Darrell Laurant Weighs In

[El Scorcho]

Editorial is here. (Click Me)

[Stevev]

A great article which I agree with 100%. Getting Lou Holtz might be a mistake although I think that he would do better than Sam R. and get the program to a competitive level but a better choice would be Skip Holtz (wherever he might be). Could use his dad for advice on running the program and would be a perfect relationship as to include Lou in an indirect way. Successful college coach's sons usually end up being successes themselves (look at the Bowdens). Maybe Lou could be AD and help on the financial and administrative side.
I also agree with his position on the Big South. I think LU is wasting there time in that low-end conference and could be the biggest obsticle in the way of Jerry's overall plan and could explain our low attendence at games. I can definately see it but unfortunately most people that are on this board are ignorant to that fact. I would rather see LU as an independent, schedule quality 1AA teams like UR, JMU, W&M than to join some low-end conference just so they can say they belong to a "conference".

[HarrisburgFlame]

He's still a moron. he was a moron when I lived in Lynchburg and the beat goes on. I disagree completely on the whole dig at the BSC. LU needs a conference for football - period. It's VERY difficult to get games. He thinks the schedule is bad now - imagine some of the teams we'd be playing if we had 4 additional dates to fill! Bottom line on Richmond and JMU - they aren't lined up to play LU - they don't need us like we need them. I would like to play a Virginia round robin BIG 5 every year with VMI, JMU, UR, W&M, and LU - but it's not going to happen. LU dropping out of the BSC wouldn't not incentivize UR or JMU to jump at the chance to play us.

His points on Lou - I'll give him. His points on why LU has not endeared itself to the region are off base. I think the overall problem is MUCH bigger than our football schedule - but that's another story.

[PAmedic]

here's the article ES alluded to:

Liberty football at a crossroads

Lynchburg News & Advance
November 21, 2005

I’ve been following and writing about the Liberty University football program for a long time, back to when the school was called Liberty Baptist College and played teams like Bridgewater and Newport News Apprentice School in City Stadium.

This doesn’t make me an expert, by any means. But for what it’s worth, I do have some thoughts about what LU might do now that it has ousted football coach Ken Karcher and athletic director Thom Park (Karcher was fired, Park resigned) in the backwash of an ugly 1-10 season.

Of course, chances are the Rev. Jerry Falwell has already made up his mind.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have announced that a new coach and AD would be hired within two weeks.

Some of the coaching speculation has swirled around former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, who spoke at Liberty’s Convocation last Wednesday. I have no idea whether Holtz has been offered the job, or if he would even take it even if it were offered.

Certainly, a big name (and Jerry loves big names) would undoubtedly draw national attention to Liberty’s Division 1-AA program. Holtz has been successful at a half-dozen major colleges, including nine straight trips to prime-time bowl games with Notre Dame. He is a masterful motivational speaker, and he fits the Christian profile.

Still, does Liberty really want a 68-year-old coach who has nothing left to prove? In 1999, Holtz came out of retirement to coach South Carolina, and his first year’s record was 0-11. His second season, the Gamecocks went 8-4, the third, 9-3. Another Lou Holtz miracle.

The thing is, the Gamecocks had 5-7 records the following two years, 7-5 in 2004. It’s as if Holtz, his Lazarus routine completed, simply lost interest.

What Liberty football needs, in my humble opinion, is a highly-motivated younger coach, perhaps a current assistant at a successful Division 1-A (the top tier) program. Falwell and the new athletic director will need to accept the fact that this person won’t be staying at Liberty forever, but will use the opportunity as the launching pad to a better job. The tradeoff is, he’ll have to win to get there, and perhaps he’ll start a tradition of success that will continue with his successor.

True, that’s exactly what Liberty was thinking when it brought in former Pitt assistant Karcher - but just because it didn’t work out in that case doesn’t mean it’s a bad plan.

There’s a larger question here, as well: Why hasn’t the Central Virginia community as a whole truly adopted the only college football team in the region?

Obviously, winning would help - it’s hard to get fans out to watch a team that loses 90 percent of the time. Even when times were better, though, the people in the stands have been mostly LU students, staff and alumni.

Part of the difficulty is the teams the Flames play. With all due respect to Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern, these are not names that quicken the pulse of Virginia football fans.

In fact, I’m not sure what benefit Liberty derives from being a member of the Big South Conference in football, anyway. This affiliation does not mean an automatic post-season bid for the conference champion, as is the case in Big South basketball. And by becoming independent in football, the Flames would be in a better position to schedule more in-state games with opponents like James Madison, Richmond and William & Mary. Trying a little harder to recruit local athletes would help, also.

Your so-called “blue chip” high school All-Americans are not going to play for a Division 1-AA school,

no matter who the coach is. They want to be on ABC and ESPN. So if you’re going to rely on the second level of athletes, Central Virginia plays some of the best high school football in the state.

