What's holding us back?
Posted: October 25th, 2013, 3:56 pm
For the last three weeks, one of the biggest questions that's been asked around here is the question of, "Is there something across the board at Liberty that is holding us back from taking the next step?" In a post that is probably way too long for the majority to read, I think I've pinpointed the three biggest areas that are holding us back. Feel free to rip it apart. You may agree with parts and disagree with others. My hope is that we can get back to what this board used to be and have an intelligent conversation about where we are as a school and athletic department.
The Three Biggest Things Holding Us Back
1) Institutional Arrogance - no one wants anything to do with us because we are the new rich kids on the block and like to flaunt it.
We are, for lack of a better term, Richie Rich. We are the rich kids who are trying to buy our way into friendships with other rich people. The problem is, unlike them, we got rich by our daddy hitting it big in the dot com industry whereas they all come from old money. We moved into the neighborhood flaunting everything that we had and we turned everyone off.
Did you know that the MAC voted 11-0 against allowing us to join? They don't want their coaches coming down here and seeing the money we're throwing around and then start asking for similar things. In our efforts to prove our worth, we've alienated the schools in the leagues we're wanting to join. We are essentially claiming, "Hey, we have nicer stuff that you. Come play with us!"
All we ever do is throw around that we can make a decision in 48 hours, that we are the best fit for an FBS jump that Bill Carr has ever seen, that we have close to a billion dollars in the bank, and one of a hundred other company line marketing ploys to make us sound like the best thing since sliced bread.
Unfortunately for us, we don't have any legitimate successes to hang our hat on. We don't have multiple national championships like App or Georgia Southern. We don't have long-standing playoff appearances like JMU and Jacksonville State. We don't even have giant TV markets like Georgia State or ODU. What we have is a bunch of money made off of online education and we continue to tirelessly brag about that to public schools who are having to endure budget cuts, increasing tuition, alumni who are disconnected, and who likely see online education in a completely different light than we do.
That all leads us to the next problem that's holding us back:
2) A Misconception of Who We Are - we try to act big time so people will see us as big time and in turn have created an entitlement issue among athletes and fans.
In 2006, when Jeff Barber got here, he was given an athletic department that was coming off a day known as Black Tuesday. You know something monumental has happened when it is big enough and negative enough to get it's own name. He had some of the core pieces in place from an administrative standpoint, but there was a perception issue among students, alumni, and prospective athletes that said Liberty Athletics weren't a big deal.
Jeff did what any good leader is supposed to do in that situation: he set out to change not only the perception, but also the culture. His goal was to make us a Top 25 athletic department and to get there, we needed top 25 coaches, recruits, and facilities.
Some schools take on the attitude of, "Let me prove it to you." In the beginning, we had that attitude. It was a unifying mantra that inspired coaches and athletes to work harder to prove we were legit. Fans and alumni showed up to prove that we could be a great fan base and could make great atmospheres at games.
Fast forward to the end of the 2009-2010 seasons. We'd won a few conference titles in football. We had a fun year or two in basketball. Baseball was making a run in the Big South. However, we'd also gone through the Curry/McKay debacle. We'd endured a few WTF losses in football. Baseball couldn't beat Coastal. At that point in time, we went from proving why we were a big time program to telling you why we already were one.
And it was at that point the things shifted: we all bought it.
Going into the 2010 season, there was a different attitude around our athletics. We thought we would have success because we were told we would. Without having ever actually gotten over the barrier, we (athletes and fans) believed it was our destiny to make the next step. We became the program that, if this were a high school, were the new kid walking down the hall saying, "Act like you belong, act like you belong. You are big time. You are big time."
Our school took on the attitude of, "Let me tell you why." In light of that, our athletes and fans bought into the reasons why without it ever being proven to us. We were cocky and expectant even when we had nothing to base those attitudes on.
The truth about who we actually are as an athletic program is that we're a program that's only been Division I for just under 25 years and is still building to become what we want to be. We're not there yet. That leads us to point #3:
3) No Tradition - not only have we not set a tradition of winning, we are still super young as a school.
We became a Division I school in 1989. From 1989 to 2006, we endured a men's basketball coaching scandal that led to becoming the worst team in Division I. We had 7 winning seasons in football from 1989 until Rocco/Barber got here in 06. From 1998 until 2005, we had a grand total of one winning season. We've now had some success the past seven years and think it's our right to move up to the next level. We are the equivalent of a 25-year-old college grad thinking he's paid his dues by working hard for a few years and now deserves influence and a big boy job. We are trying to skip the process of working up.
Take a look at the schools that we've been competing with for conference invitations and how we compare with them since 1989.
Appalachian State: 23 winning seasons, 18 playoff appearances
Georgia Southern: 21 winning seasons, 15 playoff appearances
Old Dominion: 3 winning seasons, 2 playoff appearances
Sam Houston State: 12 winning seasons, 5 playoff appearances
Jacksonville State: 12 winning seasons, 3 playoff appearances
Liberty: 14 winning seasons, 0 playoff appearances
We haven't had the on-field success to overcome our other perceived flaws (our politics, being a private school, being a Christian school). We are on our way to getting to that level, but we are expecting to have now what we haven't yet earned.
There are obviously more issues, but I feel as though these are the top three. All of these things are able to be overcome. A few years of making the playoffs in football, a change in our marketing approaches, and a change in departmental attitude are all completely attainable and will go a long way in helping us get to the level that we want to be at.
