[VarsityLu]

A lot of people think that Jim was set up by some higher-ups in the university who wanted him out for his strong religious beliefs. Jim did a lot of work with Athletes in Action on campus and some folks didn't like that. That doesn't justify his mistake, but he definitely was a scapegoat for a relatively minor infraction, especially in light of the cost of attendance money now being dealt out. Most Ohio State fans understand that, which is why he is still LOVED by most Buckeye fans.

[Sly Fox]

Can we just reflect on how minor Tatgate was in comparison to BU, UNC, or Louisville? It's almost laughable compared to what's happened since then.

Apparently not in the eyes of the NCAA.

[JK37]

Tressel’s thing wasn’t tatgate; it was lying about it. NCAA made an example of him.

Maybe.

[Sly Fox]

Here's another slight factor that could actually put Troy Calhoun in the available column in spite of his success at AFA the past few years:

Military academy athletes must serve before going pro

By Zachary Cohen and Ryan Browne, CNN
Updated 10:22 AM ET, Tue May 2, 2017

Washington (CNN)Top-tier athletes enrolled at US military service academies must, once again, serve out their mandatory two-year active duty stints upon graduation before they can pursue a career in professional sports.

The Department of Defense announced Monday that it had rescinded a policy from 2016 that had allowed some service academy athletes to request to be placed on reserve status, rather than assigned to active duty posts, in order to accept contracts from pro sports teams.

Click Here for Full Story

[Sly Fox]

It is interesting that while we were speculating about a triple option syste for our next coach, Georgia Southern just began their own search at a school that has used that sytem to success over the years. Here are the early candidates being mentioned today down in Statesboro:

Five candidates Georgia Southern should look at for head coaching vacancy
To option or not to option: that is the question.

by Brian Stone@WatchTheStone Oct 23, 2017, 12:57pm EDT

With Georgia Southern’s firing of Tyson Summers yesterday, names immediately starting cropping up as to who should be the Eagles’ third head coach since 2014.

After suffering a nightmare pair of seasons under a guy who barely had experience running one side of the ball, I hope the Eagles make a safer choice this time around and don’t look to make a “splash hire” after the season ends.

Here’s my top-five in no particular order...

Click Here for Full Story

[badger74]

LU does not need to go option to win. They have enough talent right now to have maybe 1 loss. Not a talent issue. All coaching--bad coaching. College is all about the coaching.

[LU Alum 2016]

I completely agree the option is generally used for teams that want to be competitive not win FB games or championships. 1) our roster is not condusive to the option, not with Buckshot 2) we have enough talent to win most of our games already. It is simply just bad coaching all around.
It looks pretty clear that Gill will be fired after this season. For me the quedtion is when will it be most financially responsible to terminate His employment with the school. That is ultimately why I believe he has not been fired yet. Buyout is cheaper after the season is over.

[Ewglenn]

Well, Liberty to Army is like crabapples to oranges. And we suck.

Army was 3-9, 2-10, 3-9 before their coach came in so sucking doesn’t keep coaches away. Besides coaches can see we have talent just need the coach.

He is only making 993k. Open up the checkbook and we could take him.

[flameshaw]

Uh...Danny Rocco turned down the Army job to remain Liberty's coach.

Speaking of Danny...he might be worth a phone call.

Don't think DR would be too interested, even though his biggest objection to returning to LU is gone. He was interested in coming back shortly after he left, because not all of the things he was promised at Richmond were delivered.
Personally, I was not a big DR fan. Don't remember us winning a game "we shouldn't" but remember a few that we had no reason to lose ie. in infamous Presby game. In addition, there seemed to be a lot of lame excuses for losses. He is obviously a big step up from TG currently, but a couple of good seasons at Delaware, will land him a big FBS job.

[flamesfilmguy]

Here's your monday evening hot take from someone who is as cynical as it gets when it comes to his teams likelihood of success in the future.

PH posed a question in another thread earlier that really spoke to me. "So the question becomes to me is: How much of it is an institutional problem?" I think thats the question we should be asking. I know there are a lot of homer/red colored glasses guys in here who love our current administration. I was against the hiring of McCaw to begin with but JFJR seems to not give two ****'s about our public profile as a school so we have to deal with that. I don't doubt McCaw when it comes to being able to do his job well. HOWEVER, will JFJR put his enormous ego aside and allow IM to do his job? honestly I don't know. And there in lies a problem. Its pretty well known around the athletics world how things run at Liberty. And that is going to cause a lot of candidates to have second thoughts about coming to coach at LU. Specifically guys who are up and coming and have little to no head coaching experience. Would you take that job if failure meant setting your career back several years? I wouldn't. If I were Streeter, who most of you want as our next HC, I would stay put and take the Clemson OC position. IF you were a P5 Coordinator or G5 Head coach would you really want to step into this dumpster fire knowing that failure would be likely and you'd be that coach who couldn't succeed as an independent with virtually unlimited resources? Nah. We will go after a name because thats what we do here at liberty. we like to make everyone look at us and say hey look at us we are the worlds largest christian university (soon to be in name only like baylor IMO) and we hired (insert big name washed up coach here) and it will crash and burn in 3-5 years. I will continue to be a Liberty fan because its my alma mater and it has meant a lot to me. But I refuse to have high expectations any more. Because like my atlanta pro teams, I continue to be disappointed over and over again. *Steps off soap box and braces for barrage of homer comments*

