[Tothehoopyall1]

I appreciate the insights here.. My question would be.. If we are struggling with NIL now, what would change if we moved to a P4 conference that would put us in a better position on NIL? I know being in a smaller market hurts us, but I continue to struggle with how poorly it seems we are doing with NIL, especially with the increasingly large alumni base we have. Liberty has a ton of wealthy connections associated with the university. I guess I'm a little lost on this part of NIL.

[jbock13]

Liberty is committed to always being the biggest fish in the smallest pond. Although, it seems we’ve lost that plot at the moment. I really don’t think our current leadership is interested in completing with the bigger fish. We’re certainly not doing what we need to do to even compete with the little fish right now.

[Humble_Opinion]

There had better be some roster turnover after a 4-8 season. Right now, the biggest changes I'm waiting on are the staff changes we were told were coming on the defensive side of the ball. HCJC needs to remove his loyalty cap and realize that he has never really gotten it right on that side of the ball at any of his stops. LU's defenses under HCHF were head and shoulders above the current performance of this staff and it was against better competition. We need a whole new scheme and line of thinking when it comes to recruitment and player development.

If you step back and look at this from a 30K foot view, keeping HCJC was the best option. The last time HCJC had a downturn like this, his next team turned it around and had a 10-win season. The question is, does he realize that his normal formula and modus operandi are no longer going to work? The high school class we just signed was decent enough, but he said a few things in his press conference about not reaching for players and being patient if they didn't get every position they need knowing full well they can take advantage of the portal. That for me is a step in the right direction. I don't know what will happen with the G5 at this point and for all intents and purposes I don't really care. Right now, we need to focus on adjusting to the new landscape and developing a formula that allows us to find the talent necessary to win the CUSA year-after-year.

As for all the talk about conference realignment, I think everyone needs to realize how much things have changed in 15 short years. Conferences are eventually going to dissolve, and a new system is going to take its place. There are powerbrokers in the background driving these changes for the expressed purpose of creating enough chaos that a new system can be embraced. It’s likely much closer than we all realize at this point.

[Humble_Opinion]

I appreciate the insights here.. My question would be.. If we are struggling with NIL now, what would change if we moved to a P4 conference that would put us in a better position on NIL? I know being in a smaller market hurts us, but I continue to struggle with how poorly it seems we are doing with NIL, especially with the increasingly large alumni base we have. Liberty has a ton of wealthy connections associated with the university. I guess I'm a little lost on this part of NIL.

We are not struggling with NIL. At least not amongst our G5 and conference peers. NIL has been replaced by Revenue Share though, with schools now being able to pay the athletes directly up to $20.5M (or 22% of Athletics Generated Revenues). There are still commercial NIL opportunities for athletes, but those must all individually go through the Deloitte Clearinghouse. With respect to the Revenue Sharing, LU has the ability to go all the way up to the Max of $20.5M if they choose to do so. We do not have to abide by the 22% of Athletics Generated Revenues. If all schools at the G5 level followed the 22% guidance, then the avg G5 would payout about $4M per year to their student athletes. While it has not been stated publicly, I would bet that LU will be over $10M per year.

So, to reiterate, we are not going to be struggling with "NIL" for the foreseeable future from a funding perspective. The most recent changes should actually accentuate LU's competitive advantages simply because LU's financial model is far healthier than most colleges and universities in the country thanks to LUO.

Being the “best team in the state” doesn’t matter when most of your alumni are out of state.
Since I’m from Roanoke, it matters to me, but I realize it doesn’t matter to most of the fan base.

It's been a long while since I worked at LU, but a little over a third of LU's alumni was in VA at the time if I recall correctly. This is much lower than most in-state schools for obvious reasons, and it presents a challenge to LU from an ability to generate athletics focused revenue. We have far greater numbers of our alumni base outside what most would consider to be feasible when it comes to travel to attend a game. To keep the ones within driving range of attending a game excited about the program, having us be one of the best as compared to our in-state peers does matter.