A Sea Of Red

of jerry? I know that he was found to turn off a lot of people. Do you think that LU will find new doors opening?

nah, I really doubt he affected recruiting one way or the other. The culture around here may. And that remains intact.

actually, I think most of us are worried about the opposite scenario.

Jerry had such an infectious personality- anyone who had the opportunity to meet him came away with a new best friend.

he was that kind of guy- no matter WHAT your persuasion

ask Larry Flint

I hope we do half as well without him. We're really riding on his reputation, now.

(IMHO)

I agree with Medic. It'll be a little bit harder to recruit w/o Jerry around. Honestly, most of the kids we recruit barely knew who Jerry was or had never heard of him at all until they got here. Once here, he embraced them -- literally. If the parents knew who he was, in most cases, they agreed with what Jerry said and wanted their kids to go to Jerry's kind of school.

It remains to be seen how Jerry's death will affect the university's relationship with the city of Lynchburg (although if the voters in Lynchburg had any sense, it wouldn't be an issue).

As a faculty member...I worry how it will affect the general student body recruiting efforts...will expected numbers fall off in the next couple of years?

Not to worry, Fumble: the sons will keep us afloat in good shape, I'm sure. I really don't think we have much competition for the Evangelical student looking for a Christian university. Cedarville is a very distant second place to us.

I really don't think that the vast majority of incoming freshmen for the last 5-10 years really knew all that much about Jerry anyway. I think the values and programs available are what got kids in and Jerry's reputation -- now, legacy -- was what sealed the deal for the parents. Given what Junior has done the last several years, I don't expect the general numbers to drop off at all.

Frankly I could see how this might actually help out recruiting efforts with a bone of contention for some parents now gone. While most football prospects didn't know much about Dr. Falwell, most parents had strong opinions one way or the other. All that said, many parents tend to like the idea of their kids going to an environment like ours.

Something I loved and I expect to never change would be when a coach would bring an athlete to meet JF (a lot of times your top notch athlete) and he would start by saying "This is a Christian university first and foremost and we do not apologize for it"


This university is very very strong right now. The right people are in place. JF was able to train and teach a brilliant man for this day. I fully expect BIG things in the immediate future.

I fully trust in Jerry Jr.'s leadership...he will make great things happen. I can see why some may wonder, but I don't see a cause for alarm. To quote Jr. himself: "All is well at LU"

I agree, everything is definetley moving forward, and Jerry's passing is not going to slow things down. Both sons have strong leadership qualities and are committed to seeing their father's vision through. In fact, without their efforts behind the scenes, LU would not be even close to where it is today. They really have to be given a great deal of credit for making Liberty into what it is today. It's actually been a three man effort and shared vision for quite some time now.

He was a great leader and visionary and he'll be sorely missed. Most of the students here, acquired an appreciation for Jerry while attendending LU and not beforehand. Most people come to this university with a false caricature of the man created by his enemies in the press. This can actually work against recruitment of all kinds, unfortunatley. Sometimes people just don't have enough information, and sadly, end up believing in the caricature simply by default. The atmosphere, philosophy of the school, and quaility of the acedemic programs is what will sell them in the end. As far as athletics goes, that's up to the individual coaches and their overall recruiting efforts.

I don't see how Jerry's passing would affect recruiting. Sure it was a cool thing to take an athlete up to him and introduce him. He was a great "people" person like that, but in the end, I am betting that was never a deciding factor for any recruit
Now to REALLY stir the puddin, it does maybe give us a better chance to get out of the accursed Big South. There were those in the Southern who said they would never consider us as long as we had JF in charge. Well, now we don't so when do we bolt????

Purple Haize wrote:I don't see how Jerry's passing would affect recruiting. Sure it was a cool thing to take an athlete up to him and introduce him. He was a great "people" person like that, but in the end, I am betting that was never a deciding factor for any recruit
Now to REALLY stir the puddin, it does maybe give us a better chance to get out of the accursed Big South. There were those in the Southern who said they would never consider us as long as we had JF in charge. Well, now we don't so when do we bolt????

