Coaching Candidates

[Sly Fox]

Here is the official background thread on the men who are rumored to be in the running for our vacant head coaching position:


Jeff Bowden

Currently serving as Offensive Coordinator at Florida State. Youngest of Bobby Bowden's sons in the coaching ranks. He makes sense on several different levels. Its still not known for certain that he is in contact with the school.
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Bob Christmas

Head Coach at North Hall High School in Gainesville, Georgia. His team lost this past weekend in the AAA State Playoffs finishing with a 12-1 record. Formerly head coach at Jefferson Forest HS outside Lynchburg and Bainbridge (GA) HS. A quarter of a century ago he served as a position coach here back when we were Liberty Baptist College. A definite long shot.
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Bud Foster

Spent the past 19 years at Virginia Tech inluding the last 10 as a defensive coordinator. Frankly, I sincerely doubt he would have any interest in our opening. But since Harrisburg mentioned his name, I went ahead and posted him on our list.
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Lou Holtz

We all know who Lou is with that 1988 National Championship at Notre Dame on his resume. Clearly, he doesn't seem like a likely candidate. But since he has been on campus and he could be in the mix for the AD opening, I have included him as well.
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Bob Leahy

Currently he is Assistant Head Coach at I-A Louisiana-Monroe. But among other things over the years that included stints with the Vikings & Bills as well as time as an offensive coordinator under Jimmy Johnson at Oklahoma State, he spent 11 seasons as Sam Rutigliano's offensive coordinator at Liberty. So he certainly has the resume and the ties to our program. But he's also nearly 60 years old. You would have to consider him a serious candidate.
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Dan Rocco

Perhaps the most likely candidate of all the options. He's in his 3rd season as Assistant Head Coach & Linebackers Coach at UVa. His father Frank Rocco Sr. was head of football operations at Liberty a few years back while his older brother Frank Jr. was offensive coordinator for several seasons under Karcher before taking over as head coach of LCA.

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Lou Tepper

Best known as head coach of Illinois from 1991-1996. He has been the head coach at Division II Edinboro (PA) since 2000. He has been one of the top defensive assistants in college football for the past 30 years or so.

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These are by no means the only coaches who could be under consideration. These are just the names we've been tossing around the forum. If you hear of any others, please add them to this thread.

[Stevev]

Christmas and Leahy would be a serious mistake. I would feel really good about the rest of them especially Bowden, Rocco, or Foster. Any of those could possible take us to playoff calibre if they stick around and make the right moves.

[Stevev]

Is Skip Holtz in the running at all? I heard his name mentioned as well due to connections with Lou. Other names mentioned in the past have been Al Seagraves (former Elon coach), and Bobby Wallace (Temple), and others at the div 2 level such as the coach at Carson Newman. Where do they stand right now or was there names just brought up out of the blue.

[baldspot]

Skip Holt is in his first year as head coach at East Carolina. I think they are 3-7 or something like that.

[Stevev]

Well I guess that rules Skip Holtz out. Why would anyone go from 1A to 1AA in the same capacity.

[baldspot]

Dan Rocco's credentials are impressive - other then the lack of head coaching experience.
Played for Joe Paterno and lettered for two years before transferring to Wake Forest to play for Al Groh.
Coached in NFL for the Jets, at Boston College for Tom Coughlin (discipline), Texas under John Makovic, and also at Maryland, Tulsa, Wake Forest and now is the asst head coach at UVA. As the recruiting coor at UVA, his 2002 class was ranked #5 by both Lemming and ESPN.

[Sly Fox]

Skip Holtz was allegedly in line to come to Liberty a year ago when East Carolina hired him. He's actually done a good job in his first year getting that program back on track. So he would definitely be out of the equation.

I actually remember Rocco somewhat from his time at Texas. He was there when I first started covering the Longhorns in Austin in the Mid '90s.

I am the one who brought Ken Sparks up in an earlier thread. His age would rule him out based on what Jerry has stated publicly. He probably should've been hired when Karcher got the gig. But Sparks is pushing retirement right now.

As for Bobby Wallace, I just don't see it. He has been a colossal failure at Temple. So I don't think we'll go there.

