The
UAB Blazers are the forest green and old
gold-swathed athletic teams at the
University of Alabama at
Birmingham, known as UAB. The school is one of the twelve
member institutions of
Conference USA
(C-USA) and participates in
Division I of
the
NCAA.
The
school's football program, as with
all other C-USA members, participates in the Football Bowl
Subdivision (still frequently referred to by its former designation
of Division I-A), the higher of two levels of Division I
competition in that sport The UAB football team is led by Neil Callaway and plays its home games at
71,594-seat Legion
Field
. The school's men's basketball team, coached by Mike Davis, plays in 8,508-seat Bartow Arena
.
While the football team entered post-season play only recently, the
men's basketball program has a long history of success spanning
several decades. In addition to football and basketball, UAB also
has programs in men's sports for
baseball,
golf,
soccer, and
tennis. Women's sports programs include
softball, basketball, golf, soccer,
synchronized swimming, tennis,
track and field (indoor and
outdoor),
cross country,
rifle and
volleyball.
Football
contrast to many other colleges and universities that have decades
of tradition, UAB only began its football program in the early
1990s.
Jim Hilyer was the first head
coach of the Blazers, coaching from 1991-1994. Beginning with the
first NCAA sanctioned Division III football team in 1991, UAB
quickly moved up the ranks of the collegiate football divisions at
a rate which few had foreseen.
Coach Watson
Brown took over as head coach in 1995 and held the position
through the end of the 2006 season, when he left for Tennessee
Tech
. The team is currently led by head coach
Neil Callaway.
UAB made the move to
Division I-A, now
FBS, football in 1996 and made the jump to
Conference USA in 1999. Since then, UAB has
made a habit of playing many of college football's traditional
powers.
In
2000, UAB achieved a monumental victory by beating LSU in Baton
Rouge
. In 2004, UAB reached yet another milestone
earning their first bowl trip in school history, the
Hawaii Bowl. Though young, UAB's football
program continues to make large strides both in on the field
success and in attendance.
UAB plays its home football games at Legion Field
, where the latest average attendance is 23,139
according to NCAA figures.
Basketball
Men's Basketball
The
UAB Blazers, in effect, started their entire
athletics program with the creation of a men's basketball team in
1978.
Setting the standards high from the start,
UAB hired former UCLA,
University of Illinois
and Memphis
head coach Gene
Bartow. Known to many as the "Father of UAB
athletics", Bartow led the Blazers to almost instant success. In
2004, the school once again gained national attention when it upset
No. 1-seeded Kentucky in the second round of
the
tournament and advanced to the
Sweet
Sixteen.Since their inaugural season, the Blazers have made 13
appearances in the
NCAA Men's
Basketball Tournament including 3
Sweet Sixteen
appearances and 1
Elite Eight
appearance. UAB has also appeared in the
NIT a total of 10 times,
including 2 appearances in the NIT Final Four.
After only 30 years of basketball, UAB has had 27 winning seasons
including memorable wins over
Virginia,
Kentucky,
Louisville,
Alabama,
Florida,
Villanova,
Indiana, and
Memphis, among others. The Blazers have
amassed an impressive 617 wins to only 367 losses since 1978 giving
UAB one of the best all-time winning percentages in college
basketball history. The UAB men's basketball team has been ranked
in the
Associated Press Top 25 Poll
more than 30 times in school history and has even been ranked among
the Top 10 in the nation.
Up until the early 1990s, UAB played its home
games at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention
Complex
. Today, UAB plays its home basketball games in
Bartow
Arena
where the Blazers have won more than 80 percent of
its games. The current head coach,
Mike Davis, was named head coach
of the Blazers in the spring of 2006 and became just the fourth
head coach in UAB basketball history.
Women's Basketball
Though largely overshadowed by the men's basketball program at UAB,
the Blazers women have a strong history in their own right. Since
UAB began a women's basketball program, UAB has won 4 conference
championships, made 2 NCAA Tournament appearances, and 4
WNIT appearances. No
team in
Conference USA has advanced
further than the Blazers'
Sweet
Sixteen appearance in the NCAA tournament of the 1999-2000
season. The Blazers have also advanced to the Elite Eight of the
WNIT.
Soccer
Men's Soccer
UAB began a men's soccer program back in 1979. Throughout its
history, UAB has enjoyed quite a bit of success in both the men's
and women's soccer programs. The men's team has been in the NCAA
Tournament a total of 5 times including 2 Sweet Sixteen appearances
and 1 Elite Eight appearance in 1999. The men's team has been
ranked both regionally and nationally numerous times throughout its
history. One of UAB's biggest wins in the men's team history came
when UAB upset the #1-ranked
UCLA Bruins
in 1997 by a score of 2-0.
