SMU had a very long road back, and still is not even close to where they were before their death penalty. I think it's reasonable to expect that the road back for UAB will take awhile, too, even though they were not nearly as good as SMU was.
The NCAA gave SMU the death penalty. UAB put its own program in the electric chair, threw the switch, and stopped halfway into the electrocution. It's going to take a long, long time before recruits and their families will trust that UAB football will be around for the long haul.