A Sea Of Red

Here's Chris Lang's big scoop in the Lynchburg paper this morning:
http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 99284&path

LU Notebook: Dunton's future will be determined at end of season

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
January 11, 2007


Liberty men's basketball coach Randy Dunton's contract will expire at the end of the 2007 calendar year, but neither Dunton nor Liberty athletics director Jeff Barber are talking contract extension right now.
That's by design, Barber said, and the same applies to every coach on campus.

Barber, who was hired in January 2006, wants to evaluate Dunton over a full year before the two sides potentially talk about a contract extension. Barber was only on campus for four men's basketball games last year.

"That's my standard practice," Barber said. "We want to see the season, evaluate the progress and see where we're at. So we'll do that with Randy when the season is over. It's no different than what we would do with any other coach."

The fact that Barber and Dunton will talk presents a change in itself at Liberty.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, Liberty's chancellor, has always had a hand in personnel decisions in the athletic department. He hired LU football coach Danny Rocco and Dunton. But Falwell is letting Barber handle the personnel in his department.

"We now have what I consider to be a Division I-A athletics director, and I have total confidence in his judgment," Falwell said Tuesday before watching Liberty beat Radford 80-66 at Vines Center. "I have stepped back and left the day-to-day operations of the athletics department to him."

Liberty snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating Radford, but the skid - on the heels of a 7-23 season - unsettled Liberty's fan base. Dunton is aware of the criticism, but blocked it out to help prepare his team for the stretch run of conference play.

"It's all a part of the business," Dunton said. "What you do is you just keep doing what's right. If you do what's right long enough, good things happen. We're just trying to do the right thing every day. We're just trying to build a program."

r-e-s-p-e-c-t

I guess we found out what that meant to Dr. F. He just needed someone he felt was competent. Sucks to be the former AD's.

Everything I've seen about our current AD makes me agree, though and I'm glad to see he's getting the chance he deserves.

hmmm....I said that somewhere on here a few days ago...yes i'm tooting

As you should ... to be fair, I already had it in my mind (after Saturday's game) to write about Dunton's future, since it's been such a hot topic around here. I just didn't get to talk to JF until Tuesday.

El Scorcho wrote:r-e-s-p-e-c-t

I guess we found out what that meant to Dr. F. He just needed someone he felt was competent. Sucks to be the former AD's.

Everything I've seen about our current AD makes me agree, though and I'm glad to see he's getting the chance he deserves.

Yes. But who HIRED the other AD's?? Were they hired knowing that JF was going to make the really big decisions? With the Barber hire, did the advisors finally convince JF to give up his hands-on management style?

Either way, I'm glad the program has a leader that JF can count on and trust to make personnel decisions. Perhaps if JF had put the power to make such decisions in the former ADs' hands, then a lot of the controversy of the past (and present) could have been avoided.

A.G. wrote:

El Scorcho wrote:r-e-s-p-e-c-t

I guess we found out what that meant to Dr. F. He just needed someone he felt was competent. Sucks to be the former AD's.

Everything I've seen about our current AD makes me agree, though and I'm glad to see he's getting the chance he deserves.

Yes. But who HIRED the other AD's?? Were they hired knowing that JF was going to make the really big decisions? With the Barber hire, did the advisors finally convince JF to give up his hands-on management style?

Either way, I'm glad the program has a leader that JF can count on and trust to make personnel decisions. Perhaps if JF had put the power to make such decisions in the former ADs' hands, then a lot of the controversy of the past (and present) could have been avoided.

Chris: I heard you took him off guard with one of your questions...good job, it's not often you can catch JF off guard

AG: JF did a very good job up with the majority of his decisions, even though he normally had final say he rarely if ever would make a decision without seeking those he trusted first. This programs just getting to big for him to continue having his hands on everything, not to mention we have someone who can be trusted.

Thanks HMO, for the insight. It just shocks me that he had people he did not have full faith in in key roles. Or was it a situation where he had so many people offerring advice that he had to pick and choose?? We certainly can't fault him for Rocco. The whole Karcher extension and bringing in his agent for AD blew up in his face, though.

A.G. wrote:Thanks HMO, for the insight. It just shocks me that he had people he did not have full faith in in key roles. Or was it a situation where he had so many people offerring advice that he had to pick and choose?? We certainly can't fault him for Rocco. The whole Karcher extension and bringing in his agent for AD blew up in his face, though.

