 Already a participating member in other sports, on November 13, 1996, Conference USA commissioner Michael Slive announced that UAB would be admitted to the league as a football playing member for the 1999 season.Following the transition to I-A, UAB often played a couple of out-of-conference games with college football's traditional powers every year.In 2000, UAB achieved a monumental victory by beating the SEC's LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge.