- March 22nd, 2007, 3:51 pm
#71357
One of my coaching friends made a great point earlier to me. This job has to be filled with someone who understands how to recruit and coach at Liberty. It may not be a guy that comes from a big time program or have a big reputation. Truthfully, Liberty has been able to attract a high caliber of talent for a long time. Dominick Kirk (#22) for Texas A&M cried when Liberty didn’t have any more scholarships for him. AD Vassallo from VA TECH would have gladly played for the red white and blue. Not to mention Dees, Blair, Woodson, and many others that had options to go a lot of places. My point is that it is not just about recruiting but about being able to run a program and run it within the Liberty way. Barclay Radebaugh comes from the University of Miami as an assistant (ACC) and at Chuck South he has been at or near the bottom of the big south. Buzz Petersen was the head coach at Tennessee (SEC) and although Coastal did get to the final game last year, I don’t see them getting back to their glory years. So before we get all excited about a candidate because of association with this team or this coach or that league, I think, hope and pray that Jeff Barber is measuring the character of the man and his organizational skills as well as his coaching affiliation. Truth be told, a lot of guys can get good players to come to Liberty. Liberty has a lot to offer a potential student athlete and believe me we are a hit with the parents. We need this next coach to understand the inner workings of Liberty and do it the right way. That is why when people ask me about the coaching situation I don’t really have a strong opinion on any of the candidates because I don’t really know them personally and I won’t be impressed with a guy just because he coached in the Big Ten or whatever. I was the same way as a player esp. when I went home for the summer and played in the leagues. I didn’t feel inferior cause I played at LU that is for sure. I do have confidence in JB making a good decision though.