the karcher file

[lufbfan3]

Haha PAmedic, I think you've got the right idea with that plan. I'm not joining the flames club this year--I would like to, even if just for the high class parking but I am going to wait until next season I think.

I'd like to say I would put my betting $ on that same conclusion-but I won't. I've been saying it's going to happen for 3 or 4 years now and have been sadly mistaken. Not going to set myself up for the disappointment until he seals the deal!!

[PAmedic]

now for some positive news:

LU improving with tougher practices

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 10, 2005

On the surface, the results are the same.

Liberty University takes the field on Saturday. Liberty loses. That hasn’t changed since Sept. 3 when the Flames beat Division II Concord at Williams Stadium.

But anyone who has witnessed all five of LU’s losses this season can tell the difference between the first three and the last two.

Against Connecticut, Youngstown State and William & Mary, Liberty was outscored 157-0. Against VMI and Chattanooga, the Flames have been much more competitive, losing by a combined 34-28.

So why have the Flames shown so much improvement?

It’s all about practice, or the type of practices LU has run in the last two weeks.

Instead of running non-contact, walk-through type drills, Liberty has run full-contact scrimmages on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

“We’ve been playing three games a week,” LU coach Ken Karcher said.

The goal? To breed competitiveness and toughness, things that were missing in Liberty’s miserable three-game run to end September.

LU has had plenty of both in the last two games. The increased contact in practice has been a big reason.

“I think it’s been good for all of us,” LU quarterback Brock Farrel said. “We just get out there and play. We don’t worry about so much stuff. We learn, and we get our gameplan in. And then we just play.”

Now, the Flames need to work on executing in clutch situations. As spectacular as freshman Zach Terrell was in his debut Saturday against the Mocs, the Flames failed to move the ball once Chattanooga tied the game at 21 with 2:13 left.

All Liberty needed was a first down to eat time off the clock and potentially force overtime, but the Flames went three-and-out.

Of course, had the Flames not left so many points on the field in the first half, the game very likely would have been out of reach in the final five minutes, when Chattanooga made its charge.

The Flames had an opportunity to score 17 more points in the first half, but instead went to the break tied at 7. With no one in between him and the end zone, Pat Calvary dropped an interception that would have gone for a touchdown.

Terrell, who rushed for 241 yards, fumbled at the Chattanooga 3 when the Flames were driving for their second touchdown.

Add Zac Kolegue’s blocked field goal, and the Flames missed three huge opportunities to score.

“What’s frustrating is that it should have been 24-7 at halftime,” Farrel said.

Still, with a newfound weapon in Terrell, the Flames have reason for hope heading into the final five games of the season, something that was severely lacking just two weeks ago.

“Kids are really learning how to play through injuries and learn how to play tougher and learn how to play with a chip on their shoulder,” LU linebacker Manny Rojas said. “I don’t think we did that leading into the William & Mary game. We had good practices, but nothing like we had in the last two weeks.

“I really like the way coach Karcher is doing that.”

[flameshaw]

fullnelson said:

What's with all the Chicken Little's on this board? Some of you guys are the epitomy of hyperbole. Falwell is content with mediocrity? That's one of the most ridiculous thoughts I've heard hear. He's not going to lambaste someone in public, especially a coach that's pretty much "his guy". Falwell is actually showing some patience here and is giving the program some time to right itself. Of course you can think that too many chances have been given, but sometimes that's better than jumping the gun like this school has done too many times in the past. The school is young, and so are many of it's programs, and there's a very high turnover rate within the entire institution, so learning from our mistakes is vital to making this thing work, and I think that's what Falwell's trying to do.

I am pretty much in agreement here. Jerry could not say publicly that he was dissatisfied with Karcher. First, it is not the right thing to do. Those discussions should be held in private. As long as he is at the school, Jerry is almost forced to support him. I know that Jerry has been given some sound advice regarding the coach/program and would expect him to take it very seriously. If you read between the lines, Jerry was quoted as saying he was particularily pround of the way Karcher has handeled the spiritual/moral side of things. That says a whole lot to me.

[PAmedic]

One thing for sure- Jerry always maintains class and decorum. That's really the only thing you CAN do in this situation- though the end result will likely be the same.

