The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

FBHC McGee will be at UAB at least two more years. He will get the same consideration most coaches get by being allowed to play at least one year with their own recruited players. I would like to see UAB become a winning team as much as anyone, but we have much to do on several fronts for that to happen. Recruiting, coaching changes, facility development (from "planned" to "in place")are all on the table.

The UAB administration wants to avoid any appearance of "instability" in its program. Most coaches don't want to be under the gun to produce change immediately when they know they can't change out players with the same speed as schools can change out coaches.

(12-01-2013 10:21 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  They won't.

Shake up the defense.
Raise money for the field house.
Recruit with restrictions loosened.

If he falls flat next season you may see some movement but it is NOT happening this year. If it does I will be shocked.

I agree with this except id put loosening the restrictions at the top of the list. McGee is not a great coach, we know that. Maybe a better one could have won another game or two but Lombardi couldn't win with team. Im sure they are great kids with big hearts and doing the best they can, but folks we cant win with this level of talent. Bringing in a ton of juco players could immediately make us better. I don't know if we are allowed to recruit these due to restrictions. Attalla can you answer that question? The talent level is simply not there and until that is addressed we are going nowhere. You can change coaches, you can build a water fountain in the dressing room, whatever...

(12-01-2013 10:21 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  They won't.

Shake up the defense.
Raise money for the field house.
Recruit with restrictions loosened.

If he falls flat next season you may see some movement but it is NOT happening this year. If it does I will be shocked.

I think all that is very reasonable. No way does the BOT approve a school funded buyout and we don't have that kind of deep pocketed boosters. What isn't reasonable is the talk of giving him four years no matter what. He should have "bowl eligible or else" marching orders and then be given every bit of help UAB can give him to achieve that. When the point is reached next season when that is impossible, he has to go.

BTW, I guess there is no chance of a separate board for basketball?

(12-01-2013 11:16 AM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  BTW, I guess there is no chance of a separate board for basketball?

Why so people can still come on the football board and compare it to basketball.

Will someone please tell me what these super high academic restrictions are?

Most Blazer fans are fans of both football and basketball. There are only a handful of fans who are fan of one and not the other. Separate boards cater to a handful of fans and not the majority of fans. Why should the majority of fans have to go between one board and the other.

(12-01-2013 10:38 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  Okay, so if we fire him after 2 awful seasons that were preceded by many bad season, who is going to come coach here knowing they could be axed in 2 years?

a coach who looks at the film and says "i definitely would have won twice as many games as that guy. he deserved to be fired." regardless of whether that person is wrong or right, don't underestimate how many of those coaches are out there

(12-01-2013 01:05 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Most Blazer fans are fans of both football and basketball. There are only a handful of fans who are fan of one and not the other. Separate boards cater to a handful of fans and not the majority of fans. Why should the majority of fans have to go between one board and the other.

The vibes around the two programs are going rapidly in very different directions. UAB basketball is going to be adding a lot of fans and the football talk is a huge buzzkill.

(12-01-2013 01:10 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(12-01-2013 01:05 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Most Blazer fans are fans of both football and basketball. There are only a handful of fans who are fan of one and not the other. Separate boards cater to a handful of fans and not the majority of fans. Why should the majority of fans have to go between one board and the other.

The vibes around the two programs are going rapidly in very different directions. UAB basketball is going to be adding a lot of fans and the football talk is a huge buzzkill.

People are free to choose which thread(s) they want to follow...

You take the good with bad.

It sure would be cool of McGee to donate about $500,000 of the money he's made here so far back into the football program. If he's really dedicated to this program, maybe his name should be on the practice field after he pays for it.

You are good at spending other peoples money.

You mean donating other people's money.

(11-30-2013 06:36 PM)dragonzden Wrote:  Quote:
I feel like we're cursed," junior defensive end Diaheem Watkins said. "We've got great players. Coming out of high school, I had a lot of places to go to. I'm not giving up. I love UAB. I love Birmingham. I love my teammates. I don't want to move. I want to stay here and play."

