In case you missed the news this week, University of Alabama Birmingham announced that it would be shutting down its football program immediately. Before making that announcement, though, Ray Watts, the school’s president, met with the football players and coaches to deliver the news.
As you can imagine, this led to some very emotional and intense reactions from players and coaches alike and it’s hard not to feel for these guys. You have to assume that a lot of these guys had offers to play at other schools but instead chose (and possibly traveled a long distance to attend) UAB, put in so many hours on the practice field and in the film room, formed bonds and relationships with coaches and teammates while playing the game they love, only to have it yanked out from under them.
It doesn’t matter what the reasoning behind the shut down is, it still sucks for every single guy in that room.