[Jonathan Carone]

One of the things that has come out of Saturday is that a lot of people are talking about Liberty.

Coach Freeze was on one of the biggest sports podcasts in the country.

ESPN’s biggest shows had segments on us on Tuesday.

Good or bad, people are talking about us.

One of the questions I heard in a segment was if it was possible to talk about Liberty without talking about Jerry and the political things he’s doing so publicly. The host of this show argued that the two were tied together so much that he couldn’t separate them. Because of that, with ESPN’s no politics policy, he doesn’t see a way to cover Liberty fairly or completely.

What are your thoughts on that connection and discussion?

[Purple Haize]

Yes. But only if people want to. Until you posted this no one even brought up Juniors politics. Just the fact he was Batman in his helicopter

[thepostman]

For me, it is completely possible. I separate the school and athletics from the leadership all the time. The school has been intertwined with politics since the 80's. There are a couple of reasons, in my opinion, that it feels like the school is more involved with politics. #1 we are in the social media age. It is very easy to get info, (accurate or not) into the public's eye. #2 Jerry Sr's death brought in Jerry Jr and it took him time to get comfortable in that role. This is why for a few years you didn't see much from him in regards to politics. It seemed like things were changing for the better in that regard. Then he got comfortable and the rest is history. So a lot of the newer alumni who weren't around when Jerry Sr was they are completely floored by the rhetoric.

Since I have seen the school, the teacher, the students first hand as a student and now as an alum who visits about once a year I have seen and continue to see how special the university is. For that reason I have absolutely zero problem separating the school and athletics from our leadership.

Now, I can understand why some people have a hard time but at the end of the day when covering athletics you need to be able to separate your politics from athletics. If I wasn't able to do that then I wouldn't be watching much sports since there are organizations and individuals who often hold positions in which I disagree with on a moral basis.

I just kind of crapped out a lot of words, so hopefully this makes sense.

Love this topic though.

[Jonathan Carone]

Here's where I think I've landed:

It's 100% possible to cover a game and not mention the politics of Jerry.

When covering the a program as a whole, it's completely fair (although not required) to bring up the politics of Jerry.

Here's what I mean:

If you're covering the facility improvements across the program, you generally talk about where the money came from. At Oklahoma State it's T. Boone Pickens. At Louisville a lot was from Papa John. It's standard procedure to look into that and cover it. At Liberty though, the growth is tied to the online school growth which is tied to federal funding through student loans which Jerry is very public in his politics about. So there's a logical tie in there that would be mentioned at most other schools.

I don't think it's required, but it's definitely fair game to bring them up.

[Chippy]

This is a non issue. The only one's having issues separating are the one's that don't want to . . . . haters are going to hate, especially those with TDS. Just look at Syracuse message board as an example. Those coaches and athletes know what they're getting into when they come here . . I have great admiration and respect for them that they choose to represent a unabashedly conservative Christian university.

[Chris Lang]

In coverage? Yes, it's possible to separate the school's politics from its athletics. In public opinion, not quite as simple. I watch a lot of sports out at a few bars in Richmond, and I was particularly interested in the LU-Miss State NCAA tournament game. Basically everyone I talked to said they couldn't stand Liberty because of Jr. and what he stands for. So that's a battle that will always be there. Unfortunate for the athletes, who really have nothing to do with it.

[CCWMichael]

Can one separate ND from Catholics?
Baylor from Baptists?
BYU from Mormons?

If the person resembles a phallic symbol they will not create the separation.
Most people will make the separation easily.

[Just John]

I think from the point of media coverage, it's a copout to say they can't cover LU because of Jr. I have rather wondered how he affects our recruitment.

[Jonathan Carone]

In coverage? Yes, it's possible to separate the school's politics from its athletics. In public opinion, not quite as simple. I watch a lot of sports out at a few bars in Richmond, and I was particularly interested in the LU-Miss State NCAA tournament game. Basically everyone I talked to said they couldn't stand Liberty because of Jr. and what he stands for. So that's a battle that will always be there. Unfortunate for the athletes, who really have nothing to do with it.

I think what you're saying on the public opinion front is what the host was getting at. Because the vast majority of people watching/listening/reading the coverage can't separate the two, they see the journalist/reporter talking about just the game as support for everything.

