Mark Ingram Previews an Exciting Year for UAB Athletics
Past President Hatton Smith and Rotarian Bolaji Kukoyi with Mark Ingram
This week, the Rotary Club of Birmingham (RCB) welcomed Mark Ingram, Director of Athletics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Ingram shared insights into UAB's athletic program transformation, highlighting the Blazers' move from Conference USA to the prestigious American Athletic Conference as well as impressive academic achievements, with an overall GPA of 3.36 across 500 student-athletes in 18 sports. He discussed major facility upgrades, including the upcoming $40 million Bartow Arena renovation that will modernize the 40-year-old venue with new club spaces, updated concourses, and a hall of fame display. Ingram addressed the challenges and opportunities presented by recent changes to policies around the name, image and likeness of student athletes and the transfer portal, as the university seeks to maintain athletic excellence and academic success.
Bio for Mark Ingram
Mark Ingram was named UAB’s Director of Athletics on May 1, 2015 and is beginning his 11th year at the helm of the Blazer Athletic Department. He brings nearly three decades of high-level collegiate experience to the Southside - including being part of 11 National Championship teams in 7 different sports - and has led the athletic department to tremendous heights.
Ingram has guided the UAB Department of Athletics through its most unique and unprecedented era of collegiate athletics starting with the reinstatement of Football, Bowling and Rifle in 2015, while promoting record-setting performances on the fundraising trail, in the classroom, and in the community. Additionally, he helped shepherd the athletic department to the conference forefront, by positioning as one of the top programs in CUSA, which led to an invitation to join the American Athletic Conference in the Fall of 2021.
In more than ten years leading the Blazers, UAB has won a total of eight conference championships, including two in football, three in men’s basketball, one in women’s basketball and two in rifle.
To put some of the change into perspective, prior to beginning his tenure in 2015, UAB football had only been invited to one bowl game in school history, but after the reinstatement of football in 2017, the Blazers have won two Conference championships, three Division championships in a row (only team in CUSA history to ever do so) and had six bowl appearances.
Similarly in Men’s Basketball, since Ingram’s arrival, the Blazers have amassed a record of 227-114, and attended six post-season tournaments. Since hiring Andy Kennedy prior to the 2020-21 season, UAB has had the winningest 5-year stretch in its proud history with a record of 125-50 (71.4% winning percentage), won two Conference Championships, qualified for two NCAA Tournaments, and made two appearances in the NIT while reaching the championship game in 2023.
Several UAB teams have competed for Conference Championships in recent years, but in addition to Football and Basketball, the Rifle program won back-to-back conference championships in 2019 and 2020. The 2017-18 season saw the Women’s Basketball program win a regular season Conference Championship. Additionally, during his tenure at UAB, the Athletic Department has boasted eight Conference Coaches of the Year in six different sports (Men’s Basketball, Men’s Golf, Football, Women’s Basketball, Rifle, Women’s Soccer).
Ingram has served as a member of the NCAA Football Competition Committee, and currently serves on the American Athletic Conference Committee on Academics. He served on the Board of Directors for the 2022 World Games, Co-chaired the LEAD1 Leadership group, and has been a member of the Birmingham Bowl Executive Committee.
Ingram has taken an entrepreneurial spirit to his work, partnering with community groups and other campus units to make improvements across the department. In 2016, UAB entered into an apparel agreement with Under Armour, the largest and most comprehensive agreement in the conference at the time. He has renegotiated every agreement affiliated with the department, including two separate extensions with Learfield IMG; a partnership that has improved revenues by more than 400%. In 2018, UAB Athletics partnered with a group of local business leaders to bring professional Men’s Soccer to Birmingham. This partnership led to the inception of the Birmingham Legion, a member of the United Soccer League, and building PNC Field, a new stadium that is now the exclusive home to Blazer Soccer. PNC Field has been referred to as the finest on-campus, soccer-only stadium in the country.
The health and well-being of our student-athletes is a top priority, and Ingram has been able to develop partnerships across campus, maximizing the resources of UAB’s world-class medical center. Those relationships have led to improvements in our medical services, mental health initiatives, and a first-of-its-kind program in college athletics called BlazerVision, developing cutting edge care for student-athletes through a partnership with the UAB School of Optometry. This program provides baseline testing for both vision care and concussions for all 500 student-athletes.
One of the first things Ingram established upon arriving was a set of core values that embodies everything staff encourages UAB student-athletes to strive for during their collegiate experience: “Win Championships, Graduate with Honors, and Make a Difference.” UAB student-athletes have risen to this challenge by winning numerous championships, increasing the Graduation Rate from 73% to 94%, and completing more than 41,000 hours of community service, one of the highest in the nation among all institutions. This won the CUSA Community Service award for the first time in school history, doing so two years in a row (2020/21 - 2021/22).
