Addition of JMU raises bar for UAB

James Madison just paid $23 million to join UAB's conference.

And when the Dukes arrive, they will bring a $78.6 million athletics budget — nearly double UAB's $42.1 million (FY2025 EADA). JMU will trail only South Florida in total athletic spending among American Conference members. UAB ranks last.

JMU is not showing up to collect a television check. As Roddy Piper said in the cult classic "They Live" — "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."

James Madison is coming to win. And it is more than capable.

JMU's arrival raises the stakes for every program in the American — but especially for UAB. The Blazers fired their head coach a year ago. Their athletic director left in August. They are searching for new leadership at the moment the conference's competitive bar just went up.

The Dukes have a College Football Playoff appearance, four straight years of season-ticket sellouts, and an estimated $440 million in earned media exposure in a single season. They have been full FBS members for two years. Two. In that time, they won a Sun Belt championship, made the CFP, received votes in national polls every season and outspent every program in their conference.

While still in the FCS, JMU spent $10-12 million annually on football — at the Group of 5 median, while the FCS median never exceeded $4.4 million. JMU had been spending like an FBS program for a decade before it became one. In its final transition year, its $58 million athletics budget was larger than every Sun Belt school's. Three years later, it has grown to $78.6 million.

JMU's FAQ spelled out the competitive calculus: "The new formula in 2026 all but guarantees only one Group of Six participant in the 12-team model. ... It is imperative that JMU place itself in the best possible position to be the highest-regarded institution for the one Group of Six spot."

That program is now in UAB's conference. It will compete against UAB for the American's CFP access, for the conference's top media slots, for the recruits who want to play on the biggest stage the G6 offers. And it will arrive with donors who funded a $23 million conference move out of pocket and a budget that outspends Memphis, Tulane, Navy, Temple, East Carolina and every other American Conference member except USF.

When the American expanded in 2023, UAB was the clear first choice among the six schools that joined. The reasons were hard to argue with.

Under Bill Clark, UAB went 49-26 with three consecutive CUSA West Division titles, two conference championships and a bowl invitation every season from 2017 through 2021. Clark's 2018 team won the program's first conference championship. His 2021 team beat No. 13 BYU 31-28 in the Independence Bowl — the highest-ranked victory in program history. UAB led CUSA in attendance in 2017 and was second in 2018, all while playing in the number one television market for college football in the country. Birmingham has held that ranking for nearly two decades, per Nielsen.

UAB had every credential a conference could want: a $175 million stadium, a Tier 1 research university, one of the strongest basketball programs in the Group of 6 and a fan base that had already demonstrated what it would do when the program was threatened. The Free UAB movement raised $27 million after the university shut down football in December 2014. The fans fought their own administration and won.

Then UAB hired Trent Dilfer.

In two and a half seasons, Dilfer went 9-21. His only prior coaching experience was at Lipscomb Academy, a private high school in Nashville. He was fired on October 12, 2025, after a 53-33 loss at Florida Atlantic. So many positive things that took years to build were undone in less than three, made worse by aloof leadership that was slow to respond to the changing landscape.

UAB is now searching for an athletic director. Mark Ingram parted ways with the university on August 18 after 11 years. Andy Kennedy, the men's basketball coach, is serving as interim AD. UAB has reportedly hired Parker Executive Search, an Atlanta-based firm, to coordinate the search, per College AD. Parker is the same firm that produced Ingram in 2015.

This search matters. We covered it extensively — the job, the profile, the obvious names, the Birmingham connections, the basketball background, the builders, the outside-the-box hire. Bill Clark said publicly he would entertain the position. Blazer Nation made its expectations clear. I wrote an open letter to whoever gets the job.

The next athletic director is walking into a moment of consequence.

The American Conference is getting stronger. JMU will raise the competitive bar for every school in the league. The programs that invest — in coaching, in NIL, in donor engagement, in institutional support — will have a chance at the one G6 spot in the CFP. The programs that wait will watch someone else take it, or in the worst case, do decades of damage to themselves simply by ignoring this reality. Every period like the one we're in has demonstrated this. Status quo is itself a decision, one I would argue is a losing one.

If there is further conference movement — and the departure histories of Memphis, Tulane and USF suggest the possibility — the American could navigate a transition of its own. There will be winners and losers. JMU does not intend to be a loser.

UAB's $42.1 million budget is the lowest in the American Conference. The gap between where UAB is and where JMU operates is $36.5 million.

But the assets UAB had when the American extended the invitation still exist.

Protective Stadium is still there — a $175 million facility that opened five years ago. Birmingham is still the number one college football television market in the country. UAB is still a Tier 1 research university. The basketball program is still strong. The football program has proven, under the right coach with the right institutional support, that it can win at a high level. And the fan base has already demonstrated — with $27 million and a social media movement that forced a university president to reverse course — that it will rise up and support when it believes the university is invested.

They don't want to have to fight their university again. But I know this fan base, and I need to say this clearly now — after getting that rank Dilfer Stank (TM) off this program, they're fired up. And they expect you to get this right without asking THEM to foot the entire bill or forcing them to drag you toward upward mobility.

We're in a defining era of college athletics for programs like UAB. It's time to get a leader in here with vision and a plan. The fans and boosters who brought this program back want UAB to chase excellence just as aggressively as peer institutions like Memphis, South Florida, Tulane ... and now JMU.

The next hire will tell us a lot about how the administration views UAB Athletics.