[eddantes]

With all due respect to New Coke Karcher, I think that the team's performance in last week's game drastically improves the outlook for the rest of the season.

Prior to Chattanooga, which is what I'll say epitomizes the "good teams find ways to win, bad teams find ways to lose" adage, LU was looking at a 3-8 record, by most estimations. Now that the situation has improved a bit, there is more hope (5-6 wins is doable). I'll go out on a limb and say that we'll win 4 of the remaining five contests. Of course, I'm the same guy who said that we'd win 7 games at the beginning of the year, but still. I stand by my optimism.

[Sly Fox]

Way to keep the chin up, Ed.

And I agree 100% with everything flameshaw types.

100%.

[bigsmooth]

thanks for joining medic. the bottom line is this is a business! i think sometimes LU fans, alums etc. get caught up with the christianity side of it.( please people do not get offended let me finish) i know that coach karcher is a fine christian man, and has the players doing the right thing and their lives are examples of what a christian should be. however, i am 100% sure that if karcher is let go, that the administration will find a solid christian coach who will keep these players lives growing in christ and build a solid program that can win games. yes it is sad for the families, but coaches always land on their feet not unless they get out of coaching altogether. football can be a big drawing card and other than hoops can be a revenue builder if the right people are their to see out the mission.

[Stevev]

I agree. There is no reason why LU can't compete agains't and win against this type of competition and still maintain there Christian testimonies. Karcher is just not cut out for this position. Hopefully LU can find the right person to lead them into the future.

In listening to the post game interview it seems as if Karcher was very happly with the teams performance last week even though they blew several opportunities to score and put the game away. It seems to contradict the way he interviewed after some of the close game losses in his first 3 years (unfortunately there weren't many close game losses) in which he was not happy, particularly the loss to App State a few years ago at home. I can't figure if he is lowering his standards of what he expects on the football field or he knows that the end is near. I don't know. That is the way I interprited his post game interview. I don't know if anyone else listened to it or not. Not a good thing at all to accept defeat as okay. Very disappointed with all of that.

[thesportscritic]

i think sometimes LU fans, alums etc. get caught up with the christianity side of it.( please people do not get offended let me finish)

AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!!!!! Big Smooth. There has got to be a Christian Coach who can lead by example and have a winning program in the process. This coach doesn't have the winning touch at all. He doesn't have his team mentally prepared for any games. Being mentally prepared should come with being ready to execute on the field too. Mental preparations will translate into the physical and it will show on that football field.

[flameshaw]

sportscritic05 said:

i think sometimes LU fans, alums etc. get caught up with the christianity side of it.( please people do not get offended let me finish)

AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!!!!! Big Smooth. There has got to be a Christian Coach who can lead by example and have a winning program in the process. This coach doesn't have the winning touch at all. He doesn't have his team mentally prepared for any games. Being mentally prepared should come with being ready to execute on the field too. Mental preparations will translate into the physical and it will show on that football field.

What he said.

[quesr]

[shadow=red,left,300][/shadow]The players had an unexpected day today of no meetings and the like. I think they are confused also, wondering if trouble is a brewing.. The guys showed up and were sent home.. That is ver INTERESTING ISNT IT...

[thesportscritic]

quesr said:

[shadow=red,left,300][/shadow]The players had an unexpected day today of no meetings and the like. I think they are confused also, wondering if trouble is a brewing.. The guys showed up and were sent home.. That is ver INTERESTING ISNT IT...

True now register so at least you have some credibility.

[krh44]

From what I heard and seen Karcher does a really great good job on the spiritual side of things. However, with the season winding down and still only 1 win I don't think LU has much of a choice. We had 3 games that we could have won but didn't. We also played the 3 games we all would like to forget(Murders Row). UConn I can understand but W&M and Youngstown were humiliating. We are young but that falls on the Coach to get jucos in or whatever he needs to do. Falwell is probably regreting letting Sam R go. They are talking about going IA but we are going in the wrong direction.

[PAmedic]

Its going to be a very tough 2 months to sit, watch and wait for the inevitable. Thoughts and prayers to all who are going to have to make some very hard decisions.

