[Cider Jim]

Wasn't that game played in Chattanooga in 1980? I was a Temple freshman at that time, and I'm pretty sure I was at that game, because it was the first time I had ever seen male cheerleaders. I think one of the basketball stars for Liberty was Karl Hess, and Temple lost to them in maybe the semifinals. I believe that was when 6'9" marine veteran James Ramsburg was the star for Temple before Anthony Eubanks transferred from Ole Miss.

[olldflame]

Wasn't that game played in Chattanooga in 1980? I was a Temple freshman at that time, and I'm pretty sure I was at that game, because it was the first time I had ever seen male cheerleaders. I think one of the basketball stars for Liberty was Karl Hess, and Temple lost to them in maybe the semifinals. I believe that was when 6'9" marine veteran James Ramsburg was the star for Temple before Anthony Eubanks transferred from Ole Miss.

Hess was tournament MVP. He and Ed Vickers were the 2 players who spearheaded the Flames championship run, but the addition of FR Martin and a transfer PG, Webb, who freed Hess up to play off the ball and focus on what he did best (shooting) were also big factors.

[Cider Jim]

Olldflame, who was Liberty's head coach back then? Wasn't it a guy who would later chair LU's Sport Management Dept?

[SumItUp]

Dale Gibson

[Sly Fox]

The Old Haggedness runs deep in this thread. Much to the horror of Mrs. Sly, I believe I still have a 1979 TTU National Championship t-shirt in a drawer somewhere. Isn't it amazing that TTU was the larger more reputable school than Liberty in 1980? It seems hard to even imagine today considering one of them no longer exists.

[R i]

Toccoa Athletics Director has released another statement regarding the multiple 100 point losses.

Its pathetic. Search the link if you are interested, it was too cringe worthy for me to share.

[adam42381]

Toccoa Athletics Director has released another statement regarding the multiple 100 point losses.

Its pathetic. Search the link if you are interested, it was too cringe worthy for me to share.

Why even mention it if your aren’t going to bother sharing the link?

[Chris Lang]

https://sports.yahoo.com/tiny-toccoa-fa ... 23536.html

[olldflame]

https://sports.yahoo.com/tiny-toccoa-fa ... 23536.html

If that is the statement RI is referring to, I fail to see what he found so disturbing. The previous coach dumped a schedule with 7 unwinnable games in his lap. I'm not sure what else he can be expected to say or do. I suppose he could have forfeited some of them, but apparently they really need the $$, although a total of 35 grand doesn't seem worth it to me.

I expect Ritchie to handle it by playing his walk-ons and Freshmen almost the entire game, along with some increased minutes for Homesley if he thinks he is ready for it. One thing you can't do is ask the players who are out there to give anything less than maximum effort. If you back off too much, you are basically mocking the opponent. It's a fine line. Some teams could resort to playing a zone to avoid forcing too many turnovers, but with our system, I don't know if that is even an option. Maybe have them run some clock on each possession in the second half. The other thing I think would be cool would be to make the check out with an extra zero. They obviously need it worse than we do.

[Cider Jim]

Tenn. Temple won SEVEN NCCAA basketball championships compared to Liberty's ONE. Sly, 1980 is when everything changed: Temple's enrollment peaked at 4,003 students in 1979, and it began a steady decline the next year in 1980, when Liberty was won the championship and, much more imporantly, was granted regional SACS accreditation.

[R i]

It is on facebook,and I do not use facebook. My wife is the alumni and she screen shot the statement and text it to me. If someone with facebook does not post the link today, I will work on getting it for you.

[Sly Fox]

Yes, we did lose an exhibition game by 100 points and made Sports Center for the margin of defeat. Yes, we did make some scheduling errors with having basically a brand new team this year with only 2 returners. No excuses for that - we made an error and own that!

However, the schedule was made in advance with a different roster in mind and some from the former coaches. This was a perfect storm of new athletes, freshman, new coaches, etc.

First, no one expected to lose by 100 points. Second, there was the expectation that the other team would pull back the reins a little bit . Third, we are realistic with our expectations prior to such games, that we are a non-scholarship program and see the benefits from different perspectives such as opportunity to compete against DI teams on a big stage and have the opportunity that would otherwise not occur. Still, we did not expect to lose by 100 but things happen. The only thing the team would change is the margin of defeat, not the level of competition.

Now, we will move forward from our errors in scheduling and learn from it, and we will make the best out of the situation that occurred.