Am I reading to much in to this. Does Diaheem know something that we don't officially know. UAB could be seriously thinking about shutting down the football program.

I was made privy to that same rumor by someone at Student Media a month or so ago...If Mr. Watkins said this openly, it could mean that or that someone in his family perhaps has encouraged him to go play elsewhere (out of speculation, my money's on his outspoken father, who was once quoted as comparing "Lesion" Field to a cheap motel a while back) because they see the handwriting on the wall.

As for being "cursed", I see now I'm not the only one who has used this term to describe the escapades of this football team. Even when some things go right for them, it is not enough, and eventually, they find a way to lose games. Misfortune just seems to follow some football teams wherever they go, and that seems to be the case with UAB, a case synonymous with the "culture of losing."(after what happened with Jackie Williams, I am not beneath recognizing Kharma's hand in this season one bit)... I just hope the "curse" is broken before it's too late.

It took Duke 3-5 years to break out of their duldroms, but damn it, they did it, look at them now. And in spite of how terrible they've been in several years, this unilateral move of closing down the football program will not go over well. I can pretty much tell you that it will have a profound "ripple effect" on the entire athletic program. And IMO, not in a good way. I think local football fans are fed up with the losing and being told to just "suck it up" or "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain", they will turn out for a winning team, but are tired of being jilted at the altar season after season.

(12-01-2013 03:02 PM)thebernreuter Wrote:  It sure would be cool of McGee to donate about $500,000 of the money he's made here so far back into the football program. If he's really dedicated to this program, maybe his name should be on the practice field after he pays for it.

What practice field? (for CB4029!)

(11-30-2013 06:36 PM)dragonzden Wrote:  Quote:
I feel like we're cursed," junior defensive end Diaheem Watkins said. "We've got great players. Coming out of high school, I had a lot of places to go to. I'm not giving up. I love UAB. I love Birmingham. I love my teammates. I don't want to move. I want to stay here and play."

Am I reading to much in to this. Does Diaheem know something that we don't officially know. UAB could be seriously thinking about shutting down the football program.

No, I'd read nothing more into it except that transferring is always an option for players, and that option has to have been mentioned among the players.

McGee has proved he is incapable of making the necessary changes needed to turn this around. Another 2 years of suckage and he will be gone.

Which leads me this, do we trust Mackin to make another football hire after this hack he has saddled us with?

Thoughts on firing Coach McGee: I am really not for it, but I am no longer against it. (Yes I aspire to be a politician) But if we did (which i dont believe we will) it could be justified. Giving a coach two years, does seem unfair for a program like ours, however, there would be little talk about HCGM being canned if the team was actually making improvements. This team is getting worse, and there is not much hope that he can turn it around.

Don't forget, he is the one who said we can win a Conference Championship with the facilities that we have now. Sure it might be coaches speak, but coaches speak can bite you in the butt. And certainly McGee should be feeling the nibble right about now.

What Coach McGee has proven is that he is no better at winning games with Callaway's talent and infrastructure than Neil was. Where UAB has provided competitive facilities (we saw the pictures on this forum this summer), the team won against a nationally ranked opponent Sunday. Now UAB must find a way to provide that same level of infrastructure for its football program or accept being where they are now until they do.

i am not on the McGee bandwagon but a big reason we didn't see improvement is due to the injuries. Most of our back-ups and third/fourth string are not D1 quality players. I read an article about Mizzou complaining of all the injuries to the Oline last year and how the difference this year is that they didn't have the injuries (compare last yrs record to this year). The point was not only did they have the players available for the game but they also had them available for practice and they could work on a gameplan with live contact. Once again i am not a big fan of McGee but the injuries this year is too much for any coach to overcome.
Before anyone says but McGee hired the S&C coach so he is responsible, keep in mind that we didn't have a lot of muscle pulls, etc that we had in the past. We had a lot of ankle and shoulder injuries, concussions, etc. i think overtraining is more of a problem than inadequate training.