UAB Football Coach Bill Clark
New UAB football Coach Bill Clark (left) posses with Brian Mackin, UAB director of athletics, during a press conference at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)
(MARK ALMOND)
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Several days of uncertainty led to UAB athletic director Brian Mackin and his search committee finding a proven winner to lead the UAB football program.
Mackin formally announced Bill Clark as UAB's fifth head coach on Wednesday. Clark led Jacksonville State to a record-setting 11-4 season and a berth in the FCS quarterfinals in his only season leading the Gamecocks. He led Prattville High to a 107-11 record over nine seasons. The press conference came 13 days after Garrick McGee resigned to become the offensive coordinator at Louisville.
Mackin was "surprised" when McGee resigned, but may have come out as one of the big winners as he was able to get someone with Clark's pedigree and respect among coaches in the state of Alabama to lead a UAB program that hasn't had much success over the years.
"To me, everything happens for a reason," Mackin said. "I am a true believer that, to us as a program, I feel like it was a godsend."
After McGee resigned, Mackin formed a search committee that included senior associate athletic director Shannon Ealy, consultant Bill Carr, former player Izell Reese and faculty athletics representative Frank Messina.
Mackin said interest was high, and he was surprised by the amount of interest from current head coaches and offensive and defensive coordinators from FBS schools.
"But what I tried to do with the help of Bill (Carr), was we narrowed down to that profile," Mackin said. "If somebody had a "name" that would have come in here and maybe won the press conference and greet the team at 5:00 and is not going to make a difference in their lives and this program, that's where we have to be committed to the cause."
The cause was finding exactly the right fit. Mackin indicated he wanted someone with integrity, head coaching experience and with a great rapport inside the state of Alabama, among others. His last hire of McGee didn't work out for one reason or another, as UAB went just 5-19 in two seasons.
"To me, I put a lot of pressure on myself because I knew how big of a hire this was for the direction of our program going forward," Mackin said. "We couldn't afford to make a mistake and stay where we are. That was not an option for me.
"That profile was very important to me, to find that right person and not compromise based on what I wanted in the front end. I kept checking the boxes. (Clark) is the total package for me."
Mackin said that, after all the interviews were complete, Clark was his guy.
"He clearly was the search committee's No. 1," Mackin said. "When we went through the process of evaluation, he was clearly our No. 1."
Mackin said that he and Clark would soon take a closer look at UAB's existing facilities. Details of Clark's contract have not been released, though Clark said president Dr. Ray Watts showed commitment to improving the program. Areas of need include an improved locker room, practice turf and football building.
"There are some immediate needs that are going to be done," Mackin said. "He knows it.
"I've got my ideas. Dr. Watts has his ideas. We want to give Bill a chance to come in and say, 'Maybe we don't need that right now. I need this.' It's important to get back on the right foot with expectations and that's how we're going to do it."