[Stevev]

Age would be a factor for both Wallace and Leahy. Both of those guys would be poor choices in my opinion.

[xxx]

Lou Tepper has expressed interest and he would be an excellent candidate. All this talk about age is pretty humorous as well. I realize that for most of you couch potatoes 60 years old is old but most coaches in their 60's are in better shape and have more passion than most 30 year olds. I guess using your logic we would never hire guys like Steve Spurrier, Tommy Tuberville, Frank Beamer and Larry Coker. I also have to laugh at Holtz coming to Liberty to speak to the student body and also give Doc some pointers on the football program, You have to admit that God has a great sense of humor. On the exact same day Holtz is here, USA Today runs a front page article on how Spurrier has rescued the South Carolina program and the NCAA announces South Carolina is being placed on three years probation for 10 violations including 5 classified as major for misdeeds during Holtz's tenure. Thus giving Holtz a unique distinction of offically putting two schools on probation, Minnesota and South Carolina. Sounds like a great choice for AD.

[baldspot]

XXX - which of the coaches you mentioned above does LU have a realistic chance of hiring??

When you come up with your answer, you will understand the folly of your statement.
I.E. - Coaches like Spurrier, Coker and Beamer really do want to coach in one of the weakest 1-AA conferences in the nation, in front of 2000-3000 home fans, with the recruiting limitations in place due to the nature of the school. Please!

Tepper is a classic Peter Principle coach - succeeds at D II level. Fails miserably at D 1-A level. Not what we are looking for. Sorry.

[jvegas14]

sumner said:

I am the one who brought Ken Sparks up in an earlier thread. His age would rule him out based on what Jerry has stated publicly. He probably should've been hired when Karcher got the gig. But Sparks is pushing retirement right now.

Sparks wanted the job back when Karcher was hired. It was one of the few jobs he was interested in leaving C-N for. I think he would have done a good job. He has won on every level for C-N.

But now? Probably too old.

[PAmedic]

gotta agree w/ xxx on the age thing- then again, IMHO JoePa is DA MAN! and at nearly 80!

[Sly Fox]

Lou Tepper? Talk about your blasts from the past. I hadn't heard that name in years other than by LSU fans as a punchline. I'm not saying he wouldn't do a good job ... but he seems like the ultimate retread at first glance.

xxx - Your observation on Holtz is old news. If you peruse the board you will notice those same things stated last week. And your amusement at the "age discrimination" is rather amusing in and of itself. I don't think anyone here believes we would exclude a candidate based STRICTLY on age. But it is a factor in the selection process. We're looking for someone to build a program from the ground up after six years of decline. We ned someone who can be around long enough to get us to where we need to be. The danger in selecting a Bowden is that he'll jump ship just as things start turning around. That's something that is in play as well.

[xxx]

Sly Fox, I don't want to get into a cyber space back and forth with you but your statements are "amusing in and of themselves". My point is that IF there is a WORTHY candidate that is in the 60ish age range, it would have little impact on my decision. Your statement, and I quote, "Were looking for someone to build a program from the ground up" imples that someone of that age wouldn't be capable of such a task. You make it sound like that at age 67 most people go into terminal digression. Your assertion that the program "has been in decline for the last six years" is also in my opinion not accurate. If you look at the talent level on that football team vs 6 years ago it is obvious to most that there is no comparison. Just looking at the offense you have a true frosh RB who has already been a National Player of the Week in Div. 1-AA, a true frosh QB who has twice been the conference frosh player of the week, a db in Patrick Calvary who has started since the 2nd game and also twice been the conference frosh of the week and the growth and emergence of true frosh Dominac Bolden at WR . Couple all of this with other playmakers like sophmore WR's Wynton Jackson and Brandon Turner and I think it is safe to say that Liberty has a much better nuclueus of talent that when Karcher arrived. Hopefully you as a student of college football realize that Liberty has also been playing a much more aggressive schedule than they used to. There aren't a whole lot of Div. !-AA's that have played the people that Libery has over the past 5 years. Bowling Green and Toledo when both were in the top 25, Akron, Kent State, UCONN. In addition they have upgraded against Div. !-AA opponents. Last year for example, William & Mary went to the national semi-final game and Lehigh went into the quarter final round. Liberty also beat two Southern Conference schools in the same season for the first time in school history last year. I am not here debating that the staff should have or should not have been fired. What I am saying is that in my opinion you are making some statements that are not 100% rooted in facts. It's a free board and you are certainly entitled to your opinion, you would just hope that the opinion would be based on an objective review of all the facts. As for your comment regarding Tepper. All I can tell you is that in coaching circles he is well respected and is still winning. Also, unless the school has changed their philosophy, and they may well have, Tepper is the type of charachter and spiritual leader they are looking for. If those latter two qualities are no longer at the top of the list in selecting a new coach then I would also agree that Tepper may not be a wise choice. However my friend, I hope this will not be offensive to you or any others on this board, but there is not a long list of successful high character Chrtistian coaches waiting in line to come to Liberty. Especially in light of the Chancellor publically saying that he has been "working on this for over a month" and the he "expects Liberty to be in the top 20 of Div. 1 in the next 10 years". With all due respect to Dr. Falwell, I wonder when the last time was that he attended a game at a place like Blacksburg, Athens, Gainesville or any of the other perenial top 20 teams. A dose of reality may be good for all involved.