Do they all have to be Southern Baptists?

To be honest, I still think a divide exists between Liberty University and the rest of the community. Much of that stems from the early years of the college, when the new school seemed to have a chip on its collective shoulder.

LU is much more friendly and open now, and part of the job of any new AD and coach should be to make themselves as visible in the community as they can.

Virginia Tech and Virginia will always be first in the hearts of most Central Virginia football fans. But given the right circumstances, I believe there’s also room for Liberty.

[PAmedic]

actually, the beginning of his story reminded me of the "old N&A" (pre-CHRIS days), but Mr. Laurant came around at the end. (quote to follow)

the arguments he made in the heart of this piece- as well as the thoughts on the selection process of our new coach- could have been copied word for word off this board. Nothing new or deep there.

but he did recognize the changes at LU and I appreciated that. "there's... room for Liberty" is a HUGE admission- no one even admitted we were in EXISTENCE back in my day.

LU is much more friendly and open now, and part of the job of any new AD and coach should be to make themselves as visible in the community as they can.

Virginia Tech and Virginia will always be first in the hearts of most Central Virginia football fans. But given the right circumstances, I believe there’s also room for Liberty.

[ATrain]

Well...I do agree that names like W&M, VMI, Richmond and JMU are likely to draw larger crowds over Coastal Carolina (sorry Coastal fans on this board, but I'm sure ya'll can say the same about us when we come down there), Charleston-Southern and Gardner-Webb. But he overlooks the fact that the Big South did give us a good local rival in VMI. I do agree that we need to start trying to schedule more in-state teams, and with a new coach we might actually be able to compete against them...I for one would love to see an OOC schedule with W&M, Richmond, JMU, Hampton, and Norfolk State...maybe even invite NC A&T b/c I'm sure fans down there in Greensboro will make a trip up here, just like High Point fans tend to travel to games with us in BBall (both men's and women's) and even VBall. I know it'll be hard to get a schedule like that, but I think eventually we could get it (say maybe 2010).

One other thing-we all see major changes coming to the I-AA football conferences in a few years, with the whole MEAC/SWAC "HBCU National Champion" mess and ODU adding football, we'll just have to see where the chips fall.

[bigsmooth]

laurant is a tool, but had some valid points. true, to play other schools with more name value will hep, but i tell you winning cures everything. if we build a consistent winner, there is no reason why we can't grab a small piece of the pie from central virginia and fill up williams.

[rokamortis]

I just find the argument 'we are too good for a conference that we finished dead last in and have never won the championship' a tad idiotic.

I'm still hoping we band together to make the conference stronger - there is no reason why we can't, look at the Great West.

[HarrisburgFlame]

rok:

I totally agree with you. The BigSouth was our ONLY conference option for football. Time to stop griping about it and win some games to earn the conference some respect.

[Sly Fox]

Rok - For the record, this hack who wrote the article in no way represents the school in any fashion.

[ATrain]

Well as far as conference affiliation goes, everything is tentative...I too would like us to band together with Coastal, GWU, CSU, and VMI to make a stronger Big South, with an OOC involving mostly in-state teams or teams not too far away. But we must also consider other things:

If the MEAC joins with the SWAC for an HBCU Title Game, then its generally agreed Hampton, NC A&T and SC State are out of that conference.

Several schools are stepping up and going DI

The CAA may have 15 football teams in 10 years if it stays together...ODU is definitely adding football, and GSU and GMU are talking about it.

Jerry has stated its his goal to get us into DI-A within 10 years...

And rok...I agree, I think LU has no right to say we deserve to be in a better conference after this season. And for the record, Laurant also made a case as to why we should keep Karcher in an article/editorial during the summer...

[PittLU]

We can sit and argue all day about conference or no conference, but at the end of the day, the only program that is a successful independent is ND. Why - because of scheduling rivalries before conference affiliation was truly en vouge coupled with the national alumni base and big TV money deal. Until LU can graduate enough students with as much passion about the university that ND fans exhibit and turn Sky Angel into a Direct TV equivalent - the BSC is the best we can get.

We can whine all day about not developing the in-state rivalries and why we should schedule JMU, W&M and the like, but the program is what it is. We could schedule those teams every year if we sacrafice some of the gate, but a program 7.4 million in the red cant afford to. So, we will keep scheduling the Rutgers and UConn's of the world to generate some revenue to put a dent in the operating expenses. Becoming an idenpendent changes nothing except saving a few pennies on conference dues.

We need to brighten the corner where we are, while being fiscally responsible and building for a DI jump. Abandoning the BSC would be fruitless unless a better opportunity came. Many points were brought up about conference shakeup. While that is viable, we have to dominate where we are so we are an attractive acquisition.

I have to agree with Laurant on hiring an aggressive young coach. Just because Karcher didnt work out doesnt mean it was a bad plan.