The UAB Blazers football team represents the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), competing as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The program has had six head coaches and one interim coach during its existence, as well as one stint with no coach while the program was on hiatus. The program began in the 1991 season and spent two years as an NCAA Division III independent before transferring to Division II. After just three years in Division II, the school entered Division I-A, now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer is the current head coach; he replaced Bryant Vincent following the latter's firing after the 2022 season.
The school adopted the nickname "Blazers" for its sports programs in 1978, in preparation for the basketball program's inaugural season. The nickname was selected over the options of Barons, Warriors, or Titans. After two different mascots, the nickname became representative of Blaze the Dragon, the school's mascot since the 1995 season.[1][2] The Blazers have played in 286 games over twenty-seven seasons. Watson Brown led the team to its first postseason game, the 2004 Hawaii Bowl.[3][4] The Blazers have appeared in three other bowl games since then under Bill Clark, who led them to the program's first bowl victory in 2018.[5] Clark also led the Blazers to Conference USA championships in both 2018 and 2020, and is the only UAB coach to have won a conference championship.[6]
Jim Hilyer, the program's first coach, is the all-time leader in win percentage, at .683 with a record of 27–12–2. Garrick McGee has the lowest win percentage, at just .208 with a record of 5–19. Watson Brown served the longest time as head coach at twelve years, and leads in number of games coached (136), number of games won (62), and number of games lost (74). Garrick McGee served the shortest time of all coaches, at two years, and McGee coached the fewest games (24). Among conference play, Clark leads in conference win percentage at 0.727. Brown leads in conference games played (59) and conference games lost (29).[7]
Key
| General | Overall | Conference | Postseason[A 1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Order of coaches[A 2] | GC | Games coached | CW | Conference wins | PW | Postseason wins |
| DC | Division championships | OW | Overall wins | CL | Conference losses | PL | Postseason losses |
| CC | Conference championships | OL | Overall losses | CT | Conference ties | PT | Postseason ties |
| NC | National championships | OT | Overall ties[A 3] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage[A 4] | ||||
Coaches
| No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | DCs | CCs | NCs | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Hilyer | 1991–94 | 41 | 27 | 12 | 2 | 0.683 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | — |
| 2 | Watson Brown | 1995–2006 | 136 | 62 | 74 | 0 | 0.456 | 30 | 29 | 0 | 0.508 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 3 | Neil Callaway | 2007–11 | 60 | 18 | 42 | — | 0.300 | 14 | 26 | — | 0.350 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 4 | Garrick McGee | 2012–13 | 24 | 5 | 19 | — | 0.208 | 3 | 13 | — | 0.188 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 5 | Bill Clark | 2014, 2017–2021 | 75 | 49 | 26 | — | 0.653 | 32 | 12 | — | 0.727 | 2 | 2 | — | 3 | 2 | 0 | Conference USA Coach of the Year (2014, 2017)[12]CBS Sports National Coach of the Year (2017) |
| X | No team[A 7] | 2015–16 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Bill Clark | 2014, 2017–2021 | 75 | 49 | 26 | — | 0.653 | 32 | 12 | — | 0.727 | 2 | 2 | — | 3 | 2 | 0 | Conference USA Coach of the Year (2014, 2017)[12]CBS Sports National Coach of the Year (2017) |
| − | Bryant Vincent | 2022 | 12 | 6 | 6 | — | 0.500 | 4 | 4 | — | 0.500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 6 | Trent Dilfer | 2023—present | 12 | 4 | 8 | — | 0.333 | 3 | 5 | — | 0.375 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Notes
References
General
- Staff (2014). "Alabama-Birmingham Coaching Records". Alabama-Birmingham History. College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
- UAB Athletics Media Relations Office (2017). "UAB Football 2017 Media Guide" (PDF). Birmingham, Alabama: University of Alabama at Birmingham. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
Specific