Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something

User avatar
By SumItUp
Registration Days Posts
#571703
Jonathan Carone wrote:If you think we're playing football in order to make money on football alone then you need to do a little research on the reason we play sports.
I'm on a roll chasing Jon around the board and agreeing with his posts.
#571708
I don’t need a history lesson on LU mission or vision - Jerry Sr. Bear Hugged me every week during practice and I remember his goals clearly. Jr doesn’t either and don’t be surprised if he makes some non traditional moves trying to get LU to the top as quickly as possible - and we all know he doesn’t recklessly throw money around - he invests in the future. Here is an article on Houston and their will to get to next level.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports ... 997349.php
#571710
I think a lot of people here have a hard time accepting that the online portion is what made LU. The money is there now but will not be forever. If you think so you are being naive. Finding a financially stable solution besides the online portion is essential for sustainable success of the university.
#571763
Completely agree Ewglenn. Pretty sure Jr had a lot of pushback and detractors when he invested heavily in the online products. Worked out pretty well. Was pleasantly surprised at the statements made a year or so ago about the fact online may go away quickly and LU Master Plan does not incorporate future implied earnings from online and is based on 16k resident students.
#571813
First off, online was established with LUSLL back in the '80s and the onlgterm investment didn't pay dividends for close to two decades. But when It did, it was spectacular. Under JLFJR's leadership, additional investment was made to keep us out in front of the online push and to use the revenue to build infrastructure on campus for the long haul. The upside is that we have a more modern techincally advanced campus now than nearly every university fo our size in the nation.

We are well aware that our leadership in online cannot be taken for granted. We have seen Grand Canyon and others outpace us in recent years as we have focused less on explosive growth and more on recalibrated the entire business model.

Count me among those who believe that online will be the cash cow for ALL universities moving forward. Higher education as we know it is going kicking and screaming through a massive paradigm shift. The expectation that most students will follow the traditional four years residential followed by grad school on site is dying faster than anyone expected. The taxpayer-funded community college position has changed dramatically the way the current high school and middle school students are approaching higher ed. Frankly I expect the shift away from the traditional campus experience to continue into the next decade watching how my corporate clients are approaching recruitment.

Based on the current state of being, having a successful FBS football and/or High Major hoops program is significant in how potential students view schools. My son is getting lots of attention from Big East schools right now. And the only things he likes about their potential is the distant location from home and their brand name basketball. I remember being his age and those things intrigued me as well. Having athletics to be the ambassadors of your university brand still remains valuable. But change is coming and it could push that mindset forward or back.
#573704
JK37 wrote:
tyndal23 wrote:They used to be 12 with 2 divsisons and now they are 10 and play a round robin and have to beat a team twice to win Conference. Plus they get additional home non con game - currently only play 3 non con and WVU has no travel partner and they are the smallest conference in P5 ( by number of teams ).
I’m not arguing about what they used to be. When they were at 12 they had Texas A&M, Nebraska and Colorado. There isn’t a single possibility you’ve proposed that involves adding schools of that caliber.

You’re really making history and scheduling your strongest cases for the Big 12 to add members? With no regard for financial impact? C’mon, I know we’ve disagreed at times, but even I know you’re smarter than that.

If the Big 12 can’t add one or more members who each promise to generate greater revenue than the single share each current member annually receives, than there is no financial incentive to add new members. It’s exactly why the Big 2 has announced - twice publicly within the past year - that they have studied the idea of expansion and chosen unanimously to pass at this time.

As PH has stated, there’s no telling how the landscape will appear in five years. But not now.
Texas and OU are the decision makers. How much is an extra home game worth to Texas per year? $10 million ( conservative - probably double with Longhorn Network ad rev ). OU not far behind. Factor in it also opens the door wider for annual game with A&M for TX. No school has offered a 9 figure buy in to become part of Big 12 - what is the magic number for 2 teams to buy in ? $25 mil payout to each existing member? $125 LU - $125 Houston or UCF. ( Houston alumn would write the check in 5 minutes - UCF -not so sure ).
#573714
tyndal23 wrote:
JK37 wrote:
tyndal23 wrote:They used to be 12 with 2 divsisons and now they are 10 and play a round robin and have to beat a team twice to win Conference. Plus they get additional home non con game - currently only play 3 non con and WVU has no travel partner and they are the smallest conference in P5 ( by number of teams ).
I’m not arguing about what they used to be. When they were at 12 they had Texas A&M, Nebraska and Colorado. There isn’t a single possibility you’ve proposed that involves adding schools of that caliber.

You’re really making history and scheduling your strongest cases for the Big 12 to add members? With no regard for financial impact? C’mon, I know we’ve disagreed at times, but even I know you’re smarter than that.

If the Big 12 can’t add one or more members who each promise to generate greater revenue than the single share each current member annually receives, than there is no financial incentive to add new members. It’s exactly why the Big 2 has announced - twice publicly within the past year - that they have studied the idea of expansion and chosen unanimously to pass at this time.