[lufbfan3]

I feel sorry for the decision makers as well, and I even feel sorry for the coaching staff that is going to go too--but I do believe that it is the decision that has to be made. If we want to get to the next level, changes have to be made.

A young team is only so much of a crutch--we have a young team overall-but not many young starters. The majority of the starting line-up are juniors, seniors, and R-Sr, some of which have been in "the system" since freshman year--so I don't really think that holds up. What it comes down to is costly mistakes and bad coaching. It's disheartening, and I feel for all those boys because I can only imagine how disappointed THEY are if we feel the way we do.

[eddantes]

The only thing that would be disheartening is if we didn't make a decision. Take a look at men's basketball: they were going nowhere with Mel Hankinson, who's team was worst in the nation in RPI (or close to worst, depending on whose measurement). After four years, it became clear that nothing was going to progress with that guy at the helm.

In comes Coach Dunton. While he certainly has flaws on the coaching side, he represented a new shift in the program. Two years later, they're conference champs.

Sure, it was tough to give Hankinson the axe. He was a great guy. But it would have been even tougher if we kept on sitting through years of dwelling in the Big South basemen.

[PAmedic]

I truly do NOT believe the powers that be can afford to delay a decision. FB is the only thing CLOSE to being a money sport (though we are far from that yet) but, more importantly- is ultra high visibility. Onward and upward.

[PAmedic]

Here's coach K's comments after the game:
Karcher Post-Game Comments - Coastal Carolina

October 23, 2005 · Lynchburg, Va.

Did you feel like you were finally starting to catch some breaks in tonight’s game?
I think if you look at football as a whole, good football teams make things happen. I don’t believe in luck. I think that good football teams have things go their way. But I also think that this is a much bigger picture of what is happening on the field. We’re saying that we stand for something that a lot of teams don’t stand for and our young guys are learning a lot about life. It is not always easy as we have said for seven weeks now and I would love for it to be 7-1 learning. But this is about are we going to keep playing. As you can see for the most part are team keeps coming back as no one has quit. I just keep on telling them that you are going to get kicked in the teeth in life sometimes and you need to know how you are going to respond. Right now we are 1-7 and it’s no fun. No one likes it as it stings, but we will never quit.

When did you make the decision to start Zach (Terrell) at quarterback and go back to the rotating quarterback system throughout the game?
We knew early last week as we watched Coastal against Appalachian State and/or Gardner-Webb. When they ran those types of plays against Coastal they averaged five yards per carry. We wanted to do that and we knew that we were going to use both, but we wanted to have him in there early to start at quarterback because their quarterbacks were really hurting them. I will have to look at what Zach ended up doing, but using him there initially and than coming back worked well as it gave us a chance.

I know that Brock (Farrel) has shown some allusiveness in the past, but did you expect him to run that ball as well as he did tonight?
No I didn’t, but I think that Brock made good reads and it will be interesting to see the film. He is quicker than people think. Obviously it was Senior Night and I am sure that he has some momentum in him. He did some very good things.

Was it just a miss on (Ben) Beasley’s part on the field goal attempt that hit the goal post?
I guess as I don’t know enough about kickers to tell you how that happens. We either have to widen the post or do something, because we keep hitting them. I have never seen anything like it. They (Coastal Carolina) hit one tonight. I have seen more hit goal posts this year than over my whole career as a player or a coach.

One question on a senior that didn’t play tonight and that being Andre Gould. Is he going to try and get a medical redshirt?
Andre has been told to not play football again at least from what I have been told to this point.

However, was it good to see Andre be able to walk on the field with his teammates again?
Yes as Andre is a great young man. We are just thankful that he is alive. He would have been an important part of our team this year as he is one of those defensive linemen that we are missing this year.