[LU Alum 2016]

Honestly Streeter as our next HC I just do not see that happening. I highly doubt he would be willing to leave Clemson, having that chance to learn under Dabo Swinney is an opportunity he would be stupid to turn down. I would look for our next coach to probably be an established coordinator who has coached at the P5 level before. Maybe someone from the Mark Richt coaching tree would be a good fit. Obviously this is just speculation however it makes sense. This is not the first time we have transitioned to a higher level of play and our program and always done well (but there will be growing pains). But if we Keep Gill we do not really stand a chance as we all know. I will say this, in 8 to 10 years looking at this transition it will end up being a good move. Success is measured differently at FBS. For a new program 6-6, 7-5 is the mark. At FBS you are judged whether you make bowl games consistently or not. I see us accomplishing that in 5-6 years from now. Unlike FCS you need 7 or 8 wins to make the postseason (usually).

[LU Alum 2016]

Honestly Streeter as our next HC I just do not see that happening. I highly doubt he would be willing to leave Clemson, having that chance to learn under Dabo Swinney is an opportunity he would be stupid to turn down. I would look for our next coach to probably be an established coordinator who has coached at the P5 level before. Maybe someone from the Mark Richt coaching tree would be a good fit. Obviously this is just speculation however it makes sense. This is not the first time we have transitioned to a higher level of play and our program and always done well (but there will be growing pains). But if we Keep Gill we do not really stand a chance as we all know. I will say this, in 8 to 10 years looking at this transition it will end up being a good move. Success is measured differently at FBS. For a new program 6-6, 7-5 is the mark. At FBS you are judged whether you make bowl games consistently or not. I see us accomplishing that in 5-6 years from now. Unlike FCS you need 7 or 8 wins to make the postseason (usually).

[Jonathan Carone]

A lot of you guys keep saying “offer an extra $500k and this guy will come!”

What many of our fans don’t realize is it’s not all about the money to many of these younger coaches. They’re getting paid a lot where they are. They’re not going to potentially wreck their career for an extra half million. We are still a program with more questions than answers. It’s unknown if it’s possible to win at Liberty or as an independent.

The coordinators and higher profile guys you all are mentioning and expecting are the types of coach we can attract to Liberty when we do this again in 2022 if we hire the right guy this time to manage the transition we’ll.

[Purple Haize]

A lot of you guys keep saying “offer an extra $500k and this guy will come!”

What many of our fans don’t realize is it’s not all about the money to many of these younger coaches. They’re getting paid a lot where they are. They’re not going to potentially wreck their career for an extra half million. We are still a program with more questions than answers. It’s unknown if it’s possible to win at Liberty or as an independent.

The coordinators and higher profile guys you all are mentioning and expecting are the types of coach we can attract to Liberty when we do this again in 2022 if we hire the right guy this time to manage the transition we’ll.

Forget North Korea. Someone just dropped a Truth Bomb. Hide the women and children. Duck and cover. Run to the shelters

[ballcoach15]

Next coach will. Be a big name coach, with P5 HC experience.

[flameshaw]

Next coach will. Be a big name coach, with P5 HC experience.

Hope you're right. I wouldn't be surprised, as long as Jr's ego doesn't get in the way. The word is out there in the sports world you know.

[rogers3]

Army with a losing record will likely draw more interest than LU with a winning record, but I bet your kool-aid tastes good!

Typical of this board. Can’t back up statements with facts, just tosses out name calling and kool aid comments. I bet you’re the life of the party.

Now, not being nasty, but do I really need to back up a comment that is modified by the phrase"will likely?" I reread to make sure, but I didn't call you a name either. I'm not sure how much you get out, but Liberty is not a household name for many outside of the Mid-atlantic and it has absolutely no tradition. Having attended games since Rock Royer was coach, I have a pretty good understanding of what LU is and what it is not. I'd guess pay not included, we'd draw football coaches about as well as a MAC school, at best. If we do get a huge name, it will only be because the administration will give away the ranch to maintain this idea that we are relevant in the college football world. One day, Maybe we will be. Lastly, I don't judge anyone for drinking the kool-aid....most of us have been there at one time or another.

