The University of Alabama-Birmingham has brought in outside PR counsel as it copes with fallout from its controversial decision to shutter its football program and fire athletic director Brian Mackin.
The university, engaged in a strategic planning study, brought in outside consultants and in early December said it would scuttle its Blazers football, bowling and rifle programs after the 2014-15 seasons to save tens of millions of dollars. The decision, which leaked before an announcement, was met with disappointment and rancor among supporters of the team, students and other stakeholders.
As a result, the school engaged Birmingham-based Direct Communications, the well-connected but low profile firm led by veteran corporate and political PR consultants Rick Heartsill and Steve Raby. The university said DC will help communicate and support the "important dialogue that will lead the strategic direction of the campus."
University president Ray Watts expressed "regret" this week about how the announcement was handled and outlined several moves, including the hiring of DC, to address concerns.
That includes the launch of a new public website, UAB Forward, along with the formation of task forces to study several "priority issues that have been shared with [University president Ray] Watts in recent discussions."
Sports Illustrated reported in November that ending the football program was on the board's radar, claiming supporters of the program believed the university's board of trustees wanted to scuttle the football program over a feud with its former athletic director and to avoid competition with the more prominent Univ. of Alabama Crimson Tide football team.
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