UAB Briefs: Honors for Blazers football coach Bill Clark
Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs.
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email us at jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
Due to the winter break at UAB, we will not post UAB Briefs on Friday, Dec. 29, but we will post again on Friday, Jan. 5.
Happy Holidays!
Honors for the coach
After leading the UAB Blazers football squad to its best season ever, head coach Bill Clark recently won a prestigious national award.
Clark was named National Coach of the Year on Dec. 13 by CBS Sports.
UAB finished the regular season with an overall record of 8-4 and a mark of 6-2 in Conference USA, both of which are school records.
The Blazers will play in their second-ever bowl game on Fri., Dec. 22, when they face Ohio University in the 2017 Bahamas Bowl.
The game, beginning at 11:30 a.m Central Time, will be televised by ESPN..
CBS said that Clark’s coaching job in 2017 was all the more remarkable given the fact that the team was playing for the first time since 2014.
At the end of that season -- Clark’s first, when the Blazers finished a respectable 6-6 -- the university temporarily pulled the plug on the program, citing financial concerns.
“There is simply no comparison to this year or any other coach,” said Dennis Dodd of CBS. “Clark took what essentially was an expansion franchise to a second-place tie in Conference USA's West Division and the program's second bowl berth.”
“To keep the players hungry and passionate about football without playing for two years is a major undertaking and Bill has navigated that unprecedented challenge with unwavering determination,” said Mark Ingram, UAB Director of Athletics, in a university news release.
Clark has won other honors since the end of the regular season.
Early in December, he was named Conference USA Coach of the Year.
ESPN broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit made Clark his National Coach of the Year when he announced his annual "Herbies" awards.
The sports website Bleacher Report named him National Coach of the Year.
And he was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
"Bill will be the first to say that this is a team award, but for multiple national outlets to continue naming him Coach of the Year shows what a tremendous job he and his staff have done this season," Mark Ingram said in the release.
Watch party
UAB will host a free watch party for the Bahamas Bowl on Friday, Dec. 22, so that people on campus can watch the Blazers football team take on Ohio University.
The party will take place in the Alumni Theater of the Hill Student Center, 1400 University Blvd., according to a UAB news release.
Kickoff is at 11:30 a.m., with doors’ opening at 11:15. Snacks will be provided.
Since the UAB bowl game occurs during normal work hours, departments are encouraged to provide flexibility in allowing employees who wish to cheer on the Blazers to attend the watch party.
Advanced therapy
UAB and Proton International have obtained the money to fund the UAB Proton Therapy Center, a significant step toward beginning construction, according to a university news release.
The center -- a two-story, 29,000-square-foot facility equipped with the Varian Probeam proton technology -- will be the first proton therapy center in Alabama.
With the financial closing complete, UAB and Proton International expect to break ground in January 2018 and open the facility in about two years.
Available at only 25 locations in the United States, Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation treatment that uses highly precise proton beams instead of traditional X-rays to attack tumors.