I agree with most of what has been posted here...most of the younger generation have a limited knowledge at best and are not as emotionally invested in the pro or con JF history that the parents may be. Again, while Jerry was a great fundraiser, affable leader and dogged visionary, it was the LU experience and people on the "ground floor" that seals the deal for LU and creates affinity for LU. When the flashes of the more draconian hawks are held at bay and the principle of "Christian Liberty" is allowed to flourish, the atmosphere that is present on that campus is unlike anything you'll find elsewhere.


Related: When will we move out of the fourth tier albatross ranking in the yearly best colleges publications? (Anybody who has acquried an LU degree can at least admit we are at least deserving of a third tier ranking and not relegated to the "less than" tier.)

Is this on the ptb's radar screen to take the steps necessary to work on this? (genuine question.)

To respond to your question, Peter, I would say that this was one of Jerry's proudest moments of his final year on this earth:

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=13208&NewsID=153

And he also loved our Quiz Bowl team beating up on William & Mary at the regionals in Knoxville last year. Just wait til we suit up Fumble next year on the varsity squad!

I dont know if I fully agree with not effecting it at all. I've personally talked to a lot of coach's that have said if they had a good athlete that was on the fence about what they should do, then they would meet with JF and next thing they know they signed. They would tell me there are many who know he's "well known" but not knowing why, but there still was a awe factor.

Cider Jim wrote:To respond to your question, Peter, I would say that this was one of Jerry's proudest moments of his final year on this earth:

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=13208&NewsID=153

And he also loved our Quiz Bowl team beating up on William & Mary at the regionals in Knoxville last year. Just wait til we suit up Fumble next year on the varsity squad!

I was in that class of Dr. Bell's, when the reporter sat in on it. It was very interesting. Those of you that know Dr. Bell, know that that is a great professor for someone to sit in on.

The numbers have already started to drop -- we are way behind the numbers from last year.

Cider Jim wrote:To respond to your question, Peter, I would say that this was one of Jerry's proudest moments of his final year on this earth:

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=13208&NewsID=153

And he also loved our Quiz Bowl team beating up on William & Mary at the regionals in Knoxville last year. Just wait til we suit up Fumble next year on the varsity squad!

This was a boon for marketing for sure...however, unfortunately, the same publication also still ranked us in the fourth tier with the dubious distinction of the 'most expensive' in category in the rankings section of the same issue (and subsequently for 2007 also.)

Also, the one quote from the kid in that article, I found to be a misnomer from my experience at LU:

explains senior Chris Graham, leading a noontime campus tour. "They just want to know where you are at all times.

The curfew thing and Hall meeting thing could be minor irritants at times, but I never felt "hawked" over during my tenure...of course, maybe it was simply serendipity and I had rogue authoritative but not authoritarian RA's.

TDDance234 wrote:The numbers have already started to drop -- we are way behind the numbers from last year.

What numbers are you speaking of, and do you have those numbers?

Good observations, Peter, but your cited quote...

"They just want to know where you are at all times."

...is also a positive from most parents' perspectives, esp. parents with daughters. Jerry's famous line that he used every CFAW for years was, "If we find a boy in a girls' dorm, we SHOOT him [pause for laughter & cheers], or make him wish we had!"

What numbers are you speaking of, and do you have those numbers?

The number of students that are attending next year.

I wouldn't go around posting rumors about attendance numbers, especially if you have access to them via your job.

Just a heads up.

From what I've been told, the numbers look good for the fall, and everything is on target for the original 10,300 projection. In fact, there is talk that we may reach the 15K plateau a little sooner than imagined, but that's still a few years away nonetheless.

I'm not sure as to what data or rumor TD is referring to, but I've been assurred that at least the interpretation is incorrect.

No rumors. The numbers are a little behind what was determined but there is still a lot of summer to go. Anwyay, back to the subject at hand -- recruiting.

Yall need to get to work over there in housing, yall dont do nothing but sit around