What does it do to a team to have at least two losses come down to the last play of the game? How do you bounce back from that in the upcoming week?
To me it is not very hard. Obviously it stings and I am not going to say that we are going to pump up balloons and have a party, but it all gets back to who I am, who my staff is and who are team is. It is what you are made up of inside as it is your prospective on life. That is what keeps you coming back. I committed as we say we are as a University to using sports as a tool to build lives. That is what our mission says on that sign as you pull into Liberty University and we are getting a chance to live it out. We can either fold as we are losing football games or we can say that this is making me a stronger person and it is going to give me an opportunity to influence other people’s lives. There aren’t many teams that stand at the half of the field after a loss like that and share what Liberty football really means after getting your butt beat in a game that you felt like you could win. I had two Coastal players come up after the game and tell me how much they appreciate us doing that. So if a young man’s live from Coastal gets changed and we have to lose a football game, in the big picture, that is a win.

[PAmedic]

a few interesting points here:

Question:

What does it do to a team to have at least two losses come down to the last play of the game? How do you bounce back from that in the upcoming week?

Answer:

To me it is not very hard.

yet another:

So if a young man’s live from Coastal gets changed and we have to lose a football game, in the big picture, that is a win.

[PAmedic]

particularly w/ the last quote: I'm not saying he's wrong- just that it illustrates his viewpoint quite clearly. And the reason I have stated in the past that I don't feel that Liberty, as a whole, will ever have WINNING as their number one priority (unlike the Florida States, Notre Dames, Texases of NCAA)

[eddantes]

Hey, it would be great if someone from Coastal got saved on Saturday -- much better than a win. But can we try to get both? (And I think that by succeeding in the latter, we have a better chance at the former).

[thesportscritic]

AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!! eddantes and PAmedic. It is good if one of those guys got saved but it is time for Karcher to go. He doesn't mix God and winning together. He mixes God and losing together quite well. We need a coach who can mix God and winning together. Maybe Karcher can be the Chaplain maybe. Unless he is gone next season then this is the crap that we will have to put up with until then.

[eddantes]

Someone on this board made a post a few weeks ago, so blame him for this. But if we talk about saving lives...

Ken Karcher makes approximately $125,000 per year.
To build a medium-sized church in India (seating 250 people), it costs $7,500.

That means that every year, there are approximately 3750 people in India who don't have a church -- a year -- just because we are paying Ken Karcher money to head up a program whose "ministry" consists of playing poorly and praying afterwards.

Think about that.

I understand that having a football program is part of developing a school into becoming a major university (poppycock, I say... I couldn't care less about Harvard, Princeton, Yale or Columbia's football program, but I digress). And that you hope that by having a major university, you can bring students in Liberty, who in turn will go into the world and (hopefully) preach the gospel...

But seriously, if you want go the "major university" route (using football as a recruiting tool for potential students), you have to have a winning program. If you want to save souls, there are better ways to spend the money than by cutting Karcher a check.

[PAmedic]

I was with ya until you used the phrase "poppycock". My sister-in-law is British and the 2 of you are freakin me out.

[FHSFlash]

Is there anyone left from Coach Sam's staff? Can remember some great games like beating W.Car. for the first time.... Upending Central Fl when they were #1. What fun football!

[krh44]

Anyone at the Flames Club luncheon today? Just curious to see what Karcher had to say

[thelaxman]

As you all know I support Coach Karcher and the Football program . I just feel that we need to take a wait and see attitude till after the season and if we need change then go forward.

On this Guy Hankinson, he was bad real bad. I caught some Liberty games at Winthrop several times and I was a little embarrassed by Hankinson but I feel guilty to cut him down because I know how hard Coaching is and I'm sure he was a good Guy but the Liberty basketball team under him was an embarrassment and I'm glad he is gone. I was beginning to think Meyer should come back.

[Tbone]

Souls Saved?? Thats awesome and that is of tremendous importance. Win football games and win souls??? WOW! What a thought. Jerry is good at counting ... how many souls have been won through football this year?

[PAmedic]

I'm convinced you are a stronger witness WITH success on the field than WITHOUT.

two words: ROCK ROYER

[beigledog]

Just found this website today.

And what a great topic this is... I was shocked when I saw that Karcher was given a contract extension. After watching the football team have losing season after loosing season, I was disgusted with the football team. BUT, I believe that Karcher is going to be there for at LEAST one more year. There is no way that they would fire him after one year of a new 5 year contract. They'd have to buy the contract out if they did (I'm assuming).