To say Bill Clark's plate is full today on the second anniversary of UAB football's return would be an understatement.



He has to get his football team ready to play by the first weekend in September for the first time in three years. He also has to move his entire football program into its sparkling new Operations Center in a month.



Those tasks alone would overwhelm some coaches, but Clark has been working behind the scenes on another project near and dear to his heart.



He wants to bring the UAB football program, the undergraduate side of the university and the medical center together in a new way. He wants to construct a Center for Sports Medicine Excellence on campus that could benefit his program, the university and the entire state.



Toward those ambitious ends, Clark has been meeting with everyone from UAB President Ray Watts to university department heads to politicians to world-renowned sports medicine professionals such as Dr. James Andrews.

Clark said those meetings have been encouraging and productive, and he has some big-name support from the likes of Andrews.



"He's unbelievable," Andrews said of Clark. "He's showed more interest in keeping kids healthy at any level, not just his football players but at any level, than just about any coach I've ever dealt with."





Andrews has experience with the type of facility Clark wants to get built on the UAB campus. Andrews is the founding partner and medical director of the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Fla.



"I'm trying to help him develop a program and facilities at UAB," Andrews said. "I'm consulting with him and UAB. He's going to move things along. If I can help him, that's what I'm trying to do."



Clark's vision involves an interdisciplinary facility that embraces so many of the departments that distinguish UAB as an academic medical center, from nutrition to optometry to rehabilitation to genetics and genomics, just to name a few.



The coach already has concept drawings in his office of just such a facility as it might look in several different locations on campus. He said he's received positive feedback from his multiple meetings on the subject, particularly from professionals who work on the medical side of the university.



Clark, who inspired so many people to give their time and money to #TheReturn to save UAB football, said he can see the university playing a role in a larger effort to help sustain the sport that's been an integral part of the life of this state.



"What if we could save football?" Clark said.



Part of that effort is making the sport as safe as possible. UAB's already invested in that regard in its partnership with VICIS to help develop a safer football helmet. A UAB Center for Sports Medicine Excellence would broaden that investment considerably and wouldn't be limited to research that would benefit football alone.





Clark described a facility that would allow athletes from different sports at different levels to do everything from train, learn to prevent injuries and rehab them if necessary. It sounds like a natural for a world-class research university.



"The best thing Jefferson County has going is UAB," said State Rep. Jack Williams, a supporter of the project. "This is a chance to build on that brand. UAB could be recognized as the world leader in sports medicine."



Williams said the next step in making the project a reality is an economic impact study to demonstrate the financial value of the idea to local and state government officials.



It would be a major undertaking, but if you doubt the ability of Clark and UAB to get things done, drive past the 8th Avenue South exit on Interstate-65 in Birmingham. You can't help but notice the massive Legacy Pavilion rising above the main practice field at the UAB Football Operations Center.



How many people thought the first capital investment in UAB football was actually do-able? Now it's almost done.



Williams said Clark's dedication to this sports medicine venture "says he cares about his profession, the well-being of student-athletes and the community he serves. This could be a real game-changer."