UAB would upset another #1-ranked team in
2006 when they beat the SMU Mustangs
by a score of 2-1. The men's team plays
their home games at UAB's West Campus Field. Since 1993, the men's
team has won nearly 80% of its games played at West Campus Field.
Mike Getman is the head coach of the men's team.
Women's Soccer
Though only beginning a women's soccer program only in 1996, the
UAB women's soccer team has already been in the NCAA Tournament and
has also been ranked several times in its history. The UAB women's
soccer team has won the Conference USA Championship 3 times in ten
years, including the most recent in 2006. Paul Harbin is the head
coach of the women's team. Like the men, the women's team plays
their home games at UAB's West Campus Field.
Golf
Men's Golf
Frequently ranked among the nation's better collegiate programs,
the men's golf program has gained considerable recognition. Over
the program's history, UAB has made 7 appearances in the NCAA Men's
Golf Championship tournament including 6 times in the last 10
years. The UAB golf team has won 2 conference titles including the
2008 Conference USA Championship.
Several UAB golfers
have gone on to have success as professional golfers including
Ireland
-native
Graeme McDowell and Garrett Osborn. UAB's golf team is led
by coach Alan Kaufman.
Synchronized Swimming
Even though the team was formed only in the 1998-1999 season, the
UAB synchronized swimming team has quickly established themselves
as a dominant team in the sport having finished numerous times
among the Top 5 teams in the nation. Currently, the team is being
dropped as a varsity sport from UAB
Championships
Conference Championships (40)
- Men's Basketball (8): 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1987 · 1990 ·
1999 · 2004
- Men's Tennis (5): 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995
- Women's Basketball (4): 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1994
- Women's Tennis (4): 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996
- Women's Volleyball (4): 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 2006
- Men's Baseball (3): 1991 · 1992 · 1994
- Men's Soccer (3): 1994 · 1995 · 1999
- Women's Soccer (3): 2003 · 2004 · 2006
- Women's Cross Country (2): 1995 · 2006
- Men's Golf (2): 1991 · 2008
- Women's Indoor Track (1): 1995
- Women's Outdoor Track (1): 1995
Rivals
UAB's main rivals are conference opponents
Memphis (football and basketball) and
Southern Miss
(football). Beginning with 2006 the UAB-Memphis football rivalry is
called the
Battle for the
Bones (sometimes known as "The BBQ Bowl") and includes
both professional and amateur barbecue contests as part of the
pregame festivities. This event was created from the ideas of
several UAB students and with the efforts of Daniel Walters
(GangGreen President) and Andrew Brashier (USGA President). The
winner of the game receives a traveling 100-pound bronze rack of
ribs trophy, known as
‘The Bones’
trophy.
Mascots
The current UAB mascot is a green
dragon
named
Blaze. Former mascots included a strange
cartoonish Nordic warrior and perhaps the most beloved Beauregard
T. Rooster that met an untimely demise when threatened with legal
action by the
San Diego
Chicken.
Attendance Records
Top 10 Home Football Attendance
Records
|
Opponent |
Attendance |
1 |
Southern Miss (2003) |
44,669 |
2 |
Mississippi State (2006) |
36,104 |
3 |
TCU (2004) |
33,280 |
4 |
Troy (2006) |
32,818 |
5 |
Virginia Tech (1998) |
31,897 |
6 |
Southern Miss (2005) |
31,363 |
7 |
Kansas (1998) |
30,543 |
8 |
Houston (1999) |
28,573 |
9 |
Memphis (2004) |
27,192 |
10 |
Southern Miss (2009) |
26,871 |
BJCC]]
|
Opponent |
Attendance |
1 |
DePaul (1980) |
17,309 |
2 |
DePaul (1985) |
17,222 |
3 |
Auburn (1984) |
17,025 |
4 |
Indiana (1997) |
16,982 |
5 |
Virginia Commonwealth (1985) |
16,866 |
6 |
Auburn (1986) |
16,815 |
7 |
Auburn (1983) |
16,803 |
8 |
Auburn (1982) |
16,797 |
9 |
South Florida (1985) |
16,781 |
10T |
Virginia (1982) |
16,754 |
10T |
Louisville (1982) |
16,754 |
Top 10 Home Basketball Games at
Bartow
Arena
|
Opponent |
Attendance |
1 |
Memphis (2008) |
9,392 |
2 |
Louisville (2005) |
9,354 |
3 |
Cincinnati (2004) |
9,312 |
4 |
Cincinnati (2000) |
9,279 |
5 |
Cincinnati (1996) |
9,213 |
6 |
Alcorn State (1989) |
9,010 |
7 |
Arkansas (1990) |
8,951 |
8 |
Cincinnati (1994) |
8,907 |
9 |
Western Kentucky (1991) |
8,879 |
10 |
Auburn (1990) |
8,879 |
Blazers ISP Radio Network
UAB athletic events can be heard on the following stations:
References
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http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1206605763239150.xml&coll=2