Uab Blazers - Uab Blazers Athletic Directors, Uab Blazers Football, Legion Field, Herman Frazier, Jerry D. Young Memorial Field (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers college football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), as a member of the East Division of Conference USA (iUSA). UAB plays its home games at Legion Field, which is located off-campus in Birmingham, Alabama. With a capacity of 71,594, Legion Field is currently the third largest college football stadium in the state of Alabama and the 40th largest football stadium in the US. Since the early 2000s, UAB has considered building a new 40,000 seat stadium on campus to replace the aging Legion Field. Many in Birmingham believe that a new facility on campus would boost ticket sales and be an effective catalyst in moving the city forward following the conviction of former mayor Larry Langford. As of November 4, 2009, no new plans for construction have been approved by the Board of Trustees. The origins of football at UAB begin with the play of an organized club football team in 1989. After two years competing as a club football team, on March 13, 1991, UAB President Charles McCallum and athletic director Gene Bartow announced that the university would compete in football as a NCAA Division III team beginning in the fall of 1991, with Jim Hilyer serving as the first head coach. From 1991 to 1992, UAB competed as a Division III Independent, and during this period, the Blazers compiled an 11-6-2 overall record. During this period, the Blazers played their first all-time game on September 7, 1991, a 28-0 loss at Millsaps, and notched their first all-time win on September 21, 1991, a 34-21 victory at Washington