RUSTON, Louisiana — UAB athletic director Mark Ingram said he hopes to have his football program’s coaching search finished by the time the transfer portal opens in December.
“The transfer portal opens up December 5, so we want to make sure we’re in front of that, if we can be,” Ingram said. “We’re not assured of that, but that’s the goal. We need to get in front of that and we’ve got bowl preparation, we’d like to be in front of that as much as we can.”
The coaching search began just after Bill Clark resigned in June to take care of back issues on June 24. Bryant Vincent spent the season as the program’s interim head coach and remains a candidate. Ingram has spent the season reaching out to coaching prospects.
“I bet I’ve spoken, on the phone at least, to 25 different coaches or their representative,” Ingram said. “I’ve probably done a Zoom call with 15 of them. From there, you try to do in person as many as you can. We still got some people who wanted to get through today, before they had an official conversation.”
Ingram said he’s ready to get the process finished but doesn’t want to hurry the ending of a long search.
“It hasn’t been a burden, but, what it’s done is it’s given me a lot of time to talk to a lot of people,” Ingram said. “Tongue in cheek, it’s also been a long time to talk to a lot of people. You have time to call a lot of people who might know you. We’ve been able to do a lot more background work and get in depth with that. We would have not had that in any other scenario, we would never have that amount of time to do that.”
Vincent was asked following the regular-season-ending win at Louisiana Tech about the next step for him. The Blazers will play in the Bahamas Bowl against Miami of Ohio on December 16 to conclude Vincent’s season as the interim head coach.
“Here’s what I believe: everything is God’s plan,” Vincent said. “Whatever he decides for me to do, is what I’m going to do. I have strong faith, I believe that and I know he’s got a great plan for me, moving forward. What it is, I don’t know. I love these kids, I love these coaches, this program and I’m just happy to be able to play another game with them.”
He added that he is content with the way a challenging season is ending.
“If this is the last game, there’s not a better way to go out,” Vincent said. “Everything these kids have learned and embraced and grown from makes me a very proud head coach.”
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email steve.irvine@1819news.com.
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