Kennedy Calls UAB AD Search a Defining Decision
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 1, 2026
Andy Kennedy is busy juggling a pair of full-time jobs these days as UAB’s basketball head coach and interim athletics director.
He’s entering his seventh season as the basketball coach with a roster that includes just two returnees on a 13-man roster. One of the returnees, KyeRon Lindsay-Martin, is eligible right now but status is still in question while the NCAA fights local court rulings that members of the incoming 2022 class are eligible for a fifth year of college eligibility. Kennedy has been the program’s interim athletic director since Mark Ingram parted ways with UAB two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, Kennedy met with media members to talk about several subjects, including his new interim job and what’s going on with his basketball team. Following is what he said about his new responsibility and what the program is looking for in a permanent athletic director. The Banner will have a separate story on what he said about his basketball team.
On what it’s like currently working two jobs: “You know, honestly, it's a lot. I have to catch myself because when I got the call, I was out of state, dealing with something of a personal nature. I got a call, I think it was two weeks ago yesterday. So I became the interim AD two weeks ago today. I wouldn't have done this if, number one, I didn't feel like this was a very big inflection point for the future of UAB Athletics. For a guy that loves this place and has been around a long time, uh, I want to lend any guidance that I can when appropriate. So the first week was just kind of figuring out exactly what's the expectation, what do you expect of me, what do you want my role to be? Then in week two, with school starting, comes some responsibilities which take time. So every single day, I'm dealing with basketball stuff, which is my day job, and it's pretty consuming, but I'm also dealing with stuff as it relates to the department because I want to make sure that our student-athletes and our coaches feel supported, appropriately.”
On whether he would take the full-time AD job: “That is not the intent right now. My goal is to do what is best for UAB. I want the best person for UAB. When you start a search everybody has these dreams of grandeur and then when you get into the weeds, you start figuring out ‘OK what are we looking for as it relates to a candidate? What does our candidate pool look like?’ I just want to be part of lending any experience that I can give from coming here in 1998 to being a part of this as a player, as an assistant coach and now going into my seventh year as a head coach. I just want to be able to, to give that experience. I've been in this space now, I'm going into my 20th year as a head coach, 30 years in this space as a coach. I've been at a number of different institutions that do it a lot of different ways. So again, I, I just wanna be able to lend that. This is my life. You know when you're dealing with running a university at the scope of UAB, athletics is a small part of it. Well, this is what I do. This is my life and so I want to be able to be a resource.”
On what the best person for UAB AD looks like: “I think if you ask 10 people, they would give you 10 different answers. For me, I think the first thing is someone that can come in and immediately cast a vision that unifies both internally as it relates to UAB and externally. The Birmingham community has been so supportive from day one. When Coach Bartow took this thing over in 1977, it would not have been done without real synergy between the university and the community and we've got to get that back.”
On whether he took notes as a player about the way Coach Bartow did his job: “I was a kid just worried about getting more shots, you know? At that time, you know, I'd find myself doing some things and saying some things that I learned under Coach Bartow. But at the time, you're just worried (about yourself). You're so selfish. We're all still selfish, but you're so selfish at that age. You're just worried about getting shots and doing your thing. But I do have a real appreciation. You know, when I came back and, and worked for Murry (Bartow) and Coach was the AD, our relationship took another step. Then when he was working for the Memphis Grizzlies and I became the head coach at Ole Miss, it really took a step. We had an opportunity to really have a lot of candid conversations. I understood when I was here, because I was here 10 years after it had started in earnest. So I understood the struggles that went into getting UAB to what it is today. But I really got an appreciation for it once I kinda could see behind the curtain.”
On the mentorship of Coach Bartow when he was working with the Grizzlies: “He was terrific. You know, it's so, it's so ironic. He worked for the owner at the time, a guy named Mike Heisley and he was really kind of an external guy. He didn't have a lot of basketball decisions. The decision maker in basketball was Jerry West. The head coach was Hubie Brown. So I had the opportunity to be in rooms with Gene Bartow, Jerry West, Hubie Brown. It was kind of amazing. You're talking about a vast array of knowledge that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. We became friends, honestly, and that's why this opportunity to step in this vacuum during this time of transition as it relates to athletics at UAB is something that's a labor of love for me.”
