UAB announced Tuesday that it plans to restart its football program in 2017.
The school said the delay was so enough financial support could be gathered to make the program sustainable.
UAB president Ray Watts said two months ago that $17.2 million had been pledged to reinstate football, but according to AL.com, only $28,000 has actually been given to the program. However, Justin Craft, a former player who led the fundraising efforts to bring the football program back, told AL.com most of the big money pledged wasn’t due until the end of the year.
When those dollars come in, UAB can start to renovate its facilities and put the UAB program on par with other Conference USA schools.
“I am so excited that UAB Football will return to FBS competition in 2017,” head football coach Bill Clark said in a statement released by the school. “Like our fans, I wanted to light the scoreboard much sooner, but doing it right is more important than doing it fast, and this was our best option. We want a program that is here to stay. We have to start by building a new, stronger foundation. We need to take our time to do it right, then we can compete for conference and bowl championships.”
The NCAA has waived UAB’s FBS requirements for three academic years beginning in 2015-16, and when football returns, the Blazers will be counted as FBS competition. UAB will be eligible for Conference USA championships and bowl games.
UAB also announced that rifle would return to competition this coming academic year and bowling would be back in 2016.
“It has been our intent to resume competition as soon as possible,” athletic director Mark Ingram said. “As our coaches and administrative staff looked at multiple scenarios, we wanted to make sure that the welfare of our student-athletes, which is always a top priority, was at the center of the conversation. This, along with our ability to maintain our FBS Status, compete for conference championships and eligible for bowl participation were extremely important to us. We are pleased that this outcome satisfies all of those desires. Now that this plan is in place, each of these three teams can begin rebuilding, and can prepare to resume competition.”
For more UAB news, visit BlazerSportsReport.com.
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