ron gray

Ron Gray, a member of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, discussed the ending of the UAB football program and proposed changes to the board in an interview with AL.com (AL.com file photo)

The termination of the UAB football program "has been painful for everyone involved" but University of Alabama System trustee member Ron Gray said he hoped relationships between the board and UAB would grow stronger in the aftermath.

UAB President Ray Watts announced he was ending the football program as well as the rifle and bowling programs on Dec. 2, 2014, setting off a chain of events that led to a series of no-confidence votes in Watts and for two state legislators to introduce bills calling for changes in the UA System Board of Trustees.

The trustees have remained largely quiet on the issues, speaking through written statements support for Watts.

On May 5, Gray met with AL.com to give the first extended interview on those issues. A longtime government contractor in Huntsville, Gray received a mechanical engineering degree from the Tuscaloosa campus in 1981 and was appointed to the trustee board in 2009.

Among his responsibilities on the board, he is chair of the finance committee and a member of the athletic committee.

"I had read the perception that the board of trustees from the University of Alabama System certainly implied that we don't respect UAB, we don't support UAB," Gray said. "Possibly worse than that, we make decisions to benefit Tuscaloosa first and foremost. That perception is not based on reality nor supported by facts. It's completely wrong."

What follows is the full interview with Gray.

AL.com: When did you learn of the decision to terminate the UAB football program?

Gray: Once Dr. Watts began his study, particularly given the support that program had had (in 2013) - their attendance was very poor, second-worst in FBS - it was certainly obvious to me and it was obvious to many people that was a potential outcome. A potential outcome could be that he was going to terminate the program. Certainly, that was a potential outcome. We had certainly never discussed it as a board and we had some indication shortly before it was announced that he was in all probability going to make that decision. We had nothing formal, informal, official before that period of time. I don't remember the exact time - a week or two (before the Dec. 2, 2014 announcement).

In my opinion, once Dr. Watts launched that study, the way I view it, the board went out of their way not to engage Dr. Watts on this topic. We didn't want to influence him. It might seem awkward we would have this major study going on but we simply didn't want to influence him or his study or the outcome. I discussed it with Ray prior to launching that study.

AL.com: I think there would be some people that would be skeptical of that answer. How would the board not be following this process if not guiding this process? If someone were to ask you about that, how would you respond?

Gray: I can speak from my perspective. I had expressed to Dr. Watts well over a year ago, quite a while ago, in my opinion, the committed resources that the athletic department had to invest in athletics - and that number has gone from $9 million that the school was investing in athletics 10 years ago to $20 million - in my opinion, those resources would be best used to develop and invest in a top 10 basketball program. There are only so many resources. You can have a football program that, frankly, has a history of struggling. And a basketball program that had the potential to be top 10. In my opinion, that was a much better use of those resources for UAB, for the city of Birmingham, for the students to have a top 10 (program). And I think it's attainable and I expressed that to Dr. Watts. I would guess when he launched into his study, he had probably made his own assessment of how the board might react to it if he decided to move forward. But the board did not engage in the study. We actually went out of our way to make sure we did not attempt to influence his decision.

AL.com: What about the timing of the decision to terminate the football program? Watts made the announcement on Dec. 2, 2014 but documents obtained by AL.com indicate the decision had been made as early as August 2014.

Gray: In my opinion, Dr. Watts handled the timing of his decision and its announcement in a way that he viewed was in the best interest of that university, those coaches and those players.

AL.com: What about the execution of that plan? The way it was handled?

Gray: I think there's no question this entire process could have been managed and communicated in a more effective way. And I believe that's going to be one of the positive things that emerge from this controversy is that, in particular, the communications between certainly our board and our chancellor and our senior leadership within the Birmingham community have already been improved. We're already meeting and communicating better than we were prior. That's going to leak into the parallel between what we went through (at the University of Alabama in Huntsville when the hockey program was terminated, then brought back seven weeks later) in 2011 and down there. That's going to be one of the benefits of this controversy. It's been very painful for everybody involved. But there is going to be better communication between our board, this system and the people in Birmingham that care about that great university.

AL.com: Can you give me an example of how things have improved?

Gray: It's similar to what we did (in Huntsville). We've already begun that. Under Johnny Johns (chair of trustees' UAB Health Care System Liaison Committee) and (UA trustee president pro tem) Karen Brooks' leadership, our board has already held multiple meetings with interested stakeholders at UAB, both business and community leaders, faculty. We're going to continue to meet with others, including students. So far, that communication has been well-received on both sides. It's been very productive. It's going to be similar to what we did here in Huntsville. We set up a formal committee (which Gray chairs) to foster and enable those types of communications and it's been extremely productive. We've begun to replicate what we did up (in Huntsville) to communicate better and we recognize that Huntsville was different because there were other issues, certainly broader than just athletics, and some of the concerns were valid. We took those concerns to heart and we established this method to address those concerns and it's been very effective. So today, our board, this community and the support to UAH is in a better position prior to this happening and I think the same thing is going to be the end result of what we're going through in Birmingham.

