Bill Clark on UAB AD job: 'I would definitely entertain it'

Bill Clark said publicly for the first time that he has interest in becoming UAB's athletic director.

"I would definitely entertain it," Clark said Friday on The Coach Bill Clark Show. "There'd be a lot of things that would have to happen."

Clark, who coached UAB football for eight seasons — including two when the program was shut down — made his first public comments about the vacancy created by Mark Ingram's departure on Aug. 18. He was direct about his interest but equally direct about his terms.

"My whole thing was if enough people wanted something like that, then I would listen," Clark said. "And other than that, I'm not gonna go ask for it. I'm not campaigning."

When a host asked, "But if mama called, you would answer?" Clark did not hesitate.

"I would answer and listen," he said. "And see, how could I help?"

The answer about the job came at the end of the segment. What came before it was more significant.

Clark has never publicly discussed the end of his tenure at UAB. He retired in June 2022 with spinal fusion surgery ahead of him. He left behind a program he had rebuilt from a shutdown, coached to a 49-26 record in six playing seasons, won two Conference USA championships and earned the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year award — the first C-USA coach to receive it. UAB was one of the winningest programs in the Group of 5 during his time as head coach.

On Friday, he talked about what happened behind the scenes.

"Let's go back to me deciding I wanted to retire, back surgery impending," Clark said. "And I say, 'I'm giving you the guy. I'm giving you the guy who I want it to be to be my replacement. He knows my system. I'm gonna be involved. We've got all our players, you know, and let's see how he does.' You know, I understand interim tags, et cetera. Gets to a bowl, gets bowl eligible, right? And is replaced by a coach picked by the person that just stepped down. And then I find out it was already going on in August, you know? So I think just there, the list could go on and on and on and on."

Clark was referring to Bryant Vincent, his offensive coordinator, whom he had endorsed as his successor. Vincent went 7-6 in his first season and led the team to a bowl game. Ingram replaced him with Trent Dilfer, who had never coached above the high school level. Clark said he learned Ingram had been in contact with Dilfer as early as August — while Vincent was still coaching the team through the season Clark had handed him.

"But from a UAB standpoint, there's a chance for a new day, there's a chance for new leadership," Clark said. "And when I say leadership, we talk about this on the show all the time, it's everything. You know, it's everything. It's how you treat people."

Clark spent most of the segment describing what he believes the athletic director's job should be.

"He should be somebody that is a servant to the students and to the coaches," Clark said. "You know, when you talk about servant leadership, what does that look like? I would want an athletic director... I was an athletic director, and this, you know, what I would say to the coaches, 'My number one job is to make you look good.' Now you've got certain rules you gotta follow, moral rules and how you treat the kids, but my job is to make you successful. What do I need to do? And when you didn't get that question asked, what does it take for me to help you understand? Of course, everybody would love an unlimited supply of money, but how do I treat you? How do I treat these players?"

"I get this all the time. 'Well, you know, it's just natural for a coach and an AD to just not get along.' And I say, I won't cuss, but I'll say, 'No, I totally disagree.'"

"My job is to get everything I can for these student athletes and this team. But also, I'm not an idiot, you know? I do understand constraints. I understand the league we're in. Especially when you're like I was and you were involved in the fundraising, you know, you were the vision. And so to have somebody that wants to work alongside you..."

"And when I say I felt the opposite, that's the difference.

"So the struggles that we went through from the jump, from the return of the program onward, were not the normal struggles that you would, you know, that would be just we're all fighting for the same cause."

Clark said he recently spoke with UAB head football coach Alex Mortensen.

"I talked to Coach Mortensen the other night," Clark said. "I now feel like I might be welcome back."

Under the previous administration, he did not.

Asked whether Ingram's departure could reenergize the UAB fan base, Clark's answer was immediate.

"I think it's everything," he said. "I think it's everything."

Clark questioned why no one from the institution has reached out to the people who built the program.

"You would think somebody would be asking me, you know?" Clark said. "What does that look like? What challenges do you go through? How can we do this? How can we raise money when you were part of doing all those things? So this person can be these things and can reenergize this athletic department, this city. I mean, it all goes hand in hand. That's what I believe and that's what we fought for every day when I was there."

"The athletic director's job is to be behind the scenes," Clark said. "Not that you're not gonna be in front of things sometimes. There's times when you're called on to be the face and help raise money, but you're behind the coach pushing the coach. You're behind the athlete pushing the athlete. And somebody that understands how to deal with coaches and players is number... They, we, I think we all think it's all money now. There's a component, there's no doubt. We've gotta fundraise. We've gotta create money for NIL. We've gotta create partnerships. All that goes hand in hand. But what does the coach think? What does he want? What does he, she want?"

"What profession is more their neck is on the line than a college coach?" Clark said. "Who is getting judged... First we're gonna get judged on everything there is to do with your player. Grades, social, the recruitment. So you're gonna get judged on that, and then every game day you're gonna get judged in front of God and everybody, okay? So if you don't understand what that pressure looks like as an athletic director, man, you also understand as a coach, you're coming into, you gotta win. You gotta do all those things and win. So we're not saying feel sorry for this coach, but to have an understanding of what that looks like, and also understand my job is support you in every way versus hinder."

"But when you're out talking to people outside of what the coach is pulling for and the coach is trying to say, that's a problem. You know, it should be one voice."

Clark was asked directly how involved Ingram was in the fundraising behind the football operations center, the basketball practice facility, Legacy Pavilion and the other facilities built during Clark's tenure.

"I think he loved the picking out the colors," Clark said. "The design. I'm not being funny, really. I mean, the design of things."

A host characterized it as "the pomp and circumstance, not the actual, 'Let me roll my sleeves up and get dirty.'"

"He enjoyed the picking of colors," Clark said. "He enjoyed the aesthetics of it. But our core group did the fundraising. You know, the foundation, myself."

Clark closed with a message for the UAB fan base.

"This is a time for UAB to do something right, and people have gotta stand up, people have gotta speak," Clark said. "And, you know, I don't wanna hear it, though, and I say this to the UAB folks, if you don't make sure you get the right person here that is picked by UAB, then I don't wanna hear you complain 'cause here's your freaking chance."

Listen to the full episode of The Coach Bill Clark Show here.