In this Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, file photo, a worker erases the UAB Blazers logo from the end zone after the final home game of the season at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.When the official announcement came Tuesday afternoon that the UAB football program was being shut down, former North Jackson player and current Blazers assistant Blake Shrader tried to brace himself for what would be an emotionally draining day.
“There was no way to be prepared for the looks on the faces of our players,” said Shrader, an all-state defensive back at North Jackson who played at Auburn before beginning a coaching career as a graduate assistant there for two years.
He since has worked as a grad assistant at South Alabama for two years before coaching cornerbacks at Jacksonville State in 2013 and joining the UAB staff nine months ago.
“This has been one of the worst days I’ve ever had professionally and personally,” Shrader said. “We had almost completely flipped the roster when our staff took over, so we recruited a lot of the kids here now. We had promised them we would be together and win a lot of games, but now all of a sudden it’s all taken away from them. Seeing the emotion on those kids’ faces was awful.”
While most college staffs are currently on the road recruiting, UAB’s entire staff came into the football office Tuesday to await final word on the future of the program.
In a closed-door meeting Tuesday afternoon, UAB president Ray Watts met with the coaches and players, several of whom became emotional as Watts explained what would happen.
Shrader said the coaching staff was told about a month ago that there was a possibility of the program being shut down for financial reasons. Even with that cloud of doubt hanging over them, the Blazers split their final four games to finish the season 6-6 and become bowl-eligible. Whether the team is invited to or chooses to play in a bowl game is still in question.
“I really think some of the administration was hoping we would go about 2-10 so they could sweep it all under the rug and say the program was being shut down because we weren’t winning and there wasn’t money to continue,” Shrader said. “But we worked hard and the kids played their hearts out to finish 6-6 and get bowl-eligible, so we messed up that plan.
“It’s just really tough because football is the only way some of these kids were going to get to go to college. They’ve been told their scholarships will still be honored, but if they stay here they’ll have football taken away. It’s just a real bad deal for everybody.”
According to Shrader, the Blazers coaches will continue working to make sure players maintain good academic standing so they will be eligible to play with other teams. Players will receive a waiver from the NCAA and be eligible to play immediately with other FBS or FCS programs.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman said his staff already had begun the process of evaluating the UAB roster to determine which players they would try to recruit.
“Everybody in the country will be looking to get players from there,” Huesman said. “We’re no different. It’s going to be hard because the way this situation worked out, it brings into play every FBS team, which will make it hard for teams at our level to get some of those guys.
“Even a marginal player for them gets a better opportunity. That’s just how these deals work. It’s going to be picked clean pretty quick.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.