- October 8th, 2019, 11:40 am
#585821
Here is what I will tell you Purple... and this is as unbiased as I can possibly be. I come from the era of Liberty where the ink in the pen was almost always red. I remember we would scrap together the money to pay our tuition early because they would give a pretty significant discount if you paid early (because the money was that tight). When you sat in convocation and wondered if our status was going to be renewed. by sacs or whatever it was called. When I honestly am not even sure that our president at that time was Christian but we needed to keep the doors open. I also come from an era that saw his business venture and contract with Liberty terminated (because it had a clause that they promised they would never use but had to be in every contract) because they could turn a quick million or two by terminating. To say things like that impact your experience is an understatement. Literally, the other person involved had his life turned upside down. Marriage destroyed. Faith shaken. Etc... not because of anything he did wrong, but because a university used him and abused him. Sure, you can say that your faith should be stronger etc. But you are talking about people that were in a position of respect over basically college students/recent alumni. Welcome to the world where the university you just invested in will be the very first people to take advantage of you. My perspective was a little different. Oh, I hated administration... but I had gained life long friends, had an amazing 4 years socially, and learned quite a bit (of course, 95% of that was outside of the classroom). I married and stayed in the Burg for a few years. Bought a house, had my first two kids there, before getting an offer I couldn't refuse to relocate. Since going back it is obviously not the same place as what I attended (and most likely you). Some is good... some is probably not for the better. When I do go back there doesn't seem to be the same spirit amongst the student body. Maybe it's just me. It's almost too nice if that's possible. Either way, the most difficult part of being alumni became Jr. He lives in his Burg bubble while the rest of us live outside. There are many overall thoughts that I agree with him on... but he seasons his words with CaJohns Mongoose. Needless to say, I was really torn if I even wanted to encourage my kids to attend. I hadn't given up on the school. It was still my alma mater... I cheered fanatically as Richie's boys marched into the tourney. My oldest has always wanted to follow in his parents footsteps. He was born in Lynchburg, wanted (craved) a Christian school, and absolutely loved Alder. I tried to steer him away... I tried to get him to seriously consider other options... But that is where he wanted to be. The coaching change occurred and it was the first time that I think he really thought, "I may have to consider other options". Here is the reality... if you always wanted to go to Penn State growing up... There are several other schools out there that are compatible. If you always wanted to go to Liberty... that compatible list is almost non-existent. This is where my 3rd strike comes in for Liberty. Before you think... well, "he probably isn't good enough for Liberty" that just isn't the case. This is a kid who turned down ACC offers because he was convinced Liberty would come thru. This is a kid who is first team all state as a junior... and will be again as a senior. This is a kid who knows what the top level talent is because he has seen his brother play in one of the top 5 academies in the country for the last 4 years. This is a kid with teammates now at top programs around the country. This is a kid that literally fielded calls from coaches up and down the spectrum of top 25 programs to schools in the ASun, Big South, SunBelt, perennial national champions etc. turning all of them down, because of Liberty. I can also tell you, from this end. No program treated him worse during the whole process then Liberty. NONE. Not even close. Trust me... Liberty was middle of the road in terms of quality of program. No one treated him worse then the staff at Liberty. In the end, he decided to commit to another program. A program that quite honestly is light years ahead of Liberty. There is a kid in our car pool who is going to play at JMU if he does not turn pro. He asked about where our oldest was going to play next year and we told him the story. We told him how his first choice was Liberty. His immediate response... "Why would he want to go there? He is in a much better place where he is going. The quality of the program at Liberty is poor, I wouldn't have even considered them." There is a common theme amongst all successful programs in collegiate soccer. It is certainly present at the program my oldest ultimately choose. But trust me, we didn't need to actually go and look up the records of the coaches who were calling. We knew if their programs were successful based on how they interacted with their potential recruits. What we saw with Liberty matched up with other poor programs (this was true both before and after the change). I would tell you that I hope that isn't the ultimate result this time. But I'm personally so angry with the program I admittedly am rooting against it... but it also matches what other connections outside of Liberty told me when they heard who was chosen. I hoped they were wrong... but the career record (one successful class that overcame the odds at Davidson) and my personal experience tells me they were right. Again, I admit... a lot of frustration on my end coming out. But you can put up with a lot of crap when it happens to you personally... but your kids are different. Of course, many college coaches start to become much better coaches and recruiters once their kids come of age. Problem for Findley is... he isn't learning in that process. He is simply bringing them to Liberty.
Last edited by 47/5-2 on October 9th, 2019, 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.