UAB shutting down football program

— -- UAB is shutting down its football program.

The university announced the decision Tuesday, minutes after president Ray Watts met with Blazers players and coaches. UAB made the decision after a campus-wide study conducted by a consulting firm over the past year.

Watts says financial realities "are starker than ever and demand that we take decisive action for the greater good of the athletic department and UAB."

He says UAB subsidizes two-thirds of the program's $30 million annual operating budget.

Several hundred UAB students and fans gathered and marched through campus the past three days showing their support of the program.

The Blazers are 6-6 and bowl eligible after coach Bill Clark's first season. Players will meet later Tuesday to decide if they want to play should a bowl berth be extended.

The program's only bowl trip came in 2004.

Players can transfer to other schools and play next season.

Playing in the shadows of Alabama and Auburn and lacking an on-campus stadium, UAB has struggled to develop a fan base and consistent attendance in the nearly two decades since it joined the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Average attendance doubled this year under Clark to more than 20,000 per game, but reports circulated that administrators might kill the program even as the Blazers compiled their best record in a decade.

Roddy White, the Atlanta Falcons star who is one of two active players in the NFL who attended UAB, lobbied last month to keep the team.

"UAB gave me my first opportunity and the first chance to play football," White said. "From there, I made it here. It's been 10 years in the league, so UAB was like the stepping stone for me getting to where I am today."

Eliminating football would jeopardize UAB's membership in Conference USA and associated programs including the school's marching band. Members of the band and cheerleaders joined in the protest at the administrative offices on Monday.

The last FBS school to eliminate football was Pacific in 1995.

Information from ESPN.com Falcons reporter Vaughn McClure and The Associated Press is included in this report.