Bill Curry was the head football coach at the University of Alabama when Alabama-Birmingham first discussed fielding a football program in the late 1980s.
Stunned by such news, he infamously joked, "Our university already has a football program," which earned him a reprimand from his school's president.
But when word leaked out a couple of days ago that UAB was dropping its football program after 24 years, Curry said his first reaction was one of "shock."
It's what he thought next, however, that's worthy of much contemplation throughout the less financially successful neighborhoods of college football.
"This is just the beginning," he told himself. "It's going to happen more and more."
Though University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director David Blackburn oversees a FCS level program rather than UAB's FBS model, he hopes Curry is wrong.
"I think having a football program is an essential part of both the athletic department and the campus community," he said. "I think it helps campus morale, community support, alumni connections and student involvement. Every school has to do what's best for it, but I hope we'll always have a football program here."
Yet when UAB says it was going to have to find an extra $49 million over the next five years to remain competitive in Conference USA, you also wonder why the Blazers were the first major college/FBS program since Pacific in 1995 to drop the sport.
And just in case you're interested in whether or not that decision was the correct one at the relatively small private university in Stockton, Calif., a CBSSports.com story on Wednesday detailed how Pacific's other programs grew noticeably more successful after football disappeared. Nor was enrollment at the private school damaged by the purge. Pacific had 5,564 students in 1995. Today it has 6,304.
Of course, Pacific's not located in the Deep South, where college football's king and every other sport's pretty much treated like a peasant by the fans.
Furthermore, UAB actually seemed to be turning its football program around, averaging more than 20,000 fans for the first time in years and making itself bowl eligible by going 6-6. If anything seemed to shout delay rather than death, those numbers seemed to do it.
Yet Curry argues the long-term trends are troubling for almost everyone.
"I had 58 consecutive years in the sport of football," he said Tuesday from his Atlanta home. "I played every role you could play -- player, assistant coach, head coach, television commentator -- except that of being a star. So I'm as culpable as anyone for where we are today.
"But when you look at where this is going, the small programs are going to struggle more and more because people are driven by the big programs. That's what they want to see, either live or on television. And when you live in Birmingham, Ala., and you can stay home and watch UAB with 15,000 or so other folks, or you can drive 45 minutes down the road to watch the Greatest Show on Earth (Alabama football), what do you think most of these fans are going to choose?"
Yet he also believes even the big boys, those fortunate souls who are members in good standing of one of America's Fat-Cat Five conferences -- Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and Southeastern -- could find choppier waters in the future.
"Everyone thinks television is only hurting the smaller schools," said Curry, who spent several years as a commentator for ESPN before building the Georgia State program from scratch a few years ago.
"But it's hurting the Tennessees and Alabamas, too. Especially with the students. They realize they can stay at home or go to a bar and not only drink beer and eat cashews for a lot less than it would cost at the game, but if they get bored with their team's game, they can switch the channel to see what Southern Cal or some other big program is doing."
Blackburn agrees.
"I think everyone's starting to fight that same problem," he said.
And though Blackburn doesn't believe many schools will follow UAB, he does believe one very possible NCAA change could dramatically alter that.
"If this new NCAA, with these much more permissive rules regarding benefits to athletes takes hold, at some point the money is going to run thin," he said. "Even at the Power Five level there are only a handful of schools that can easily afford some of this. It's forcing people to get into an arms race on facilities and such that they can't afford."
Indeed, somewhat lost in the UAB numbers was the school's belief that the new cost of attendance that the Fat-Cat Five are pushing would cost the Blazers an extra $5,442 a scholarship per year.
Blackburn believes all of this could be good news for the Mocs -- assuming cost of attendance isn't thrust on them.
"I've told our staff that I think this is an opportunity for us if we're smart with our ticket prices and game times," he said. "We can offer competitive football at a price families can afford and have them back home in three and a half hours."
Curry believes Blackburn has a point, that some level of football can remain at any school if it's willing to drop a level or two. But he also knows it could get worse before it gets better for the UABs of the world.
"Right now, the big programs are on a roll," he said. "And to my dismay, college presidents have fallen in line. We haven't made responsible, rational decisions for some time and as I often tell people, there's really only one way to change that -- don't buy tickets."
This season aside, that's really what did in UAB. Let the Fat-Cat Five further hold the NCAA hostage with those permissive rules and the Blazers almost certainly won't be the last mid-major program to scratch football off their debt ledgers.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com