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UAB coach Bill Clark works the sideline during a 23-18 loss to Marshall on Nov. 22, 2014, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

(MARK ALMOND)

Mississippi State's Dan Mullen should get plenty of consideration. So should Colorado State's Jim McElwain and TCU's Gary Patterson, and depending on how the next two weekends play out, others could work themselves into the discussion, too.

But before various organizations start seriously considering candidates for national coach of the year in the ultimate apples-and-oranges debate, there's one name they should take into account in a serious way.

It's UAB's Bill Clark.

Has any other Football Bowl Subdivision coach this season done more with less? Made greater strides with his program on and off the field? Faced more adversity and handled it with more toughness and class?

Short answer: No.

Whose team scored more points against playoff contender Mississippi State than anyone else this season, including Alabama and Auburn? Whose team got closer to the Bulldogs at the final buzzer than SEC schools Auburn, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Vanderbilt?

Whose team held Marshall to its lowest point total of the season and came closer to beating the undefeated Thundering Herd than anyone else?

Whose team is one victory away from being eligible to play in the second bowl game in school history? Whose team has won as many games this season as the program won the previous two years combined before he arrived? Whose team has increased home attendance by more than 100 percent?

The answer to all of the above is Bill Clark.

Those are the tangibles. Now consider the intangibles. Consider the adversity Clark, his staff and his players have faced from the start in trying to rebuild a downtrodden program and, since the first week of November, in trying to deal with legitimate concerns that the program may be shut down.

Three weeks later, they still don't know if UAB will continue to have a football program beyond this year. The coaches don't know if they'll have jobs, and the players don't know if they'll have scholarships. They know the answer is coming, possibly as soon as Saturday, but there's been no guarantee the answer won't throw all their lives into turmoil.

That's a greater collective distraction than anything faced by any head coach at any of the other 127 Football Bowl Subdivision programs. Despite that uncertainty, Clark, his assistants and their players pulled together Saturday to give themselves a chance to beat Marshall until they were stopped on fourth down 10 yards from victory with a minute to play.

If the Blazers can go to Southern Miss this weekend and win, if they can play through the nagging doubt and disturbing uncertainty to secure their sixth victory and bowl eligibility, the record will say they broke even at 6-6 overall and 4-4 in Conference USA. The truth will say they did so much more, and the most informed national coach-of-the-year ballots to follow will have one name at the top.

Bill Clark.