Birmingham-Southern Closed Its Doors as The Baseball Team Advances DIII College World Series
A Story of Glory as Birmingham Southern University will be closing as the baseball team could win a championship
Birmingham Southern will be shutting their doors on May 31 with it’s last graduation held a few days ago. However, the baseball team just won its way into the Division III College World Series today beating the Dension University Big Red Buzzard’s 7-6 to advance to the championships in Eastlake, OH.
After 168 years of being open to students, Birmingham Southern University, a school until its closure with about 1,000 students, the school will be closing according to NewsNation, “after legislation aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan stalled in the Alabama Statehouse” starting back in 2023 with the school finally announcing to cease operations to shut down the school, with no buyers or sellers thinking of buying the school by May 31, 2024.
On February 6, 2024, a few former faculty tried to encourage the Alabama state government to keep the school open to now avale according to a written statement by the school administration.
The statement issued to students, parents, and faculty listed the school’s struggles since Alabama’s bill first was brought up last year in 2023.
The school funneled to secure the unused loans to keep their school open with $30 million left unchecked which will not be used thanks to the license of the new bill as discussions started until March 20 when a substitute bill passed in Alabama to try and keep the school closed for good.
A board meeting would later confirm these findings.
The school issued a statement saying, “As Chair of the Board, as a proud alumnus, as the parent of three sons who attended BSC, and as a former member of the BSC staff, I want you to know that I share your heartbreak, anger, and frustration over the devastating loss of this 168-year-old treasure.
I want you to know that Daniel B. Coleman has been a warrior for BSC since the moment he became BSC’s 16th president in December 2018. He envisioned a path forward for the College, worked tirelessly to convince others that BSC could overcome its challenges, and invested his considerable time, remarkable talent, and personal resources in the effort to save it. No one wanted that more than he did.
The Board is also deeply grateful to the College’s senior leadership, who have displayed loyalty, resiliency, and integrity in the face of long odds. It takes uncommon strength to show up every day knowing that the deck is stacked against you, and each day you consistently put your best effort into every task that was before you.
To the faculty, staff, and students who made the decision to stay and chose to join the fight instead of taking the easy path, I am overwhelmed with pride in the way you have carried yourself throughout these difficult times. While the outcome was not what any of us desired, how you exemplified an indomitable spirit and expressed yourself with integrity consistently demonstrated the essence of what we were working to preserve.”
The announcement became abrupt as students and staff scrambled to find places to find work and attend college at as a new dark road was ahead for the people of Birmingham. The school’s last graduation was held yesterday with many students calling to community home and a part of their family forever.
The baseball team wasn’t just family, it was home to many people who watched their games in the hot spring air.
The baseball team didn’t even come to win a national title or be close to it since 2010 but are the winningest baseball team in all of the DIII baseball with being a runner up in the Division III Baseball Championship game five years ago and being a nine-time conference champion according to The Athletic. The hometown Panthers didn’t start their baseball team exactly 14 years ago, but have made noise on the diamond time and time again.
These boys have even more shoes to fill as they will now have no conference record after this season is up, and the team has used that to their absolute advantage in these tournament games.
The Super Regionals for the Panthers were the most up this team, who had not won any national championships up to this point before the closure, as the series was emotionally fitting with the time.
The team thrives on the road which made them one of the most successful in Division III baseball, and as they climbed through the season with a successful 32-14 overall record, a 14-7 conference record, and a five-game winning streak up to this point, today was emotional for all of the right reasons.
The player counseled on the field as the team, according to the great Mets announcer Howie Rose, can have “one more hill to climb baby” as they took down the number one and number two teams in all of Division III Baseball (Spalding University in Kentucky & Transylvania University also in Kentucky).
This is not just the Panthers baseball team’s best season ever, but also one of the greatest in history, but this is for more than just bragging rights.
The whole Birmingham Southern baseball team practiced patience all season long, not knowing if they will go back to school or not. Now the team has a new battle to fight not just becoming an unnamed school from a marginalized region of the country, but also one of fight and character as they could be playing with no name, but a heart of gold in their chest for a school now closing and a future uncertain