As PH has stated, there’s no telling how the landscape will appear in five years. But not now.
Texas and OU are the decision makers. How much is an extra home game worth to Texas per year? $10 million ( conservative - probably double with Longhorn Network ad rev ). OU not far behind. Factor in it also opens the door wider for annual game with A&M for TX. No school has offered a 9 figure buy in to become part of Big 12 - what is the magic number for 2 teams to buy in ? $25 mil payout to each existing member? $125 LU - $125 Houston or UCF. ( Houston alumn would write the check in 5 minutes - UCF -not so sure ).
Make that 1 more home game annually and 2 home games every other year for each school if they split in to 2 divisions and play 8 conference games - Currently they alternate 5 and 4 home games.
#573761
Link below is several years old but it does present an intriguing scenario. Essentially, its about contraction vs expansion in the mid 20's after contracts end. The cream of the crop in football withdraw their FB teams from their P5 conferences and form a super league with expanded playoffs. They get the big tv deal and sellouts and don't have to share their wealth with their former siblings.

https://www.foxsports.com/college-footb ... ame-051616
#579123
As an out of state fan, i will fly in for every P5 home game we schedule ( even Kansas,Rutgers types ). I won’t plan to make the (long) trip for anything else. (BYU, yes - Army - maybe if no other P5’s are scheduled at home ) How many alumn/fans like me are out there? No clue.
#579148
I actually don't think it will. I actually see us not quite making tyndalls P5 push, but I think schools like NMSU and UConn should be severely limited. If UConn gets pushed from the American, I think Liberty is an obvious option for the American. Liberty could help UConn in 2020 if we cancel one of our FCS games that season(NC A&T and Western Carolina).

The general idea of putting our strength of schedule above all G5 schools without having to have an insurmountable schedule.
#579151
If our basketball program continues to improve we become more appealing but the lynchpin will always be how political our school is. I'd love an American invite though. That would be the best case scenario as things stand now
#579157
Report on ESPN has UCONN going back into the Big East for all sports. Quote from the article, "The biggest remaining question surrounds what happens with UConn's football team. The Big East does not have football, and it's unlikely UConn would remain in the American with just football, sources told ESPN. Sources said the football program is expected to play in the American in 2019 but could go independent after that or join another conference."

2020 will be an interesting year for UCONN football, the AAC and potentially Liberty football. You heard it here first 8)
#579168
The most likely scenario has us picking up a date witht he Huskies every fall. The AAC is a long shot at this stage. A big fall under Freeze could change that position particularly in light of our hoops program's rise.
#579169
I was thinking of a hypothetical:

Would going to the AAC really benefit us in the long run IF we could schedule an SEC, 2 ACC teams and then the likes of a BYU or lower level P5 like a rutgers, kansas, oregon state every year?

I am using 2027 un-complete schedule as my example:

So far:
@Duke
Vs. UVA
Vs. UMASS
@Viginia Tech

Imagine if we added:
Vs. BYU
@ Vanderbilt
Vs. ODU
@UCF
@Army
Vs. Troy
Vs. UConn
@ Marshall

Would this schedule hypothetically as well as schedules like this year in and year out be a better route than getting into a conference aka AAC?
#579170
FlamesHighontheTide wrote: June 22nd, 2019, 3:38 pm I was thinking of a hypothetical:

Would going to the AAC really benefit us in the long run IF we could schedule an SEC, 2 ACC teams and then the likes of a BYU or lower level P5 like a rutgers, kansas, oregon state every year?

I am using 2027 un-complete schedule as my example:

So far:
@Duke
Vs. UVA
Vs. UMASS
@Viginia Tech

Imagine if we added:
Vs. BYU
@ Vanderbilt
Vs. ODU
@UCF
@Army
Vs. Troy
Vs. UConn
@ Marshall

Would this schedule hypothetically as well as schedules like this year in and year out be a better route than getting into a conference aka AAC?
You are only looking at football. Picture all sports in AAC.
#579172
I don't expect that anything is changing for us in the near term except we may have a new football scheduling partner. We're not a first option for the AAC, but we're not as far away as some may think. It's unlikely, but it is the only non-P5 conference that is intriguing to me. I like football independence and the ceiling is higher, but the scheduling is more difficult. AAC provides a solid football schedule day one. For men's basketball, it is a game changer. I'm sure HCRMK and staff would love the opportunity to recruit as a member of the AAC. I think there would be a jump in recruiting similar to what we have seen on the football side with HCHF and the full transition to FBS.
#579177
I think the biggest benefit the AAC gets is not having to do this again with us. Liberty is too committed to Athletics to let this happen. The American would be adding a school that will be a competitor in the major sports immediately and it wouldn't take long to rise in all sports.
#579186
TH Spangler wrote:[quote=FlamesHighontheTide post_id=579171 time=<a href="tel:1561235678" data-aalisten="1" data-original-title="" title="">1561235678</a> user_id=10328]
TH Spangler, you are so right. I quickly go to my one track mind aka football, ha.
Path to March madness is easier from ASun though.[/quote]

How many teams did they send to the tourney last year?
  • 1
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 40
LaTech

I also keep tab with JMU because there is a player[…]

NCAA Realignment Megathread

Does Gonzaga and St Mary have D1 football ? When[…]

Dondi Costin - LU President

HEB is alright, but honestly Trader Joe's is my […]

JMU for 6 games

The fact of the matter is, JMU and Liberty could n[…]