[army56mike]

Is Liberty's ultimate goal with all the expansion going on to move the football team up to the FBS (1A) level? I would like to see that occur. Can the fan base grow enough to support it?

[PAmedic]

welcome aboard.

about 85 threads on this topic- most end up in violent disagreement and bloodshed.

happy reading.

[Sly Fox]

Talk about a way to stir up a hornets' nest on your first post. Welcome to the board, army56mike!

In a word the answer is "Yes". Dr. Falwell made that public before his passing. The school has invested heavily in athletics the past few years with the clear goal of preparing for the opportunity to step up. The only question is when it will occur. Some on the board feel it should be years down the road after we become a major power at the FCS level. Others of us believe we need to be ready to make the jump as soon as possible. Unfortunately there currently is an NCAA moratorium prohibiting any FCS schools from joining the FBS ranks. We are about a year or so away from that being lifted barring unforeseen developments. We won't make the jump unless we have a conference home. Right now there aren't any viable options. But that doesn't mean there won't be in the not too distant future.

[LUconn]

Is Liberty's ultimate goal with all the expansion going on to move the football team up to the FBS (1A) level?

That is the plan, but certainly not the goal.

Can the fan base grow enough to support it?

That could be a very very long answer depending on what you mean by "support".

[kuntryboimike]

Is Liberty's ultimate goal with all the expansion going on to move the football team up to the FBS (1A) level?

That is the plan, but certainly not the goal.

Can the fan base grow enough to support it?

That could be a very very long answer depending on what you mean by "support".

that may not be the goal for some people, but it was the FOUNDER of libertys goal. and "i" personally hope we move to fbs in a few short years. people will agree and disagree but thats just how i feel.

[SuperJon]

that may not be the goal for some people, but it was the FOUNDER of libertys goal. and "i" personally hope we move to fbs in a few short years. people will agree and disagree but thats just how i feel.

You're wrong. His goal was to play and beat Notre Dame. Part of his desire to get to that goal was to be and FBS program. Simply getting to FBS has never been the goal of our athletics program.

[kuntryboimike]

im not sayin SIMPLY gettn to FBS is THE goal. i mean it was A goal

[jcmanson]

im not sayin SIMPLY gettn to FBS is THE goal. i mean it was A goal

and that's exactly what LUconn was saying

[olldflame]

that may not be the goal for some people, but it was the FOUNDER of libertys goal. and "i" personally hope we move to fbs in a few short years. people will agree and disagree but thats just how i feel.

You're wrong. His goal was to play and beat Notre Dame. Part of his desire to get to that goal was to be and FBS program. Simply getting to FBS has never been the goal of our athletics program.

Actually Doc's goal/vision for our sports programs evolved somewhat over the years. He started out with beating Notre Dame and ended up with something along the lines of "to be the equivilant for young evangelical Christian athletes of what Notre Dame is for Catholics and Brigham Young is for Mormans." I don't see any way that doesn't mean playing all sports at a major college level, including FBS football. He never set a timetable, so when we should do it is open for debate. Do I think he would have wanted to move up at the earliest opportunity? Probably; but noone really knows, and I hope JJ, JB, and anyone else involved in the decision don't use speculation over what Doc would have done as a criteria. The mantle has been passed.

[LUconn]

I was thinking about that last night after SJ mentioned the famous beating ND vision. That's famous for being "the goal", but do we feel obligated to try to make that happen one day just because he said that all the time? If we ever got to the point where 1, we were good enough to beat ND and 2, we were respectable long enough to get on ND's schedule we would be at a point where there are much bigger and better things to shoot for than beating them. I guess it's kind of symbolic but I wouldn't really care about it unless they just happened to be along the way to better things. If we're truly setting out sights that high, why not set them at something more substantial like winning a BCS bowl.



Now let's go out there and beat Stony Brook!

[army56mike]

Sorry, didn't mean to stir any thing up. Well maybe a little stirring is nice, but it was unintentional. My understanding is that some day the Flames will move up to FBS. That's great. Although I'd like it to be tomorrow, it's good to wait. Programs take time to build.

By fanbase I meant consistent rear ends in the seats for home games. A nice contingent of traveling fans for away games and bowl games always helps as well. I am going to try and make a couple, if not more, games this season. I am an LU online student and recently moved to Ft. Eustis, VA. I look forward to cheering for the Flames.

