We cover your team. For you.

I covered my first college football game in 1987 — Auburn vs. Texas. I had just turned 18. I hadn't even taken a journalism class yet, but there I was, covering SEC football.

That was the start of a career that would span every era of sports media from that day to this one. I've gone from small-town newspapers where we pasted articles down with wax to helping plan CBS's first Super Bowl livestream. I built one of Alabama's first dial-up news websites at the Birmingham Post-Herald. I've spent time in newsrooms, broadcast trucks and SaaS companies that serve this industry. I've been at the intersection of sports and technology for nearly 40 years — from hot wax to right now, where AI and I are building websites in minutes instead of weeks.

And through all of it, I've watched the same thing happen over and over again — the fans who care the most get covered the least.

If you follow a Power 4 program, you've got more content than you can consume. Beat reporters, podcasts, YouTube channels, NIL newsletters, recruiting services, daily radio shows. The machine feeds itself.

But if you follow UAB? Troy? Jacksonville State? South Alabama? You know what it feels like to refresh a page and find nothing. To have your program mentioned as a footnote in someone else's story. To watch your school pull off something remarkable on a Saturday and see it buried behind the third paragraph of an SEC recap.

There are more than 60 FBS programs outside the Power 4. Their fans show up. They fill stadiums. They drive hours to road games. They donate. They care.

The media left. The fans never did.

That's the gap Diehard Sports Network exists to fill.

What this is

Diehard is a professional sports media network built for the programs the industry forgot — starting with four schools right here in Alabama.

UAB. Troy. Jacksonville State. South Alabama.

Each site gets its own dedicated coverage — original reporting, columns, podcasts, video, transfer portal tracking and community. We also surface the best coverage from across the web so you never miss a story about your program, no matter where it was published. Think of it as your home base — the one place you go to find everything about your team.

This isn't a message board. It's a network with editorial standards, real bylines and accountability. The kind of coverage every fan base deserves but only a handful actually get.

Why Alabama first

Because this is home. Because I know these programs, these communities and these fans. Because if the model works here — with four schools across three conferences — it works anywhere.

And because somebody has to go first.

Why now

College sports is in the middle of the biggest structural shift in its history. Conference realignment, the transfer portal, NIL, revenue sharing — the landscape changes every week. The programs outside the Power 4 are navigating all of it with a fraction of the resources and almost none of the attention.

These communities need coverage now. Not eventually. Not when someone at a national outlet decides your program is interesting enough for a one-off feature. Now.

What's coming

Diehard launches with dedicated coverage across all four Alabama schools this summer. The overwhelming majority of content on the site will always be free.

For fans who want to go deeper, we're building a premium tier — insider access, a private VIP community and perks you won't find anywhere else.

And then there's the Starting 22. Each team site will reserve just 22 founding member spots for the fans who want to be there from the very beginning — with lifetime access and a direct hand in making sure this coverage sustains. These are limited and they won't last long.

Beyond Alabama, the network is designed to scale. Memphis. South Florida. Tulane. James Madison. App State. Boise State. UNLV. We've got a poll running on the home page right now — go vote for which program you want to see next. The list of communities that deserve better coverage is long. We'll get there.

But first, we prove it works.

Get in early

If you're reading this, you're early. The site is live. The content is rolling. Register for a free account to join the conversation, and sign up for our newsletters — we publish daily coverage of the G6 landscape and school-specific updates you won't find anywhere else.

And if you're a fan of a program that's been ignored, overlooked or taken for granted by the media — this is for you.

We cover your team. For you.

Welcome to Diehard.