ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM
Football finished
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UAB is shutting down its football program after one of the Blazers' stronger seasons.
The university announced the decision Tuesday minutes after President Ray Watts met with the Blazers players and coaches. UAB made the decision after a campus-wide study conducted by a consulting firm over the past year.
"The fiscal realities we face -- both from an operating and a capital investment standpoint -- are starker than ever and demand that we take decisive action for the greater good of the athletic department and UAB," Watts said in a statement released by the university. "As we look at the evolving landscape of NCAA football, we see expenses only continuing to increase. When considering a model that best protects the financial future and prominence of the athletic department, football is simply not sustainable."
UAB said in a release that it subsidizes $20 million of the athletic department's operating budget of some $30 million annually, and said both those numbers rank fifth in Conference USA. The university said the difference over the next five years would be an extra $49 million with football, including a projected $22 million needed for football facilities and upgrades.
UAB is the first major college program since Pacific in 1995 to shut down.
Eliminating football jeopardizes UAB's membership in Conference USA and associated programs including the school's marching band, although the school said it hopes to remain in the league and Division I.
UAB is also cutting bowling and rifle programs.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN
No bowl for Eagles
JONESBORO -- The NCAA says Georgia Southern cannot play in a bowl game this year, increasing the chance that Arkansas State will be invited to post-season play.
Georgia Southern was undefeated in the Sun Belt Conference but ineligible for a bowl under NCAA rules. The NCAA denied the school's request for a waiver Tuesday. Appalachian State was also a Sun Belt newcomer this year and ineligible for a bowl game.
That leaves the Sun Belt with four teams with enough victories to qualify for post-season play -- and the league has three bowl tie-ins.
Louisiana-Lafayette was 8-4 overall, while Arkansas State and Texas State are 7-5. South Alabama is 6-6.
The league has tie-ins with R and L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the GoDaddy Bowl and the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.
MICHIGAN
Hoke gone
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Brady Hoke is out after four years at Michigan.
Interim athletic director Jim Hackett made the announcement Tuesday after weeks of speculation about Hoke's future.
"I wanted to make sure that Brady received adequate time to exhibit the results that would come from his effort, and I believe that Brady and our coaching staff had enough time to produce those results and unfortunately they are not there," said Hackett, who took over as athletic director last month. "In the end, I feel that moving in a different direction is the right decision."
Hoke did not return a message left seeking comment. In a statement provided by the school, he thanked his players and said he would miss them.
Hired after the tumultuous tenure of Rich Rodriguez, Hoke was supposed to help Michigan regain its place among college football's elite, and his familiarity with the program's culture and tradition made the initial transition a successful one.
But after going to the Sugar Bowl in Hoke's first season, the Wolverines slowly slipped back into mediocrity and are not even among the top teams in the Big Ten. Hoke was 31-20 as the Wolverines' coach after the team floundered to a 5-7 record this season and missed out on bowl eligibility.
OLE MISS
New contract for Freeze
JACKSON, Miss. -- Hugh Freeze and Mississippi announced they had reached an agreement on a new contract Tuesday. Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork did not immediately disclose terms of the contract, but in November said both sides were working on a deal that would pay about $4 million per year.
"I was pretty much blown away when (Bjork) came to me with this contract," Freeze said Tuesday night. "It's humbling and I'm honored and I'm glad that it happened fast."
Freeze -- whose agent is Jimmy Sexton -- was previously on the first year of a four-year contract that paid $3 million annually.
Bjork said part of the new agreement includes more money for Freeze's assistant coaches and that terms of the contract would be disclosed when details were finalized. Mississippi law limits state contracts to four years.
The 45-year-old Freeze has led Ole Miss to a 24-14 record, including an 11-13 mark in the Southeastern Conference, over three seasons. The 12th-ranked Rebels have a 9-3 record this season and beat No. 4 Mississippi State 31-17 on Saturday in the Egg Bowl.
FLORIDA
AD talks to McElwain
Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley flew to Fort Collins, Colo., to meet with Colorado State Coach Jim McElwain on Tuesday about the Gators' head coaching job, two sources told the Orlando Sentinel.
McElwain has become the focus of Foley's search for a head coach to replace Will Muschamp, leaving CSU athletic officials "extremely nervous" the school's dramatic turnaround under McElwain would be short-lived.
While it was unclear if Foley offered McElwain the job Tuesday, an industry source told the Sentinel the Gators were "not talking to anyone else at this point."
Colorado State has gone from 4-8 in McElwain's first season to 10-2 this season, his third at the school.
McElwain, 52, was the former offensive coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama (2008-11) when the Crimson Tide won the 2009 and 2011 national titles.
Sports on 12/03/2014