People may be negative but the athletes are not down or discouraged because while we do play to win, we are realistic and also understand where athletics fit into our lives.

Our team grew from the App State game and improved their level of competitiveness against Mercer.

A division 1 team just beat another division 1 team by 51 points last night and there are plenty of negative things happening in college athletics, so I think we will be fine. TFC athletics will be fine, and we will build something worthy of respect. Year 1 game 4. The culture is changing and once it is established we will also be successful on the court. Check back in a year or two and see where the team is.

Facebook Source with Comments

That statement comes from the coach who is also the AD. He is responding to comments from alumni on Facebook. I feel for the guy coming into a ridiculously tough situation. Hopefully the team makes the most of a bad spot.

[Purple Haize]

Olldflame, who was Liberty's head coach back then? Wasn't it a guy who would later chair LU's Sport Management Dept?

I know that guy

[Cider Jim]

Wasn't he briefly your boss? Or were you his boss?

[Purple Haize]

Wasn't he briefly your boss? Or were you his boss?

He was my boss for several years

[Chippy]

In the Mid-Major Top 25 poll, Liberty received 1 vote.

Ritchie McKay was made chairman of the Mid-Major Top 25 voting panel for the 2017-18 season.

Hmmm . . . .

[R i]

Yes, we did lose an exhibition game by 100 points and made Sports Center for the margin of defeat. Yes, we did make some scheduling errors with having basically a brand new team this year with only 2 returners. No excuses for that - we made an error and own that!

However, the schedule was made in advance with a different roster in mind and some from the former coaches. This was a perfect storm of new athletes, freshman, new coaches, etc.

First, no one expected to lose by 100 points. Second, there was the expectation that the other team would pull back the reins a little bit . Third, we are realistic with our expectations prior to such games, that we are a non-scholarship program and see the benefits from different perspectives such as opportunity to compete against DI teams on a big stage and have the opportunity that would otherwise not occur. Still, we did not expect to lose by 100 but things happen. The only thing the team would change is the margin of defeat, not the level of competition.

Now, we will move forward from our errors in scheduling and learn from it, and we will make the best out of the situation that occurred.

People may be negative but the athletes are not down or discouraged because while we do play to win, we are realistic and also understand where athletics fit into our lives.

Our team grew from the App State game and improved their level of competitiveness against Mercer.

A division 1 team just beat another division 1 team by 51 points last night and there are plenty of negative things happening in college athletics, so I think we will be fine. TFC athletics will be fine, and we will build something worthy of respect. Year 1 game 4. The culture is changing and once it is established we will also be successful on the court. Check back in a year or two and see where the team is.

Facebook Source with Comments

That statement comes from the coach who is also the AD. He is responding to comments from alumni on Facebook. I feel for the guy coming into a ridiculously tough situation. Hopefully the team makes the most of a bad spot.

Can you find the other quote Sly ? He has made a second one.

[Sly Fox]

He has a subscription based email that he sends out to fans. Perhaps it was on there because there is nothing on the school website and just a slew of responses from him to posts on Facebook.

[R i]

Maybe they deleted it. I will find a way to post the screen shots eventually. It was super cringe worthy.

[Sly Fox]

I give the guy all the credit for stepping into a precarious situation and trying to make a postive out of the circumstances. Without any PR support, it would be easy to go off the rails.

[lawrenceq]

Can LU score 100?

[A Sea of Red]

Liberty routs Toccoa Falls

http://www.aseaofred.com/liberty-routs-toccoa-falls/

[olldflame]

In case anyone is upset that our margin over TFC was not as large as some other D1 teams they played, here are a few thoughts on that.

Our 2 preseason all conference players played a total of 15 minutes. All were by Georgie as Kemrite sat out.

Our normal starting lineup played 47 minutes.

Scottie James was eating them for lunch, so Ritchie sat him. He had 14 points and 10 boards in 10 minutes.

Freshmen McDowell and Cuffee played the most minutes with 31 each.

Former walk-on Farquhar and walk-on Hicks played 26 min and scored 19 pts.

Homesley played 20 min (by far his most this year). Rust showed with 3 TO, but he also had 7 pts and a team leading and career high 6 assists.

I would say the main reasons it wasn't worse were our 15 turnovers. Also TFC actually shot well from 3.

[ballcoach15]

Best part of this game was sitting between Cider and TF

[Cider Jim]

The pleasure was all mine, ballcoach.