Last week when Ryan McGee did his article on Freeze, a large part of his mentions on Twitter we asking why he would give Liberty the publicity.

On Sunday, when The Athletic ran an article about Freeze in the hospital bed, the comments there were the same.

If I'm reading into the argument the host was trying to make, I think that's where he was going with it when he said it's impossible to separate the two.

[ballcoach15]

Everyone should separate politics and athletics, at Liberty and everywhere else. Keep politics out of sports. No one should mention politics when talking to the media reference athletics. If media brings up politics when doing a sports story, "end the interview".

I believe the majority of the world doesn't pay any attention to LU and politics. It just a few liberal wackos, who bring it up every chance they get.

On the scoreboards at LU facilities, there is no column for politics. Only score and a few stats.

[CCWMichael]

In coverage? Yes, it's possible to separate the school's politics from its athletics. In public opinion, not quite as simple. I watch a lot of sports out at a few bars in Richmond, and I was particularly interested in the LU-Miss State NCAA tournament game. Basically everyone I talked to said they couldn't stand Liberty because of Jr. and what he stands for. So that's a battle that will always be there. Unfortunate for the athletes, who really have nothing to do with it.

I think what you're saying on the public opinion front is what the host was getting at. Because the vast majority of people watching/listening/reading the coverage can't separate the two, they see the journalist/reporter talking about just the game as support for everything.

Last week when Ryan McGee did his article on Freeze, a large part of his mentions on Twitter we asking why he would give Liberty the publicity.

On Sunday, when The Athletic ran an article about Freeze in the hospital bed, the comments there were the same.

If I'm reading into the argument the host was trying to make, I think that's where he was going with it when he said it's impossible to separate the two.

For him and some personally. For many others, no problem.
The bigger question is why some are unable to separate.

[Chris Lang]

Can one separate ND from Catholics?
Baylor from Baptists?
BYU from Mormons?

If the person resembles a phallic symbol they will not create the separation.
Most people will make the separation easily.

To this point, the leaders of the schools you have mentioned have not been outspoken politically about either party. I don't think it's a thing against Christians. I think it's a dislike for the way Jerry speaks out on issues, and not all coming from liberals, either.

I also don't believe people can separate Baylor athletics from the many scandals that have happened there.

[thepostman]

In coverage? Yes, it's possible to separate the school's politics from its athletics. In public opinion, not quite as simple. I watch a lot of sports out at a few bars in Richmond, and I was particularly interested in the LU-Miss State NCAA tournament game. Basically everyone I talked to said they couldn't stand Liberty because of Jr. and what he stands for. So that's a battle that will always be there. Unfortunate for the athletes, who really have nothing to do with it.

I think what you're saying on the public opinion front is what the host was getting at. Because the vast majority of people watching/listening/reading the coverage can't separate the two, they see the journalist/reporter talking about just the game as support for everything.

Last week when Ryan McGee did his article on Freeze, a large part of his mentions on Twitter we asking why he would give Liberty the publicity.

On Sunday, when The Athletic ran an article about Freeze in the hospital bed, the comments there were the same.

If I'm reading into the argument the host was trying to make, I think that's where he was going with it when he said it's impossible to separate the two.

It isn't impossible. Half the people in sports have different viewpoints on life than I do. Just because I watch them doesn't mean I support everything they do.

It is a line of thinking that has never made much sense to me. I know that it comes from the left and the right. It comes from the church and people not in the church.

I remember growing up being told we shouldn't go to Disney World because they have "Gay days". By going there we condoned the behavior. Or not drinking starbucks because they sent some cops out and if you drink starbucks you condone their behavior, Or if you eat Chic-Fil-A it means you are homophobic. All of those different things are exactly like this and it is something I can never understand doing. If I hear someone talking about West Virginia on ESPN, I don't think they condone burning couches in the street.

It is silliness and just taking these way too far.

Just my opinion, of course...

Clearly I have stronger opinions about this than I realized.

I just have never liked people equating talking about something or going to a particular business automatically means you support everything about that business or person.

[CCWMichael]

+1 thepostman

[RubberMallet]

its impossible to separate the 2 if you don't really want to separate the 2.

[amar0819]

When you are not in the Virginia Bubble I think people have a different view of the school. I grew up in Pennsylvania and now live in North Carolina and have heard different opinions across the board.