We will be FBS at some point. Eventually we're going to be there when someone needs us and we'll be an asset for that league, but until then we'll have to be patient. We must stop begging, we must stop flaunting everything, and we must change our approach. If we do those things, we will find the path to FBS.
The Three Biggest Things Holding Us Back
1) Institutional Arrogance - no one wants anything to do with us because we are the new rich kids on the block and like to flaunt it.
We are, for lack of a better term, Richie Rich. We are the rich kids who are trying to buy our way into friendships with other rich people. The problem is, unlike them, we got rich by our daddy hitting it big in the dot com industry whereas they all come from old money. We moved into the neighborhood flaunting everything that we had and we turned everyone off.
Did you know that the MAC voted 11-0 against allowing us to join? They don't want their coaches coming down here and seeing the money we're throwing around and then start asking for similar things. In our efforts to prove our worth, we've alienated the schools in the leagues we're wanting to join. We are essentially claiming, "Hey, we have nicer stuff that you. Come play with us!"
All we ever do is throw around that we can make a decision in 48 hours, that we are the best fit for an FBS jump that Bill Carr has ever seen, that we have close to a billion dollars in the bank, and one of a hundred other company line marketing ploys to make us sound like the best thing since sliced bread.
Unfortunately for us, we don't have any legitimate successes to hang our hat on. We don't have multiple national championships like App or Georgia Southern. We don't have long-standing playoff appearances like JMU and Jacksonville State. We don't even have giant TV markets like Georgia State or ODU. What we have is a bunch of money made off of online education and we continue to tirelessly brag about that to public schools who are having to endure budget cuts, increasing tuition, alumni who are disconnected, and who likely see online education in a completely different light than we do.
That all leads us to the next problem that's holding us back:
2) A Misconception of Who We Are - we try to act big time so people will see us as big time and in turn have created an entitlement issue among athletes and fans.
In 2006, when Jeff Barber got here, he was given an athletic department that was coming off a day known as Black Tuesday. You know something monumental has happened when it is big enough and negative enough to get it's own name. He had some of the core pieces in place from an administrative standpoint, but there was a perception issue among students, alumni, and prospective athletes that said Liberty Athletics weren't a big deal.
Jeff did what any good leader is supposed to do in that situation: he set out to change not only the perception, but also the culture. His goal was to make us a Top 25 athletic department and to get there, we needed top 25 coaches, recruits, and facilities.
Some schools take on the attitude of, "Let me prove it to you." In the beginning, we had that attitude. It was a unifying mantra that inspired coaches and athletes to work harder to prove we were legit. Fans and alumni showed up to prove that we could be a great fan base and could make great atmospheres at games.
Fast forward to the end of the 2009-2010 seasons. We'd won a few conference titles in football. We had a fun year or two in basketball. Baseball was making a run in the Big South. However, we'd also gone through the Curry/McKay debacle. We'd endured a few WTF losses in football. Baseball couldn't beat Coastal. At that point in time, we went from proving why we were a big time program to telling you why we already were one.
And it was at that point the things shifted: we all bought it.
Going into the 2010 season, there was a different attitude around our athletics. We thought we would have success because we were told we would. Without having ever actually gotten over the barrier, we (athletes and fans) believed it was our destiny to make the next step. We became the program that, if this were a high school, were the new kid walking down the hall saying, "Act like you belong, act like you belong. You are big time. You are big time."
Our school took on the attitude of, "Let me tell you why." In light of that, our athletes and fans bought into the reasons why without it ever being proven to us. We were cocky and expectant even when we had nothing to base those attitudes on.
The truth about who we actually are as an athletic program is that we're a program that's only been Division I for just under 25 years and is still building to become what we want to be. We're not there yet. That leads us to point #3:
3) No Tradition - not only have we not set a tradition of winning, we are still super young as a school.
We became a Division I school in 1989. From 1989 to 2006, we endured a men's basketball coaching scandal that led to becoming the worst team in Division I. We had 7 winning seasons in football from 1989 until Rocco/Barber got here in 06. From 1998 until 2005, we had a grand total of one winning season. We've now had some success the past seven years and think it's our right to move up to the next level. We are the equivalent of a 25-year-old college grad thinking he's paid his dues by working hard for a few years and now deserves influence and a big boy job. We are trying to skip the process of working up.
Take a look at the schools that we've been competing with for conference invitations and how we compare with them since 1989.
Appalachian State: 23 winning seasons, 18 playoff appearances
Georgia Southern: 21 winning seasons, 15 playoff appearances
Old Dominion: 3 winning seasons, 2 playoff appearances
Sam Houston State: 12 winning seasons, 5 playoff appearances
Jacksonville State: 12 winning seasons, 3 playoff appearances
Liberty: 14 winning seasons, 0 playoff appearances
We haven't had the on-field success to overcome our other perceived flaws (our politics, being a private school, being a Christian school). We are on our way to getting to that level, but we are expecting to have now what we haven't yet earned.
There are obviously more issues, but I feel as though these are the top three. All of these things are able to be overcome. A few years of making the playoffs in football, a change in our marketing approaches, and a change in departmental attitude are all completely attainable and will go a long way in helping us get to the level that we want to be at.
We will be FBS at some point. Eventually we're going to be there when someone needs us and we'll be an asset for that league, but until then we'll have to be patient. We must stop begging, we must stop flaunting everything, and we must change our approach. If we do those things, we will find the path to FBS.
