Daniel Coleman was the final speaker at what felt like a funeral — the Closing Ceremony of Birmingham-Southern College.

Friday, nearly two years later, Coleman spoke not as one who was mourning but like a hopeful “father of the bride” as the U.S. Coast Guard held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the transfer of the BSC campus to the Coast Guard for its Training Center Birmingham-Southern.

“Two years ago, we had a funeral,” the college president said. “It was intense and sad. Today, it feels more like a wedding, and I get to be the father of the bride. I’m letting go of my duties, and I know that my daughter — this campus, this legacy – will be cherished and protected for a hundred years.”

Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, said this bride, as Coleman put it, isn’t losing her identity. The emblem of the training center melds the anchor symbol of the Coast Guard with the panther mascot logo of the closed college.

“The Birmingham-Southern College logo is embedded throughout the campus here,” Lunday said. “Everywhere you see it. We’re going to preserve that. It’ll not only be a reminder for the alumni who visit that the heritage is preserved but to every Coast Guard enlisted member that comes here to be trained. They’ll see that logo and it’ll be a reminder that they’re carrying on not only the Coast Guard’s history and heritage but the history and heritage of Birmingham-Southern College.”

Sen. Katie Britt, the Alabama Republican who helped shepherd the project to fruition, called the training center a transformational moment for Birmingham.

“As chair of the subcommittee of Homeland Security Appropriations, I am proud to have helped play a role in this,” Britt said. “I am proud to have helped connect the dots and work alongside local, state and federal leaders to make this a reality. As you can see, this is the perfect fit.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville spoke of the change on the BSC campus in academic terms.

“We’re proud today to see what’s happened, to see a new birth of Birmingham-Southern,” the Alabama Republican said, “changing curriculum, changing courses, changing majors, but building leaders in our great country.”

Tuberville and others said President Donald Trump is the reason many assembled for the ceremony.

“President Trump is a dealmaker,” Tuberville said. “By getting this property … he basically stole it as a negotiator. It came at a very good price for our country. We saved hundreds of millions of dollars by having this facility already here. If we would have had to build this facility, 10 years from now we might have been able to move into it. But because Birmingham-Southern is already here and President Trump understanding the need for training immediately, that’s the reason we’re here today — his foresight and his intuition.”

Lunday called the facilities of Birmingham-Southern “world class.”

“In many of the buildings, we can go right in and begin training very quickly. In fact, we’re going to begin training some of our initial classes later this year, in just a few months.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin agreed that the campus is beautiful, but he said some work is needed.

“We also got to make it fit the needs of the Coast Guard to deliver on our future threats and today’s threats,” Mullin said. “This campus has been abandoned for a little bit of time, so we’re going to show a tremendous amount of love. As we continue to bring more trainees onto this campus, we’ll continue to work one building at a time and so you’re going to see a lot of construction going on. That’s one thing that Sen. Britt and I were talking about on the way down here. The admiral had already put together a pretty good plan on which building he needs to renovate. We’ve gotta pretty good understanding of the dollars it’s going to take and why we’re using it. We’re also going to be building it and restoring it.”

Mullin said officials have a “ballpark figure” as to what it will cost to fully bring the campus to Coast Guard standards. He declined to define that “ballpark.”

“It’s not cheap,” he said. “It’ll be a good investment into Birmingham.”