UAB Petition.JPG

A screenshot of the Continue UAB Football petition at iPetition.com. (iPetition)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Faced with concerns that the UAB football program might not continue after 2016 and a lukewarm statement on the program's future from UAB President Ray Watts, UAB students and alums are reacting.

Former UAB football player Lee Miller started a petition to "Continue UAB football" five days ago. In less than a week, the petition has garnered 2,100 signatures from supporters of the program.

"Sometime next week, I plan to print the petition and send it to Dr. Watts," Miller -- who also serves as president of UAB's letterwinners club, the B-Club -- told AL.com. "Hopefully, he will see the names and comments and realize how important UAB football is to so many people."

The petition calls for four "immediate" actions from the university:

1. Immediately announce that UAB Football will NOT be dropped.

2. Immediately begin to negotiate a contract extension for Coach Bill Clark.

3. Immediately allow AD Brian Mackin and Coach Bill Clark to schedule football games beyond 2016.

4. Immediately accept help from donors, the City of Birmingham, and other entities to develop capital improvements for UAB Football.

Former players raised concerns about the future of the program in a letter made public last Wednesday. Players noted that head coach Bill Clark's contract is set to end in 2016, and the school has not scheduled any non-conference games past 2016.

The petition reached its 1,000-signature milestone just two days ago, and quickly moved on to 1,500 signatures. As of the time of this posting, the petition had 2,167 signatures, and a goal of 10,000.

In a section of the site about the petition's progress, Miller noted that a paper petition is also available at Snoozy's Bookstore on the university's campus. Those signatures are not reflected in the petition's total, he stated.

He told AL.com he believes there are several hundred more signatures on the paper petition.

Sign the petition or learn more at iPetition.com.



Updated at 9:40 p.m. to add information about Lee Miller and his comments.