Say this for the UAB football cancellation, un-cancellation fiasco: it's significantly boosted the Blazers' national profile.
The Dan Patrick Show had head coach Bill Clark on today, something that definitely did not happen after the Blazers beat Florida Atlantic last fall. Patrick asks Clark the typical questions, but he did get something new out of Clark: he'd like to put a team on the practice field by this spring.
"I would love to have a group ready to practice in the spring. We're actually signing some guys now. Once these facilities start coming, I think that's really going to help us in recruiting. We actually have a footprint now, based on what people saw us do last year and the fight to bring it back. Hopefully we're going to have a chance to bring in some really good guys," he said. "Next summer will really be huge, going into '16, where we can try to practice with many guys that will play in '17. In '17 we'll be FBS, in a conference, the whole nine. That's a pretty big task in front of us."
Though the school has announced it intends to bring back football in two seasons, UAB football still sits on shaky ground.
- When will Clark get his new contract?
- What happens if another program, one that will actually put a team on the field in 2016, makes a run at Clark next fall?
- Recent history and simple logic stay 2017 and 2018 will probably be rough years for UAB. How much support will the program receive at that point?
Too early to tell, but it will certainly be an interesting story to follow.