UAB Blazers Football: 3 Reasons Why Bill Clark is a Coaching Legend

On Friday, UAB Blazers head coach Bill Clark announced that he would retire due to health problems. The decision for Clark to resign as head coach of one of the most prominent group-of-five football programs was not easy but is one that he needed to make.

Clark was one of the top head coaches from a non-power five school as he brought huge success to the UAB football program. His legacy, however, will be remembered for what he did off the field.

After his first season as head coach of the Blazers in 2014, the program was considered in danger of being eliminated by the University of Alabama-Birmingham to save money. On December 2nd, 2014, UAB president Ray Watts announced football, bowling, and the rifle team were eliminated to the University’s oversight of the changing financial landscape with the NCAA.

The decision to eliminate the Blazers’ football team was met by huge outrage from the team, fans, college football nation, and Clark himself. Instead of leaving for another job, Clark was dedicated to a potential rebuild of the UAB football program. Through petitions and a large outcry, Watts reinstated the three athletic programs, including football, in June 2015.

Coach Clark and the Blazers returned to the field in the 2017 season and immediately started winning. That track record of coach Clark before UAB was impressive, but it was nothing compared to the results he created after the program returned from the dead.