UAB Blazers
From Hoopedia
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (also known as UAB) is a public, coeducational university located in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. The university is part of the three-member University of Alabama System, which includes the University of Alabama's main campus located in Tuscaloosa (UA) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). UAB, along with the University of Alabama and Auburn University, constitute the state's three major institutions. UAB currently has an enrollment of approximately 17,600 students. The school's president is Carol Garrison.
The UAB Blazers are the forest green and old gold-swathed athletic teams at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, generally known as UAB. The school is one of the twelve member institutions of Conference USA (C-USA) and participates in Division I of the NCAA. The school's football program, as with all other C-USA members, participates in the Football Bowl Subdivision (still frequently referred to by its former designation of Division I-A), the higher of two levels of Division I competition in that sport The UAB football team is led by Neil Callaway and plays its home games at 71,594-seat Legion Field. The school's men's basketball team, coached by Mike Davis, plays in 8,508-seat Bartow Arena.
Men's Basketball
The UAB Blazers, in effect, started their entire athletics program with the creation of a men's basketball team in 1978. Setting the standards high from the start, UAB hired former UCLA, University of Illinois and Memphis head coach Gene Bartow. Known to many as the "Father of UAB athletics", Bartow led the Blazers to almost instant success. Since their inaugural season, the Blazers have made 13 appearances in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament including 3 Sweet Sixteen appearances and 1 Elite Eight appearance. UAB has also appeared in the NIT a total of 8 times, including 2 appearances in the NIT Final Four. After only 29 years of basketball, UAB has had 25 winning seasons including memorable wins over Virginia, Kentucky, Louisville, Alabama, Florida, Villanova, Indiana, and Memphis, among others.
In 2004, the school once again gained national attention when it upset No. 1-seeded Kentucky in the second round of the tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. The Blazers have amassed an impressive 572 wins to only 344 losses since 1978 giving UAB the 25th best all-time winning percentage in college basketball history. The UAB men's basketball team has been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll more than 30 times in school history and has even been ranked among the Top 10 in the nation. Up until the early 1990s, UAB played its home games at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. Today, UAB plays its home basketball games in Bartow Arena. The current head coach, Mike Davis, was named head coach of the Blazers in the spring of 2006 and became just the fourth head coach in UAB basketball history.
Women's Basketball
Though largely overshadowed by the men's basketball program at UAB, the Blazers women have a strong history in their own right. Since UAB began a women's basketball program, UAB has won 4 conference championships, made 2 NCAA Tournament appearances, and 4 WNIT appearances. No team in Conference USA has advanced further than the Blazers' Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA tournament of the 1999-2000 season. The Blazers have also advanced to the Elite Eight of the WNIT.