I have christian friends and atheist friends. I have Republican friends and Liberal friends. Any time any of them talk to me about Liberty they know at least one of three things. Liberty is a christian school and/or that Jerry is a strong supporter of Trump and here recently we have a decent basketball team.

With our school FINALLY getting national attention and if you've heard of Liberty before one of two things pops in their head Christians/or Trump supporters. I feel as though until we've been in the public eye long enough and give people something other then our controversy AD and Coach and Chancellor that is all any one is going to bring up when they hear about us. Most of the everyday sports fan isn't going to look deeper into the university and find out any more then what they hear on the surface level. You really don't hear too much shade from the everyday sports fan...until you go onto Twitter and see 50+ something year old's with 5 followers continue to bring up Jerry's Pool Boy or HF or IM controversial pasts.

With all that said what I am trying to prove is the everyday sports fan could really care less about our schools politics outside of Virginia. We are finally getting national attention and I think we should enjoy it rather then get upset by the few who troll us.

[Jonathan Carone]

For the record - I'm not upset at all. It's expected for who we are. I'm just interested in the conversation of how much our president's outspoken political feelings impact our coverage or the type of coverage we get.

[RubberMallet]

in other places in the country (midwest...west coast), old people know about jerry sr and his political work in the 90's, all the rest know very little about jerry sr except a little bit about the trump stuff. most people are not even aware that liberty university exists and/or its affiliation with the falwells.

[Class of 20Something]

I think if Nasser can get some good faith liberal appearances at Convo, it would go a long way. Bernie was great, but that was years ago.

I'd also love to see Jr criticize Trump on some issues and language. Hold him to a higher standard. I'd like to see the board do this with Jr too.

I'm tough on my daughter because I love her and know what she is capable of. We should be tough on our leaders especially those in our own party.

[amar0819]

Exactly no one knows us any more then the average american knowing about UTEP, UTSA, FIU, and so on. We are just another random small school that scrolled across the ESPN feed.

[thepostman]

For the record - I'm not upset at all. It's expected for who we are. I'm just interested in the conversation of how much our president's outspoken political feelings impact our coverage or the type of coverage we get.

I certainly expect it but when it comes to talking about us playing on Saturday and commentators talking about it from that point of view, it shouldn't matter.

I just think if we did that in all areas of life we would pretty much have to stay at home and do nothing and say nothing.

I've talked to my brother about this a lot. He also graduated from Liberty and is very liberal. He will not associate with the school because it. He thinks that I shouldn't be as supportive of athletics as I am. So I am very familiar with this rational. Which may be way I'm more passionate about it. Who knows. Luckily my brother and I have a great relationship which is kind of ironic. Haha

[TH Spangler]

Thought I would share this . Bare with me I have fat fingers and I'm on my Galaxy. I invited an old junior high buddy to the game. He drove up from Jacksonville Fl to be there. He, as of Thursday is a "retired" IRS manager. He votes Democrat and hates Trump. He loves sports. He played baseball in HS, he's a ODU alumni. We dinned at Texas Roadhouse pregame and then did a quick campus tour. He pulled for Liberty all night. He was blown away by it all. At the end of the night he was a big Liberty fan. Wants to hit another game. The line of the night came when the kid was raised on the peice of plywood above the student section to lead cheers..... "Only at Liberty can you have that much fun sober".

He had no problem separating the two. He loves Liberty now .... he's still voting for a Democrat 2020. Over heard him telling a friend on the phone leaving the stadium he had a blast, describe it as "a night of good clean fun". So it is possible to separate the two ..... for some.

[RubberMallet]

the problem with that style of livin is that you are a perpetual hypocrite. Its impossible to not associate or support organizations you don't agree with. mostly indirectly but directly as well.

[TH Spangler]

[LibertyD]

The only people that folllow Jerry's politics are those who want to follow it! The reality is that there area lot of good thngs hapening at Liberty. I have been on a lot of college campuses and I was impresed at how well-behaved the students were at the SU game. No pot in the air, police sirens or ambulances to take intoxicated students to the hospital. LU has a lot to be proud of. Students are making great strides and the spirit is high. If we have to contend with Jerry's politics then so be it. Folks should put Jr aside and focus on the bigger picture...STUDENTSq!