Birmingham fought for the return of UAB football, and now the team is back on the field this spring and preparing for its first season since briefly being eliminated.

After two seasons away from football, UAB plays its spring game at 1 p.m. on April 1 at Legion Field. The game will be televised locally in Birmingham by WABM MY68, and UAB coach Bill Clark and his Blazers are excited to scrimmage in front of their fans. A new era of UAB football begins now after donors raised huge sums of money to bring the program back to life, and with a new football operations center and practice fields.

With construction of the new facilities serving as a backdrop, AL.com reporter Joseph Goodman interviewed Clark this spring and asked him 10 questions about the return of UAB football.

GOODMAN: What do you want fans and citizens of Birmingham to know about UAB football this first season back?

CLARK: "We're back, but back in such a different way. You see this facility behind us, and we're really doing it the right way now. This brand new turf we're on, which obviously just from a functionality standpoint is exciting. We're not worried about rain and weather, and that part is so awesome. But then you see the pavilion behind us, which is going to be a full field. You got our operations center. Our guys just from a football standpoint have trained hard from January on just getting ready."

After two seasons away from football, UAB plays its spring game at 1 p.m. on April 1 at Legion Field. The game will be televised locally in Birmingham by WABM MY68, and UAB coach Bill Clark and his Blazers are excited to scrimmage in front of their fans.

GOODMAN: Birmingham was there for UAB football when UAB football needed it most, and it really was a grassroots movement that started on Twitter, and then the UAB football foundation raised $40 million in little over a year. What have you learned about the city of Birmingham over the last two years?

CLARK: "You know, I was coming off the interstate the other day when this pavilion first came up, and I don't really use the word surreal, but it was such a cool moment to think of what our people have done. And I say our people, our alumni and fans, but the city, which I think has really embraced this program like they needed to and said we're going to be the difference here. We're going to make a difference, and when you've raised -- and really sitting at about $43 million, and Legacy gave us the great $4 million gift, but there have been so many chunks, $1 million and less, and that's still a lot of money. But we had the $13 million to get the operations going, it's just chunks here and there, and then all the money that our foundation has helped raise. It's really kind of mind-boggling that we're sitting here right now."

Birmingham city leaders, including Major William Bell and city councilors, helped ceremoniously broke ground on UAB's new football operations center in August of 2016.

GOODMAN: It's so unprecedented what has happened here for UAB football, and Birmingham, just on a huge national and NCAA scale, how has that energized the players who are now here and participating with the team?

CLARK: "Well, I think anytime that you take players and you tell them something, and you do it. And we told them this was coming. They kind of had to dream with us. I will say when we got players here even in '14, when you get them in Birmingham, and you get them here on this campus, it's good. But now they are seeing a commitment. I think when you see a commitment, when you see and investment, it makes it that much more real, and you know who you are playing for. And we talk all the time about playing for more than yourself, your school, your community, these people who helped get you here, and obviously where we're headed, which is our goal is to be a national team."

GOODMAN: "So, student enrollment is up, the campus is booming, a new business building and college is going right here [beside the football operations center], what has been the feedback from students, and faculty, and medical professionals at UAB?

CLARK: "Just excitement. You go down this street right here, and you see people wearing UAB. That's exciting for me. I'm not seeing other schools. I'm seeing UAB. When I see the medical folks, when people come to see me, I see people in the airport and wherever I go, there is just excitement. They are excited about UAB football, they are excited about UAB, they are excited about Birmingham and just where we're all headed."

UAB coach Bill Clark begins his second season with the Blazers this spring after the program was shut down by UAB president Ray Watts. The Blazers have had two recruiting classes since the shut down.

GOODMAN: You've built programs into champions at every level you've been at, but this is a unique challenge here at UAB. What are you trying to accomplish this first spring back?

CLARK: "We'll, we've kind of just said that we want to be competitive, and what does competitive mean? That means being in every game, expecting to win. And that's a big feat, not have been playing for two years, and not having a team, but we want to have high expectations. I want to have realistic expectations, but you don't get those things if you don't expect them and don't believe in them, you don't talk about them. So, we obviously want to compete in every game we're in."

GOODMAN: What are some of the core philosophies that you want to instill on the field during spring football right now, offensively, defensively?

CLARK: I think our basic core philosophy for us really is an effort, and a focused attention to detail. There are so many details that we cover. If you're talking about offense, it's about protecting the ball. If you're talking about defense, it's running to the ball and getting it back and tackling. We could talk X's and O's, but really spring training for us, and this has been our training since January, it is what is real effort look like? And I mean taking the next step where you've got effort with great focus, attention to detail, starting fast, finishing in the fourth quarter. All of those things.

GOODMAN: This new facility is where you're going to turn those dreams into reality that you've been talking about, and so often, throughout this process, you have talked about how it's not OK just to do something, but you have to do it the right way. So, now that you have the foundation here, what's the potential for UAB football?

CLARK: "I really think the sky is the limit. I think that is what I saw when I was a high school coach in the state, and I was sending players to UAB. I think that's what the people of Birmingham have seen. That's what we talk about every day, and that goes back to that goal setting. We want to be a national team. We want to represent Birmingham, which is 16-straight years the No.1 football-watching city in America. This great university. But this does, it gives us a functional from training room, locker room, weight room, this turf, this pavilion, it gives us those things, and then it gives us kind of that wow factor. But there are some steps we want to take. It's not going to be satisfied here. I think our community wants a new stadium. I think everywhere I go, that's what I here. What's going on with the stadium, so we're all talking about that. And this this sports-medicine project that we're wanting to be. This is something we could be No.1 in. It is great sports medicine on the cutting edge of that. We got this new helmet we're going to be part of unveiling. All those things, and that goes into that new training room. So that's two things we're going to kind of add to what we're already doing.

GOODMAN: This new football operations center is, in a lot of ways, going to be the frontdoor for UAB for many visitors to the city. How did you guys want to incorporate that into the design?

CLARK: "It was kind of a functional effect, but when you're looking at 70-foot high structure that you can see from the interstate, I think it's going to be a great gateway to just people getting off the interstate, they going by and they're thinking about UAB football. I think it's a great billboard, and it's just going to be first class. And that's one of the things I love that I've seen from UAB. When we build it, we're doing it the right way from business center to the student center, the rec center. We're upgrading the nurses center. All these things, we're spending a lot of money to make this a spectacular campus."

GOODMAN: You've had a hand in every single corner of the design of this building. What is your favorite design aspect, or functionality for you?

CLARK: "I think there are three things. I love all of it. I'm a weight room guy, and all those things, but I love the pavilion and having the ability to be covered from weather, and being able to come right out of our facility and train. I love the fact that we're going to have a walkway on that second floor we can bring recruits and donors and watch our guys train. And then the third floor we're going to have a multi-purpose room where we can actually feed them. I want to take that to the next step, possible, with having a nutrition center maybe over here for all athletes. I'd love to see that. But right now, we've actually got a chance to feed them and nutrition and training are so important.

GOODMAN: So, the foundation is here. What is the next step for UAB football?

CLARK: Obviously July 1 is going to be a big day. We're hoping getting this [facility] turned over to us, and we can use all that. But we've got to really focus on today, getting better. Right now, what you see here, is all we need. We got to get out here on this field from just an X's and O's standpoint, and really become better players. We've done the training to get us there, so these 15 practices are going to be big right now."