I would love for Liberty to eventually meet the success and tradition that Notre Dame nd BYU have. Surely there is a time table hidden somewhere for growth expectations.

[g-webb1994]

I would love for Liberty to eventually meet the success and tradition that Notre Dame nd BYU have.

Minus the blatant cheating (ND) and without the massive polygamy (BYU) of course.

[bigsmooth]

welcome mike and dont let these guys deter you from posting. your'e new and you did not know. everyone has different opinions on this. i would like to see LU win an FCS title or continually go deep in the playoffs for awhile before we jump, but the way conference realignment is going we may need to be ready to go sooner than later.

[jcmanson]

Bottom line is, if the opportunity presents itself next year, we're gone. If it doesn't present itself for 10 years, we're not. Regardless of how good we've done at the FCS level or not.

[From the class of 09]

Bottom line is, if the opportunity presents itself next year, we're gone. If it doesn't present itself for 10 years, we're not. Regardless of how good we've done at the FCS level or not.

[Sly Fox]

We could win the next 5 straight FCS championships and it would have little correlation to us moving up. I'd love to go undefeated and win a title every year but I don't think that failing that should stop us from moving up.

The NCAA moratorium is easily the greatest barrier to us moving up right now. We can't even apply for FBS membership until it is lifted. It is set to expire August 2011 but they could extend it even further. The haves are not excited about sharing anything with the have nots. And despite our major investments in our athletic department, we most certainly sit amongst the have nots right now.

Then the next barrier to cross would be conference affiliation. Unless you are Notre Dame, being independent is not a viable option as those of us who remember our I-AA Independent days can attest. This is obviously a major issue for us. There are not currently any regional FBS options for us. The MAC & Sunbelt would greatly increase our travel costs over where we sit right now. So in essence the most likely scenario for us stepping up would be for a new FBS to league to be formed ... or a current FCS league could choose to move up and perhaps have an availability for a travel-friendly partner. Of course, if there is a major realignment on the East Coast like we started to see west of the Mississippi then who knows what scenarios might develop.

[jcmanson]

Another thing we need to watch in regards to conference affiliation is what happens with the CAA. They are adding 2 more football schools here in the next couple of years, and if any of their non-football schools want to start a football team they are automatically granted access into the conference (VCU, George Mason, UNCW, etc.). Also, the northern schools could eventually want to reduce travel costs and breakaway to form another conference which would leave the remaining southern schools scrambling to probably add a few more teams.

[jcmanson]

As far as attendance and capacity goes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NC ... l_stadiums

[SuperJon]

Bottom line is, if the opportunity presents itself next year, we're gone.

I'm not so sure about that. The talk right now is that there will be a $1 million application fee just to apply for FBS.

[jcmanson]

Bottom line is, if the opportunity presents itself next year, we're gone.

I'm not so sure about that. The talk right now is that there will be a $1 million application fee just to apply for FBS.

I don't think that will hinder us though. If there's a conference that we'd like and the feeling is mutual, we'd overcome it.

[SuperJon]

What I'm saying is it wouldn't be nearly as easy as you make it seem. Just because there's an opportunity doesn't mean we can go right away.

If there's an opportunity to go SoCon or CAA we can leave pretty much right away.

If there's an opportunity to go FBS it's going to take a bit of time to finalize and get approved and all of that.

[jcmanson]

I understand that it's a more complicated process, but like I said earlier - if the opportunity is there we're gone regardless of what we've accomplished at this level.

[SuperJon]

I just don't think it's that easy to say that. There's a lot more to it than just an opportunity. Shoot, there was a plan for us to be full fledged FBS in 2006 but we saw how well that plan worked out.

[jcmanson]

A plan and opportunity are completely different.

[olldflame]

Bottom line is, if the opportunity presents itself next year, we're gone.

I'm not so sure about that. The talk right now is that there will be a $1 million application fee just to apply for FBS.

I'm fairly certain that we have people who are willing and able to write that check. Compared to what we are spending on stadium expansion it's a drop in the bucket. That is assuming that there are other clearly defined criteria for admission besides ponying up the dough, and we meet them. Obviously noone wants to foot that kind of a bill for applying unless there is a reasonably good expectation of being accepted.