[Purple Haize]

Army with a losing record will likely draw more interest than LU with a winning record, but I bet your kool-aid tastes good!

Typical of this board. Can’t back up statements with facts, just tosses out name calling and kool aid comments. I bet you’re the life of the party.

Hey now. I at least provided an entertaining video!

[R i]

The idea of hiring a Transition coach vs a guy that can build a successful program is intriguing.

I am hoping we can find the guy that can do both, but the more it is discussed I am seeing that my not be possible.

[Ewglenn]

Another coach for the people wanting a 5 year coach would be Mike Ayers at Wofford. He has been there since 1988 so he might not want to leave. He is 69 but is a coach that knows the game and has been moderately successful. They are playing good ball this year. He wouldn't be the long term guy but I'm confident he could guide us through the transition.

[Cider Jim]

Having attended games since Rock Royer was coach, I have a pretty good understanding of what LU is and what it is not.

When a guy drops a name like Rock Royer, you know he's an .

[Class of 20Something]

What do we want out of the 5 year transition? Do we want 6-6 and to come in with a high floor low ceiling or do we want high risk high reward that can range from 2-10 to 10-2? Personally, these years are FOUNDATIONAL. Make something you are certain you can build upon later. Bring in a coach that can go 6-6 with an FBS schedule(Gill can barely do that with FCS) and make sure we don't regret the move up. Not every school belongs in FBS. Establishing the program as a mid/high tier G5 equivalent should be our goal.

There are too many factors at play right now for me to want to add the risk of an unknown coach.

Obviously if a low risk high reward coach comes around(Les Miles) you take that. But I think we should be risk averse in the short term.

[thepostman]

Next coach will. Be a big name coach, with P5 HC experience.

You can keep saying this over and over again but it doesn't make it true.

[LU Alum 2016]

I fully agree with Class of 20 Something, I think 6-6 to 7-5 will be the mark of success. Essentially the ability to make bowl games whether good bowl games or bad. We wanted to make this transition to improve our exposure and you do that by making bowl games and receiving payouts from bowl games. Also means gurantee tv time. So 6-6 is the mark early on for this transition. We need a low risk coach that can establish us at that level. Then reassess once we become a regular bowl team. Has anyone ever thought about someone from the App State staff or ODU Staff. Both programs are succesful and both coaching staffs have been through tnis FBS transition before. That might be something worth exploring.

[CCWMichael]

An opinion on a new head coach. This is a topic that has begun a great firestorm. The coach I would have primarily selected has already been mentioned in these threads. So, for the sake of argument I will leave him alone. after all, finding a new coach is about being able to broaden the field before narrowing it. So, let me open another box.

Coaching is primarily teaching. Who can reach and relate to the audience. A teacher who brings a presence. That is the individual when anybody walks in the room demands attention. I always loved being around the coaches and leaders that could best command with silence and a look. This combination should allow for an impact in the living rooms of recruits. A coach who can let the feel of Liberty come through in a living room yet able to be aggressive without creating questions about credibility. Recruiting is such an honorable part of the process …

We need a coach who can fire up the current base and build a larger fan base. We need boosters and filled seats. Sorry, this will eventually mean raised ticket prices and higher Flames Club dues. Have I even talked about a prospect yet?

A coach who can bring the talented coordinators and other assorted coaches required to be a winning program. This will more than likely require an established name. A personal note of mine is despite the love of big offensive numbers I have always, and always will be, a fan of defense first. Or at least the most integral part of winning. The small things do matter here. When and where to train, when to work on process, and when to work at speed. Coaching players alone is not an easy task now throw in all the other intangibles.

Who can represent Liberty and its mission. That does not mean a fire and brimstone coaching team but a team that will lead by example. Faith is the cornerstone. A man with faith and practicing will not be hard to find. Some are more open than others but this is not as a difficult task as some may think it is. I believe many coaches given the environment to speak about faith publicly, will. Many locker rooms are filled with faith. Do we require a Liberty connection? In my humble opinion, this is not required but it would be nice to have a person on staff with some connection. Have I mentioned anyone yet? Sheesh, no wonder my wife will banish me to the man cave at times.

Dave Aranda from LSU but he is under contract for one more year. The contract part would be difficult to manage but we did not bring in a new AD for nothing. It is up to our AD to sell the long-term potential. This move could be viewed as a step back or as an opportunity to be an architect. A young man who we may be able to keep around for some time. His resume is nothing but gleaming of the defensive side of the ball and is now an assistant as well at LSU. Fire, determination, class, and an ability to inspire. Well connected with other coaches and can build a staff that is solid. I think it would pay to explore what this young man’s aspirations are. What is a great fit for his family? Lynchburg has much to lure a prospect in.