AL.com: There have been a series of votes of no-confidence in Watts. When you have a series of votes from stakeholder groups, how do you address that as a trustee?

UAB president Ray Watts addresses the media in a press conference after the university announced the end to its football, rifle, and bowling programs December 2, 2014. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

Gray: That's a fair question. First of all, we understand those events occurred and we take them very seriously. It's part of our ongoing responsibilities as trustees to understand what the feelings and thoughts are of stakeholders and factor them into our responsibilities as trustees. I can assure you, that's going on. Certainly we are aware of those events, we take them seriously and we factor them into our overall management. However, we completely support Dr. Watts. That man's love for the university and the service he's provided is unquestioned. But we certainly understand the concerns of the stakeholders also.

AL.com: Working with the stakeholders at UAB and seeking to improve communication, where does shared governance fit into that? That was a central part of the faculty senate's no-confidence vote. Is that part of this process?

Gray: Shared governance is something we're going to take very seriously. Those concerns were raised. We believe some of the concerns in that area have been alleviated but that is something we'll continue to keep an eye on. I believe how that campus is doing its business in terms of communicating with the stakeholders that it's doing things the right way. It is certainly something we will be cognizant of.

AL.com: How do you respond to accusations that the trustees protect the flagship campus in Tuscaloosa at the expense of UAB or UAH?

Gray: Since 2000, the board has approved 54 academic programs at UAB, 31 at UAH and 17 at UA. The board has approved 57 academic chairs at UAB, eight at UA and two at UAH. The last 12 years, $1 billion in projects at UAB, $200 million at UAH. No physical properties projects have been rejected.

The facts support the statement that this board supports all three campuses equally and unequivocably. This board certainly recognizes the importance of the UAB undergraduate program, certainly the UAB Health System and the University of Alabama in Huntsville to our state. It's unquestioned, we recognize that and we're going to support them fully.

AL.com: What are your thoughts about efforts in the legislature to restructure the board in order to give UAB and UAH representation?

Gray: I have great respect for our state legislators because they have a huge responsibility and they are doing the best they can. In this particular instance, it would be my opinion that with the problems the state is facing that their time might be better spent not trying to fix something that's not broken. The University of Alabama System is one of the most important large enterprises in our state and at this point, by almost every metric - financial, student numbers, student quality, faculty and staff numbers, faculty and staff quality and performance of the UAB Health System - the System is a tremendous success. For the legislature to spend time and energy and resources discussing revamping the (state) Constitution to alter the way we select trustees does not seem like it's in the best interests of our state.

Part of the current concern, of course, is representation. What's interesting in Birmingham is on our current board of trustees, we have three trustees with degrees from UAB. They are all very strong; none of them are afraid to speak their mind. We also have Johnny Johns, very strong, very impassioned business, civic, community leader. He loves that university, as evidenced by the time and energy and other gifts he's provided to it. UAB is extremely well-represented on our board. Here in Huntsville, we do not have any trustees with UAH ties. However, you can make the argument that the interests of UA Huntsville are being well-served by our trustees here (Gray and Britt Sexton of Decatur, who represent the 5th Congressional District, which includes Huntsville, on the board) based on our knowledge of this community, what's important to it. And the fact that the entire board has invested significant amounts of time to make sure we recognize the importance of UA Huntsville.

Our entire board supports all the campuses. But the direct link to each of the campuses has been raised as a concern. I believe that a good example of how our board recognizes the importance in UA Huntsville and the aerospace, high-tech industry in this town through their selection of me to fill a great trustee's spot - Peter Lowe - and my background in that community is a good indication that this board would reach out to an unknown. I had no relationships to anybody on that board when I was selected. They reached out to what they viewed was somebody with the experience and credentials that can best serve the entire board in general but specifically the needs of this campus and the Huntsville community.

The passage of those bills would insert politics into our board selection process. When that has happened at other universities around the country, the politics sometimes ends up being a more important factor than what's in the best interest of those campuses.

AL.com: To clear up any possible confusion, could you address the role of the trustee board?

Gray: Our board is responsible for three campuses in the UA System and we are responsible for the overall management and well-being of each component of that enterprise and accomplish that through a reasonably formed chain of command - through a chancellor, the campus presidents and the CEO of the UAB Health System. We work through those people to make sure they have the support they need to accomplish their mission, their objectives and to help them resolve issues that we can help them address. In addition, our day-to-day work is accomplished through the committee structure. The committee chairs set the agendas. We have a range of items that are presented to us five times a year through board meetings. We stepped through them one by one. As trustees, we're 15 people trying to do the best we can to manage this enterprise. This board puts significant amounts of energy, time and passion into it. And we believe right now, we're very successful at managing, based on almost any metric you can find.

The worst thing about this is that all the great things being done by a great university (UAB) in this state are being diminished somewhat by this controversy.