On the importance of this moment in UAB athletics: “Well, I just think when you look back, we're in our 49th year of athletics at UAB. It's hard to believe it’s our 49th year. I think everything has changed so dramatically. Think about it, for all of us. Think about how it's changed really in the six years that I've been here. Think about how it's changed in the last six months. Think about how it's changed in the last six days, the last six hours. It's gonna continue to change. So you've gotta have somebody that understands 2026 intercollegiate athletics and you've gotta have somebody that understands that these rules are gonna continue to twist and turn. So you've gotta go into this thing with your eyes completely open.”
On timeline for hiring a new AD: “From what has been shared with me, they will go through a process and there will be a third-party firm involved. Once that is secured, that firm will then start a vetting process based on the characteristics given. There'll be a committee formed, I'm sure, and then things will get started in earnest.”
On having conflicts in the workload of interim AD and basketball head coach: “Just from a timing standpoint and a lot of it is just the initial meetings that you have to have kicking off a new school year and then all of the things that I've had to do just to try to get up to speed for the expectation for me. I need to be well-versed in the areas that you're expecting some guidance. So that's taken a little bit. There's never a slow time as a basketball coach in this day and age that we live, but this is about as slow as it gets because we're basically regurgitating a lot of the things that we put in this summer. I can only have guys for X amount of hours and that changes here in a few weeks and then I'm gonna get turned up. I wanna make sure again that we can get the infrastructure set so that I can keep the main thing the main thing.”
On helping rebuild the UAB athletic department: “I get frustrated in life when things are not reaching their potential. I think the UAB of 2026 is different than the UAB when I was here in 1988-1991. I just want us to reach our potential. I want everybody to feel like they have everything that they need to be the best version of themselves, each individual sport. Really that's my goal and I want to make sure through the role that I've been given that can be communicated to the people that can make those things happen.”
On the support he’s received since the transition: “It's been tremendous. Because of the time and because at the end of the day this is just gonna be a blip on the screen for Andy Kennedy. I'm gonna be judged by basketball. I'm going into, again, my 20th year as a head basketball coach, and I know that's ultimately how I'm gonna be judged. So I would not have taken this on if I did not think this was gonna be a serious pursuit for finding the best possible candidate to lead the Department of Athletics at UAB moving forward. I believe that is the case. From Dr. Watts to his cabinet, everybody understands, the magnitude of this decision.”
On his vision of UAB athletics: “Ultimately to be the best version that it can be and to be creative in this new day and age that we're living. The last time that this job opened was in 2015. This job looks a lot different in 2026 and so you have to have somebody that completely understands it.”
On his opinion of UAB football coach Alex Mortensen: “I like Mort, man. I do. I think he's got a real, real high football IQ. At the end of the day, if he's allowed to procure the proper talent then that'll be showcased. I'm really excited for him. I've been around the football team a number of times now, trying to show support and I think the enthusiasm out there is infectious. You can feel it. Ot's not an easy debut, but it's really not a debut for him. He's got six games under his belt, I suppose, so he won't go in with first-game jitters like a normal guy would in his first year as a head coach. I think they're excited about the personnel that they do have and I think they're looking forward to starting this year.”
On Mark Ingram’s exit: “I don't have any specifics. I'll say this, Mark was here 11 years, and I think he did a lot of tremendous things as it relates to the building of UAB Athletics. For me personally, I'll always be indebted to him. He hired me in 2020 to come back and lead my alma mater and that's something I'll always be indebted for. We're in a tough business, man. Being the AD at UAB is not an easy job. Being the basketball coach at UAB is not an easy job. Being the football coach at UAB is not an easy job. We all understand that, and sometimes an appetite for change is amongst us and things happen. We're all big boys.”
On Bartow Arena renovation: “I think you're gonna be really, really excited. My father, Frank Kennedy is still living, God bless him, and my mother, who is not, Mary Kennedy, she passed a few years back of cancer. But my father was an electrician for 46 years. When I was in seventh grade, literally, when I was in seventh, eighth, ninth grade, in the summers, I would work for him. So I've seen my fair share of construction sites. They don't do a whole lot for me. I don't like going over and saying, ‘Hey, they got a new wall up today. You want to see the wall, coach? We dug this hole, you want to see it?’ No, I don't really care about any of that. I've been in it one time because I had to go in because we're doing something in our locker room. For the first time, I could really see the scope of it - the club, the way that they have reconfigured the seats. It's gonna have a complete new arena feel and I haven't even really had the chance to experience the new entryway to it, so I, I'm really excited.”