University of Alabama System Board of Trustees Committee Backs Contract for UAB Football Coach
Members of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees compensation committee approved a new five-year contract for head UAB football coach Bill Clark Wednesday. UAB President Ray Watts said Clark would remain the Blazers’ coach when Watts announced the team’s reinstatement in June, but an agreement did not come for more than three months.
The five-year contract runs from June 1, 2015, to June 1, 2020, and is for a base salary of $555,000 a year, plus incentives.
In 2014, his one season as UAB’s coach, Clark led the Blazers to a 6-6 record and bowl eligibility for the first time in a decade. Then in December Watts announced he was ending the football, bowling, and rifle programs because their expense.
The decision met with strong pushback from students, faculty and alumni, with Watts losing three no-confidence votes from campus governing bodies. Subsequent fundraising commitments from athletic boosters of more than $17-million over five years led Watts to bring the programs back.
The football team is expected to return to play fall 2017.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