[tallyw]

Take a deep breath... xxx

[Stevev]

I agree with some of the above assumptions but as far as the scheduling thing, it is true that the schedules in the last 6 years have been tougher but looking at the lack of competitiveness vs quality competition you have to either assume that the talent is still lacking or not being used in the right capacity. I can only remember 2 games vs ranked teams where we were competitive and that was about 4 years ago vs Appalachian State and Eastern Kentucky in the middle of our 2-9 season. Please correct me if I am wrong. A majority of the wins that Karcher got were against 1AA bottomfeeders or div 2 teams.

Also remember that the players that received "freshmen of the week" would not have received that recognition in a legitimate conference situation. The BSC only has 5 teams and the overall competitiveness is lacking considerably. When Jerry Falwell says he wants to be a top 20 team in 10 years. Does that mean 1A or 1AA. I am still confused on what he is talking about there. Other than that some good points were brought up.

[Sly Fox]

xxx - Don't sweat getting back & forth into a discussion on this board. That's what it is all about. I don't feel that I'm the omniscient overseer of a cult of mindless LU fans. In fact, I live halfway across the continent. I believe we can have intelligent discussions without acting juvenile. The fact that you clearly care about what happens in the program makes you a member in good standing by itself. Of course, if you were to register it would endear you even more (even with your curious moniker).

As far as the age factor goes, while I don't assume someone in their 60s is bound for "terminal digression" I do believe that coaches at retirement age present a gamble. Issue #1 is the concern of health issues. Whether it is politically correct or not, the facts are that coaches in their 60s have endured decades of high stress and often begin experiencing maladies associated with the job. That's not a reflection on anyone in particular's personal health. Its just a generalization that is fairly easily attributed. The second factor with coaches of certain age is the matter of burnout. The amount of effort required to not only revive our program but also lead it toward I-A membership is immense. The years of expertise would make a more mature coach attractive. But it COULD be offset by the malaise that often is a byproduct of doing something too long. Frankly, ideally I'd love to see someone of more experience in the AD position combined with a vibrant coach (no matter the age) who is not only talented by passionate about what we have planned at Liberty.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about the state of the program now as opposed to when Sam stepped aside six years ago with a 4-7 record. Never in our school's I-AA history have we sunk to the point where we are the doormat of a lowly league like the Big South. We have unfortunately been overtaken by a culture of losing. Perhaps that is a byproduct of the scheduling. When I informed a bowl-bound I-A coach I was chatting with a couple weeks ago about our murderer's row of four games this season, he asked whether our AD was trying to punish our staff. I realize its tough to keep the players focused on winning after enduring those four blowouts. But that is the staff's job.