Oh that was awful, the moment he brought him in he knew what a mistake he made...I can honestly say I'm not quite sure who is "responsible" for that hire...hmm, I may need to check into that...lol...but I do know JF didnt talk to those he normally did for that hire.

As are as not having people he had faith in, it wasnt until late LU could fork up the funds to bring in someone qualified. Have I mentioned how thankful I am to have JB here???? Not yet today??? I'm very thankful for JB, and Smooth will be thankful as well once the vine's meets his requirements

Does Chris' article confirm what we had all suspected--that this is definitely Dunton's last year (unless he wins the BSC)? I can't imagine any D1 athletic director hiring Dunton, so why would Barber want to re-hire RD by extending his contract?

The article does not confirm that this might be Dunton's last year. Barber's patience in this situation shows that LU is ready to go beyond being a crazy little christian school. LU is ready to begin acting (and hopefully performing) like a true D-I school. My prediction: Dunton gets a 1-year extension.

It does no such thing. It just says that the situation will be talked about in the offseason, and that no moves will be made until then.

lu06 wrote:The article does not confirm that this might be Dunton's last year. Barber's patience in this situation shows that LU is ready to go beyond being a crazy little christian school. LU is ready to begin acting (and hopefully performing) like a true D-I school. My prediction: Dunton gets a 1-year extension.

I agree with Chris, that it implies nothing.

I don't think a one-year extension does either coach nor the program a bit a good. A three year minimum will show commitment to RD and his program. Think about it, a one-year extension will hinder recruiting--who wants to play for a coach who's status is year to year?

Point well taken. Looking from that paradigm, even though I am die-hard Dunton supporter, I've really got wonder if LU would be willing to put 3 more years into him. Either way, I applaud JF for allowing LU to continue it's journey to becoming a first class organization.

I just wish everyone else had JB's mindset and timetable. I'd personally prefer to focus on the action on the court.

All a 1-year extension says is "We're still going to fire you, just not today." I really appreciate what Berber is doing here but I can't fault the guys who were here before for not doing the same things. The job description for AD at Liberty University has undergone a dramatic overhaul in the last 2 years or so.

Sly Fox wrote:I just wish everyone else had JB's mindset and timetable. I'd personally prefer to focus on the action on the court.

It's good to hear JB get the focus back to the action. With LU's relatively small fan base, it's easy for everyone, even administration, to get caught up in whatever whirlwind idea the fans are backing at the moment.

As far as recruiting goes, this is not an ACC school where we hear about the coach's contract and if he is staying or not. We talk about it on here and Chris wrote 1 story but a recruit is not going to come in and say, I am not going there because I heard coach is only going to be at Liberty for 1 year. I don't think it even comes up most of the time in recruiting at LU. There are many more factors involved. Also, I believe until recently, every coach and staff member at LU was on a year to year contract. I don't see this as a recruiting issue unless I am over looking something.

So who is in favor of giving Randy "one more year"?

Wait til April.

I can go on record right now saying I'd give him at least 1.

im glad barber did this. i am also kinda taken back about the competence thing JF said about having a DI athletic director. i really do not think that was necessary, but i am really glad barber is here!!

I say give him one more year, but, I am biased.

One more year to what? Rebuild after LB leaves, try to get the "new" team to gel with Bannister playing. Sounds alot like the past five years to me.

SCAR wrote:As far as recruiting goes, this is not an ACC school where we hear about the coach's contract and if he is staying or not. We talk about it on here and Chris wrote 1 story but a recruit is not going to come in and say, I am not going there because I heard coach is only going to be at Liberty for 1 year. I don't think it even comes up most of the time in recruiting at LU.

That's true and it's not true. We may just be blowing smoke on a chat board but the coach's continuity is a pretty big factor in the recruit's decision-making, some kids more than others of course. But if we're recruiting for a player against another school, I guarantee you that the coaches from that school are bringing it up with the kid. I would expect them to do that and, if the tables were reversed, I'd do it myself.
As far as the year-to-year contract thing, I don't know if it still exists on the faculty side -- I know JF gets up during academic convo every year and says it's still that way, but that may not be the case entirely across the board -- but on the staff side and in athletics especially, that's obviously not the case any longer and, in today's environment, that would be totally unrealistic.

Libertine wrote:All a 1-year extension says is "We're still going to fire you, just not today." I really appreciate what Berber is doing here but I can't fault the guys who were here before for not doing the same things. The job description for AD at Liberty University has undergone a dramatic overhaul in the last 2 years or so.

You mean the AD actually has a job description now.....before it was like Joe Pa coaching PSU....Figurehead, with little to no say.