Semper in absentes felicior aestus amantes, the Roman poet Sextius Propertius had it—“Passion is always warmer toward absent lovers.” John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 28 years ago in “(Just Like) Starting Over”, put it this way: “It’s been too long since we took the time; no one’s to blame; I know time flies, so quickly.” We must ask, after a 10–3 season and a berth in Tuesday’s Boca Raton Bowl, has the resurgent University of Alabama at Birmingham stumbled upon a plan other teams should follow?
Back in December 2014, after a 6–6 season, university president Ray Watts announced that the football program would close down.