Bear Bryant did it once in his illustrious career, and he was the last Alabama coach to do it. So did Shug Jordan, and he was the last Auburn coach to achieve the feat. No current SEC coach has done it, not even Nick Saban, not once at any of his head coaching stops, despite challenging Bryant for the mythical title of best college football coach ever. It won't be easy, and it's not likely, but guess who has a chance to do it this season? UAB's Bill Clark. Do what? What accom

The last time UAB played a football game against an in-state opponent, history happened all over Legion Field. A school-record crowd of 45,212 watched the program rise from the ashes in the 2017 Return against Alabama A&M. Bill Clark remembers it well. He wants to see another magic night in the Magic City when UAB and Alabama State collide Thursday to open the 2019 season. "I'd love to see if we could break that (attendance) record again," Clark said. It's a tall order, but i

Bill Clark can't help but smile when he talks about defense. He's been a college head coach for six years and four seasons now, but that side of the ball is his specialty. The UAB head coach tries "to be balanced" in the time he spends with his offensive and defensive units, but "I always seem to matriculate over there (to the defense) a little bit more as the season goes," Clark said after UAB's second scrimmage of preseason camp. "As the season goes, it's a time when you've

Pardon our progress. It's a sign begging your forgiveness for short-term inconvenience in pursuit of long-term improvement. It could be UAB Football's supplemental motto. Right after #WinAsOne. Because the new artificial turf at Legion Field is almost but not quite ready, the Blazers will have to stage their second closed scrimmage of preseason camp today on their own practice field on campus at the Football Operations Center at Legacy Pavilion. It's not an ideal situation by

The second-best thing I heard after UAB's first scrimmage of fall camp at Legacy Pavilion came from a Blazer staffer. Describing the sensational sophomore season of running back Spencer Brown, the staffer said, "He limped to 1,200 yards." True fact. It wasn't always evident to the outside world, but inside the walls, the Blazers knew. After his fantastic freshman year, the workhorse from Mortimer Jordan High School played through a painful foot injury in 2018 that would've si

Can I have a brick? That's what the former UAB Football players wanted to know. Head Coach Bill Clark had invited them to Saturday's practice, not coincidentally just before demolition began on the old dentist office of a football building that once was the hub of their daily existence. That building would've embarrassed a lot of high schools in this state. It discouraged a lot of potential Blazers with other options. It stood as a ramshackle reminder of the obstacles this pr

What have you done? Bill Clark has asked his players on the 2019 UAB Football roster that question countless times since January. You as a team. What have you done? The answer is easy, and even though fall camp began Wednesday morning, that answer won't begin to change until they kick off the season Aug. 29th against Alabama State at Legion Field. This deep collection of talented players, many of them with names not widely known to the general public, has done nothing to comm

Before the UAB football players report Tuesday, before the ongoing work of preparing for another special season shifts to another gear, it's time for one more celebration. It's time to commemorate the 2018 season in a special way unique to this state. It's time to unveil "The Return." And you're invited. Tonight at 6 at the Birmingham Museum of Art, renowned local artist Steve Skipper will reveal to the world his special, commemorative, limited-edition painting that celebrate

Bill Clark is a busy man, but he should try to find a few moments before fall camp kicks off to take care of some correspondence. He should write a personal note to every single media member who voted in the Conference USA preseason poll. That poll predicts Clark's defending conference champions from UAB will follow up their epic 2018 season by finishing … fourth. Fourth? Fourth! And not fourth in the 14-team league. Fourth in the seven-team West Division. The poll spit out t

Everywhere you looked Saturday, from Parker High School past the Smithfield Library to Legion Field, you saw them. They were men hard at work on a hot July morning. Painting at the school. Picking up trash on Graymont Avenue. Mowing and weed-eating along Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard. They were UAB football players, coaches and staffers of the 2018 Conference USA champions, about 100 of them, trading their green jerseys and polos for red T-shirts, volunteering in the large

Football is different in Alabama, and not just because we win more than you do. When we secure a particularly compelling victory or witness an especially iconic moment, we want to hold onto that memory, savor it and take pride in it for the rest of our days. Maybe even hang it on the wall to remind us of the best of us. So we don't just paint the town red for a night. We make an actual painting of the occasion. In crimson and white. Or blue and orange. And now in green and go