Prior to his arrival, UAB’s department GPA had not ever exceeded a 3.0 in its history. Under Ingram’s leadership, UAB’s Athletic Department GPA has exceeded a 3.0 for 21 consecutive semesters and counting, with 70% of its student-athletes scoring higher than a 3.0 GPA. This was evidenced in 2022-23 when UAB, for the first time in school history, won the Conference-USA Institutional Excellence Award for the highest overall department GPA (3.31), overtaking Rice University.
Record fundraising has been fundamental to the Blazer’s success. Since 2015, the UAB Department of Athletics has built or renovated more than 25 athletics facilities, positively impacting every sport program, all of which have been funded 100% through donor generosity.
Ingram was an integral member of the design team for the $210 million Protective Stadium project, allowing UAB Football to call it home since the 2021 season. The project was a partnership between UAB, the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, the BJCC, and the Birmingham business community. After a more than 25-year debate, this community collaboration - that included amending the state of Alabama Constitution through a state-wide vote - made possible the completion of one of the best venues in all of college football.
Additionally, he spearheaded the design and construction of the new 46,000 square-foot Football Operations Center, featuring an open-air pavilion covering a turf practice field, making UAB a pioneer in this functional and efficient architectural design.
The Football Operations Center is just one of many capital projects and facility renovations Ingram has led over his time at UAB. Others include:
Protective Stadium – Home to UAB Football ($210m)
Football Operations Center ($22.5m)
Men’s and Women’s Basketball Practice Facility ($7.5m)
PNC Field – Home to UAB Men’s & Women’s Soccer ($7m)
Mary Bowers Field – Home to UAB Softball Stadium ($1m)
Artificial Turf Installed at Baseball’s Young Memorial Field ($1.3m)
New Olympic Track & Field ($3.5m)
New Five-Court Beach Volleyball complex ($750,000)
Hoke Hire Academic Center Renovations ($140,000)
Olympic Sports Weight Room and Cardio Room Renovations ($620,000)
Olympic Sports Nutrition Station ($35,000)
Baseball, Softball and Beach Volleyball Scoreboards ($1m)
New Basketball Weight Room in Bartow Arena ($280,000)
Women’s Basketball Locker Room Renovations in Bartow Arena ($300,000)
Men’s and Women’s Golf Indoor Practice Facility ($95,000)
Dance Studio for Spirit Teams
Recruiting Photoshoot Lounge
Office Upgrades for 10 Sports Teams and Five Administrative Units
Champion Club Hospitality Room Upgrades ($80,000)
Green and Gold Hospitality Room Upgrades ($165,000)
Bartow Arena Upgrades for Upper-Level Safety ($120,000)
Highway Marquee Billboard ($250,000)
Olympic Sports Equipment High Density Storage and Inventory System ($75,000)
Baseball and Softball Locker Room Renovations ($140,000)
Always looking towards progress, Ingram is currently hard at work raising the necessary funds for an estimated $16 million renovation of Bartow Arena that will include a concourse expansion and renovation, concourse club, Hall of Fame display, and restroom upgrades.
Prior to arriving in the Magic City, Ingram was most recently the Associate Vice President/Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director at Temple University. There he served as sport administrator for Men's Golf and Women's Lacrosse while managing the development office and facilities renovation projects.
Ingram joined Temple from the University of Tennessee, where he was the Senior Associate Athletic Director. In five years at Tennessee, his alma mater where he was a two-year starter for the Vol's football team, Ingram was responsible for the planning and strategy for the department's Capital Campaign that raised $336 million during his tenure.
Before returning to the Tennessee staff, he served as Assistant Athletics Director for Development at the University of Georgia for two years and as Assistant Athletics Director for Development at the University of Missouri for four years. At both stops he provided oversight of the Athletics Development and Special Events staffs, helping to raise $65 million at UGA and $117 million at Mizzou.
His career in Athletics began as a graduate assistant in Football Operations at Tennessee before being hired as an Assistant Director of Marketing, and later an Assistant Director for Development.
Ingram, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native, graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1996 with a Bachelor's degree in Sport Management and minors in both Business and Psychology. As a student-athlete, Ingram was a two-time Academic All-SEC honoree and was twice awarded the Volunteer award, given to the most valuable player who was formerly a walk-on. He was also a member of the SEC Good Works Team. Ingram earned his Master's degree in Sport Administration from Tennessee in 1997.
Ingram and his wife Amy have four children: John (US Naval Academy, ‘24), Anne Lauren (Univ. of Alabama, ’25), Charlie (Mississippi State Univ. ’28) and Audrey (age 16).