As for the current talent level, I agree that Coach Karcher and his staff did a terrific job leading up to signing day 2005. Unfortunately the program had sunk so low that these true freshmen were called upon to taken over key roles right away. While that will help us with experience heading into the new regime, it did rob these kids of a the opportunity to redshirt and limit their ability to help us longterm. I'm truly excited about guys like Zach, Brock, Patrick, Mike (see I didn't forget him matmat) and even some of the ones we didn't get to see as much due to injury like Ryan. If we would've had that type of success recruiting throughout the Karcher era I doubt we would be in this type of mess. Then again, we had Sam Gado on campus for several years and yet he wasn't viewed starter material until every other tailback was injured. So just having talent on campus doesn't mean they will be utilized to the fullest. To be fair, I know Sam had injury issues as well during his stay in Lynchburg. But my point remains valid.

As for the scheduling now as opposed to pre-Coach Karcher, I don't think your point is altogether fair. Yes we have had a very agressive approach to scheduling (which I applaud). But a look back at the slate Sam had his final year showed we were already scheduling up. We travelled to emerging I-As Marshall (with Byron Leftwich at the helm of the Thundering Herd is my memory is correct) and South Florida. We also had I-AA stalwarts ESTU and Appy on the slate as well. So we've had an aggressive standpoint for some time now. That should be applauded and I appreciate Coach Karcher stepping up to the task of facing these challenges over his tenure (even if we didn't have much success).

As for Tepper, I'm not here to say that he wouldn't be a great hire. I was just giving my initial reaction to his name being brought up. Being located in Houston, I'm surrounded by LSU Tiger alumni and former players. Lou and Gerry are generally regarded in very low regard by these folks. Perhaps they have become spoiled by what Saban & Miles have done over the past few years. But that was just my kneejerk thoughts when I saw your post. I don't know Lou's heart or what he's done over the past few years at the DII level.

I agree that there is not a huge pool of talent from which we can dip into for our coach opening. But thankfully, we only need to find one person who is the right fit for our head coaching vacancy. Is it wrong that we should expect the best possible candidate? Frankly, I'd be happy with many of the name that have been bantied about on here. And if a coach isn't interested in being part of Jerry's vision for the program, I would hope he would shy away from Lynchburg. I don't think anyone in football thinks we can be a I-A Top 25 program within ten years. But we certainly could be competing with those programs if we do things right starting with these hires we have in front of us. Did anyone believe Cal-Davis fresh from DII could go into Stanford and win? No. But with the proper focus and work things beyond our current comprehension can be possible. I prefer to think big. I know its often my downfall, but I'd rather fail miserably while trying than to sit around and be content with sub-mediocrity.

In closing, I hold Coach Karcher in nothing but the highest esteem for what he did for our team academically & spiritually during his six years on campus. I take great pride in how he represented the school spriritually on the field and in the community. Obviously, we all were disappointed with the results on the field. Our mission is to combine the three aspects of success. I know its a daunting task but it is a goal for which we need to strive.

( Sorry for the length of this epistle ... call it a turkey day hangover while waiting for the Horns to carve up the Aggies )

[tallyw]

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/stewart_mandel/09/25/weekend.rewind/

That's a Sports Illustrated Article about USF football. Started in 1997 (yes, started in '97) they are now in the Big East.

I'm certain that Jerry figures that 'if state schools can do that, why can't a Christian University do the same thing?'

With the right leadership in place and a fun-raising push, LU football can be on the map in D-1A before long. Top 20? Who knows but if you've been on that campus lately you can't deny that if it's to be done, LU is a place it could happen.

For all the failures of the program to date, I can't say that I've seen as a concerted effort from the administration as we see today. 6 years ago LU was just trying to get in the black financially. Today the school is by all accounts financially stable. With the completion of TRBC on the mountain, most of Jerry's vision is in place... one of the last pieces is this football program. I don't have any doubt that he'll be doing whatever it takes to get it up to speed before he goes home.

[Stevev]

I really find this all very hard to believe. Top 20 in 1A in my or anyones elses dreams maybe. It looks like we are trying to do what Marshall, Boise State, Central Florida, UConn, and South Florida have done already. At least these teams had some success in 1AA before moving up and were in legitimate conferences ( with the exception of the independents of course). Here we are at the bottom of the worst 1AA conference in the country and with an average attendence of over 5K per game. You can't get any lower than that. At least the above schools have large enrollements (which usuallly translates into big budgets), are state funded, and have a huge fan base as well as the infrastructure and support from the alumni to be successful and compete against the best that college football has to offer. We do not have those going for us right now and it is a question of whether LU ever will.

