This is the time of year where football championships are decided, so it’s a given that most college coaches are in the midst of their busiest time of the year right now. 

One guy you won’t see sweating on the sidelines this year or next is UAB head coach Bill Clark, but he’s busy putting in the hours too. Clark was the guest speaker at Monday’s Selma Quarterback Club meeting, where he talked about rebuilding the Blazers’ football program.

Clark led UAB to a 6-6 record in his first year, only to have the UAB football program be shut down in December 2014. The 6-6 mark was the best football record UAB had posted in a decade.

After a wave of support from local businesses, alumni and fans, it was announced in July that UAB would bring back its football program for the 2017 season.

“I told all the UAB people that I want to do it, but I’m not going to die again,” Clark said.  “We’ve got to do this right. You’ve got to make an investment; this community has to make an investment. That is the thing that’s changed.”

Clark said there’s plenty of work to be done before the team takes the field again. He’s spending most of his time on the recruiting trail, with an emphasis on junior college players. In the meantime, he said the school is putting a focus on upgrading its facilities.

Those words probably come as welcome news to many UAB supporters, who have pleaded for a new stadium for years.

UAB has played its home games at historic Legion Field, which opened in 1927 and has seen its better days.

“Birmingham needs a new stadium, 1 million percent. The proof is in the pudding at Regions Park,” Clark said, referencing the new baseball stadium of the Birmingham Barons, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. “There’s a lot of people that said it couldn’t be done, but it has changed the South side. There’s a lot of growth around it, all kind of apartments.”

Clark said he can’t say anything definite about a new stadium at this time, but he spoke optimistically about it. He said there’s plenty of potential for a Birmingham-based stadium, which could theoretically host the annual Birmingham Bowl, which pits teams from the SEC and The American Conference, and could be a future site for the Magic City Classic between Alabama State and Alabama A&M.

“I can’t speak for sure, but I’m hopeful there’s some announcements real soon,” Clark said.

The coach said he is confident that things have changed for the better at UAB.

When the program was first shut down, some pointed the finger at the University of Alabama’s board of trustees, which oversees the University of Alabama System, which includes UAB.

“It is a new day. I think the trustees are now supportive,” Clark said. “I think they probably need to see this commitment from these folks. I’m going to let that water go under the bridge from last year, and we are going to move forward.”

He said the school currently has about 30-40 players, including walk-ons, and is working toward the spring and next fall, when UAB will have open scrimmages and try to treat it as close to a regular season as possible.

“What we’re doing right now with our guys is we’re training,” Clark said. “It would be just like any offseason for somebody else. I’m telling you, these guys are doing terrific. Here’s what we say — this is the group, when they play that movie some day, this is the group that is going to be at the end of it and helped bring it back.”

The next quarterback club meeting will be Nov. 9 when former Arkansas and Jacksonville State head coach Jack Crowe is the guest speaker.