multiple national football powers. It played its games in a decaying stadium that at one time was in worse shape than Legion Field. In 2004, it went 0-11, continuing a 17-game losing streak. Average attendance in 2004 was 19,592. The average for conference games that year was 16,000 with a low of 12,000.
School C played in a top-10 media market surrounded by multiple national football powers. It shares the city with a pro football team, and a few years removed from a national scandal went 0-12. In 2007, School C went 1-11. It was in the middle of a stretch in which it went 1-21. In 2007, its average attendance was 17,117 with a low of 10,271. It also played a home game in front of an announced crowd of 8,000 on ESPN on a Friday night in a decrepit, decaying stadium.
To sum up, all three had poor attendance comparable to UAB. All three were getting a university subsidy and still do today. Two of the three today are getting more of a subsidy than UAB. And all three had much, much worse on-the-field performance than UAB.
What happened to these three programs? School A moved into a 32,000-seat, on-campus stadium. School B moved into a 45,301-seat, on-campus stadium. School C moved into a 32,000-seat, on-campus stadium.
Since then, all three schools have been in the Top 25 and soon will be accepting membership in the Big East. "ESPN Gameday" was just recently at School A.
School A is Houston. School B is Central Florida. School C is SMU. All are in Conference USA. Were they asked to justify their existence as UAB has been?
If we ask those schools what made the difference for them, I bet they would say leadership and support from the top. UAB is being held to a standard no other program in the country must face. UAB has missed out on many opportunities (including inclusion into a more profitable conference) to improve its program due to the lack of leadership and short-sightedness of its own Board of Trustees.
The UA System Board of Trustees does not share the same vision for UAB that its players, fans, alumni, and boosters share. Its vision is "go play in your litter box and don't bother anyone."
Jon Solomon, I find it interesting that in your Nov. 19 column you tend to ignore the UAB proposal for the stadium. You should know that there are commitments for 25 of the 27 luxury suites for the first three years. That sounds like monetary support to me.
Your column sounds like a rehash of the letter that Finis St. John of the Board of Trustees forced the UAB National Alumni Association to release to its members. So it's obvious where you get your information. Why don't you speak to UAB students and alumni instead of people who would obviously rather kill the whole football program at UAB, just as they did the hockey program at UAH?
Jon Solomon, good column Nov. 19 on legitimate questions about UAB's stadium hopes.
I was at the Southern Miss game and estimated about 7,000 fans. It was hard to judge because I get confused going to high school stadiums on Friday nights and then to a 75,000-seat stadium the next day.
The firestorm of Jerry Sandusky's alleged molestation of young male children, which has tainted one of the great football coaches of our lifetime, seemingly never ends.
At the very beginning, there were calls to let these allegations run their course, and then take action. Unfortunately, ESPN and the rest of the television media seemed to smell blood and, like a pack of sharks, honed in on any allegation that surfaced, not only reporting but adding their own personal views. Forget about the truth, let's just report what we hear from any street corner and passerby.
I am disgusted with the whole mess, including the Board of Trustees, which by the admission of one of its own was in a rush to judgment.
Great coaches have an uncommon ability to focus on their teams and shut out everything else. They don't want to hear anything that will upset their routine. After Joe Paterno passed along his information to higher-ups in accordance with university procedure, I'm sure he went back to his routine of focusing on his team. Certainly, he could have handled this a little differently, and he has stated that he regrets how he handled it.
But for an ESPN commentator to call for canceling the rest of the season? Why? These young men deserve better. They should not be tainted in any way.
Now we hear that the NCAA is going to conduct its own investigation into lack of institutional control. This scandal is a civil and criminal matter to be investigated by the State of Pennsylvania, not by a bunch of nitwits who take a year to determine that Auburn was innocent of any wrongdoing in the Newton case.
It is time for everyone to get off the witch hunt and let the judicial system work its magic, however long it takes. There will be time for ramifications.
Cocoa, Fla.
Death or football?
A group of us noted that the top story on last Saturday's front sports page was that Oklahoma State had lost a football game. Then someone said, "Did you notice on Page 2 that two Oklahoma State women's basketball coaches died in a plane crash?"
Then the debate began. Which is front-page sports news, especially in football-mad Alabama? Two basketball coaches dying or Oklahoma State losing a football game? The News' editors chose the football game and put the death story at the bottom of the second page.
Did they make the right call? From a circulation standpoint, yes. But one of us noted, "Is a game more important than death? What journalistic standards apply here?" We never did answer the question. But we all did hope that the editors at least considered the ramifications of death vs. a game before they printed the game as front-page news and shuffled the coaches' death off to the inside of the section.
What would have been your call? Death or a game?
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