This is an opinion column.
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It was easy to miss amid all the hoopla about revenue sharing, but UAB basketball delivered a promising message for the future last week.
Gene Bartow would be proud, and hopeful, and probably a little shocked, too. Thanks in part to his old friends, the UA System Board of Trustees, the Blazers might not be fading into Group of 5 obscurity after all.
Who’da thunk it? It looks like the BOT wants to help save UAB basketball.
The Board approved the architectural phase of some major upgrades for Bartow Arena on the same day that a judge in California ushered in the new era of professional college sports. Revenue sharing is here for collegiate athletics, and UAB appears to have a plan in place to help pay for its basketball players.
For UAB, I’ll interpret that as a tentative victory.
If the Board wanted to scuttle UAB basketball, then it would have denied the request for arena renovations. I realize that sounds a little crazy, but we’ve seen BOT-level sabotage before.
It feels like ancient history now, but there was a time when UAB football wanted an on-campus stadium. The UA System Board of Trustees called a special session to nix the plans. For football, it was a sign of things to come. UAB president Ray Watts killed off UAB football back in 2014 only to bring it back a couple years later.
And now coach Trent Dilfer is manning the lighthouse amid these stormy seas for Group of 5 college football.
It’s never dull on the Southside. When it comes to UAB athletics, there’s always an added element of drama.
Didn’t you feel that legacy of tension in the brief statement provided by basketball coach Andy Kennedy about this preliminary design phase for the new Bartow Arena?
“It is truly exciting to take these important steps toward approval of the Bartow Arena renovation plans,” Kennedy said. “We are 74-15 in Bartow in recent years, and renovations would increase our home-court advantage even more.
“I am very grateful and appreciative to all who have worked tirelessly to make this happen.”
It’s not a done deal yet, in other words. There is still plenty of work left to do.
The good news for Kennedy and UAB is that Bartow Arena is a mid-major gem that has stood the test of time. Gene knew what he was doing when he designed the place back in the 1980s. There was never a bad seat in the building, and it’s somehow deafeningly loud when only half full.
But these initial renderings released by UAB athletics look amazing. I’m cautiously optimistic for the new vibe of a great building.
The plans call for removing seats to add a suite level. That’s a long time coming. The new trend in college basketball is putting the major donors and boosters in the luxury boxes and giving the court-side seats to students. That design transformed Auburn basketball and maybe it can have a similar effect for UAB.
What is UAB’s ultimate projection for the future? It’s up to the fans. Go to games. Buy season tickets. Support the program.
My hope for Bartow Arena is that the renovations will attract more students to games. Student support is the lifeblood of college basketball.
UAB basketball can come out ahead of its conference peers over the next few years with the right planning. No one knows college basketball better than Andy Kennedy. With Kennedy on the Southside, there will always be hope for UAB hoops.
Universities will have the option of paying their collegiate athletes on July 1. For the Power 4 football and basketball schools with big budgets, these are transformative times. Full-on professional college sports are here.
For everyone else, uncertainty is the hour.
How exactly the revenue sharing-era of collegiate athletics changes the Group of 5 remains an unknown. Consider this minor detail. UAB is required to pay its players or risk being kicked out of its own conference.
The AAC was smart when it became the first conference to create a revenue-sharing minimum. UAB has to pay at least $10 million per year to its players across all sports or else. How UAB spends that money is up to the administration.
Should the Blazers go all-in on basketball at the expense of football? It’s something to consider.
Schools like Alabama and Auburn are going to put most of their money in football. The Group of 5 schools will not be able to compete. For now, the Group of 5 has a seat at the table for the College Football Playoff, but there are already rumblings of the big schools breaking away and forming their own division.
For UAB, that might be for the best.
UAB can’t compete with the big schools when it comes to football. I say go all in on basketball.
It starts with fan support, and upgrading the game-day experience at Bartow Arena is a necessity.
Final approval for construction is the next step. UAB hopes to break ground on Bartow’s renovations after spring commencement next year.
With the UA System Board of Trustees behind it, UAB basketball can still have a future in this new era of collegiate athletics.
BE HEARD
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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
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