How Did UAB Lose and Get Back Their Football Program Yogi Berra says, “When you’re part of a team, you stand up for your teammates. Your loyalty is to them. You protect them through good and bad, because they’d do the same for you.” This quote proves that you should protect your teammates through good or bad times like all the UAB football players did to protect their football program. To understand the recent story of UAB football people need to understand how money was involved, how UAB students and faculty were involved, and how people outside of UAB involved. One huge reason why UAB’s football program was discontinued was all the money involved. The article states, “the statement noted UAB subsidizes $20 million of the roughly $30 million annual athletic department operating budget, which is the fifth largest budget and subsidy in Conference USA” (Gray). This quote is …show more content…
Kevin Scarbinsky states in his article, “Fifty-six high school coaches, most of them from the greater Birmingham metro area, have signed their names to a powerful, passionate letter to UAB President Ray Watts asking him to reinstate the program.” (Scarbinsky). This quote is important to me because high school coaches even outside of Birmingham signed a letter to UAB president Ray Watts to reinstate UAB football. The author also states, “The letter was signed by everyone from Nelson to Vestavia's Buddy Anderson, the winningest high school football coach in state history, to Hoover's Josh Niblett, who just tied the Alabama High School Athletic Association record with his fifth state championship” (Scarbinsky). This quote is very important because high school coaches including Buddy Anderson from Vestavia and Josh Niblett from Hoover both signed the letter to Ray Watts to reinstate UAB