Two years ago, UAB didn’t field a football team.

That didn’t stop the Blazers from winning 10 games for the first time ever and claiming the Conference USA championship this season. As a result of the program’s amazing turnaround, UAB’s Bill Clark won the 2018 Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award.

Clark edged out seven other finalists for the honor, including Alabama coach Nick Saban. Strangely enough, Conference USA didn’t recognize Clark as its Coach of the Year — that went to Middle Tennessee State’s Rick Stockstill, who the Blazers defeated in the league title game.

One year after hiring Clark in 2014, UAB shut down its football program for two seasons due to budget concerns. But Clark stuck around for the program’s 2017 revival, leading an eight-win campaign last season before this year’s breakthrough.

“It would be hard to imagine someone more deserving than Bill Clark for this award,” Sugar Bowl President Rod West said in a UAB press release. “Two seasons ago, UAB didn’t even have a football team, and next week the Blazers will be playing in a bowl game as the champion of Conference USA.

“We congratulate Coach Clark on everything he has accomplished to date and we welcome him to the list of great coaches to have won the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.”

“Bill Clark has done a yeoman’s job in rebuilding the UAB program from scratch,” said 2018 FWAA President Stefanie Loh of the Seattle Times. “The fact the Blazers won the Conference USA title in 2018 is one thing. Considering the circumstances, it goes into the extraordinary category.”