As stated before, its not a funding issue, at all. It's all politics. Paul Bryant Jr had a beef with the late Gene Bartow, and sought to cripple UAB (which actually makes more of the revenue for the system) through a variety of measures. They even turned down a $10 mil donation for the indoor ...

Mathis was such a good get for ya'll. Desoto is one giant pipeline for NCAA/NFL talent.

Also, it was mentioned on the GoMeanGreen board, but the Mathis hire might also be to gain more respect/inroads in shoring up the division between SMU/the black community in Dallas.