"19. Bill Clark, UAB: Nothing against Clark, who left after one season at Jacksonville State, but it's a question of whether UAB should even be in FBS.
The Blazers play in the shadow of Alabama and just about everything else in Birmingham. The facilities are -- to be kind -- sub-par.
How bad is it? Garrick McGee left as head coach to be Petrino's offensive coordinator at Louisville."
I wonder where UAB would have fallen had Grobe gotten the job. My guess is not that much different.
As someone who went to Wake, and is currently attending UAB grad school, I think Grobe would have been perfect for UAB. I'm not sure what factored into the decision not to hire him, whether it was his age, the price (im not sure what his asking price is), or just his performance, but I was disappointed to hear we didn't get him.
UAB shares some the same problems that Wake Forest faced when Grobe first arrived: the facilities are sub par, almost every student here has another school as their primary team (usually Alabama or Auburn), and interest is low after stringing together multiple losing seasons while their in state counterparts have been in 5 straight national title games. Where I think Grobe could have really helped the Blazers is exactly the same way he helped Wake. First off, he did a heck of a job working with Wellman and Hatch to invest money into the football football program, something UAB desperately needs although they're primarily a basketball school. Secondly, because very few people are born and raised UAB fans, they need a reason to attend the games. I thought Grobe always did a great job of community outreach to get local residents and students acquainted with the student-athletes on the field. Convincing fans to take a Saturday off from watching Alabama, Auburn, or any SEC game would be the greatest challenge by far. Lastly, if he maintained his staff, then maybe he could keep his recruiting foot-hole in Florida and Texas, while moving a bit closer. There is also a bevy of talent that is overlooked by SEC schools around Alabama and Louisiana that I'm sure he could capitalize on while finding a few diamonds in the rough. If you can recruit the guys sitting behind THE guys in Texas, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, you can certainly put together a team that can win in Conference USA.
Though Grobe probably only has about 6-7 years of coaching left, max, I really thought he could get this program out of the gutter, and at least to a bowl game in time to hand it off to someone younger to take the next step. Lobo or no Lobo, he would have been a catch for UAB.