Right now we could start with the new fieldhouse under construction and with the hiring of a qualified coach who could possibly take us there whoever that may be. The question is are we willing to shell out over $500K to get that person. My main question is what we we prepared to do? And then what are we prepared to do?

[xxx]

Sly Fox and Stevey, great responses and both with objective facts to back them up. First of all let me sat that I hope Liberty wins the national championship because of what teh school stands for. However let me take a second and point out why the comparisons to USF, UCF, UCONN and Boise State are not really applicable. USF has every advantage in the world going for them. It is the 2nd largest school in the state of Florida behind the UNiversity of Florida in terms of number of students. They receive state funding in addition to a portion of each student's student activity fee. They play in what many people feel is the best stadium in the NFL, if not the best certainly in the top 3. They recruit in their home state in what most college football coaches feel is the single best pool of talent in the country. One time in the last 27 years have Florida, FSU and Miami all lost on the same day. They were very attractive to multiple conferences (had their choice of Big East, Conf. USA and MAC) because of their location which would enhance the whole conferences recruiting base plus they are in a large TV demographic viewing area so everybody wanted that media market. You can make almost all of the same arguments for UCF. By the way did I mention that believe it or not the UCF coahcing staff (not the head coach) is the highest paid coaching staff in the state of Florida. Thats right more than UF, FSU and Miami. USF announced this week they are going to seek to push Leavits salary up to around 900K to stave off a 1.5k bid for his services from Kansas State. UCF plays in a stadium that hosts a Jan 1 game every year and all the same recruiting advantages that USF does. The state of Connecticut decided they wanted to get into the D-1 business and realized that meant money. They poured 90 MILLION into UCONN athletics including 40 million for a new stadium and 16 million for a new football complex on campus that is currently under construction. They are also the only game in the state for all practical purposes. There is not a school that can evenly remotely call themselbes a football school within 3 hours of them. If you are a college football fan in Virginai take your pick of UVA, Va, Tech, Wake, UNC, NC State and so on. Same arguments for Boise State. The only school that you can remotely compare LU to is Marshall and if you look at what Marshall's football budget is and what LU's is that will end that discussion. Let's say that we could magically match those schools in budgets, stadiums, recruiting base, fan base, weather and desirability as a TV market. Liberty still has one HUGE hurdle thsoe schools don't have. When their recruiters go into a home to talk to a prospect they don't have to advise the recruit of the following issues concerning matriculation at their schools: you will have to adhere to 12:30am curfiew during your entire college career if you live on campus which the vast majority of the team does, you cannot watch Monday night football or ESPN college football or any other football for that matter because we don't have cable allowed on our campus, you may not watch or be in possesion of an R rated movie while attending Liberty...this includes movies like Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, you may not consume any alcohol nor even be where alcohol is being consumed during your matricularion at Liberty, you must attend convocation 3 times a week, RA's may enter your room at any time upon request and so on and so on. Let me point out that I am not arguing for or against any of these rules, what I am arguing is that the people LU recruits against are very adept at pointing these rules out to our recruits and asking them if that is how they want to enjoy their college years. Remember, these are not normal students we are trying to get to come to Liberty, there are people who have an opportunity to go to other bigger schools for free. Hopefully you can see but just a few of the reasons that comparing Liberty to the USFs and UCFs is just not an apple to apple comparison. P.S.- nothing meant by my monicker although I can see how it might have raised a few eyebrows. It's just where my finger fell on the keyboard.

[Sly Fox]

You are absolutely correct that the paths to success for USF, UConn and others is not a road map we'll be able to follow. Obviously its more challenging for a private school to step into the big money competition of major college football. Most of the privates that are successful today amde their move into the bigtime back when the costs hadn't spiralled completely out of control. Those same schools also have larger alumni bases that pour cash back into endowments and general athletic budgets. We will have to be extremely wise in how we manage the the funds we have to work with. I sincerely believe that if we position ourselves properly we can gain stakeholders in the program who wouldn't fit traditional profiles. If we can market ourselves to the nation as the Evangelical answer to BYU (Mormons), Notre Dame & BC (Catholics) we have the ability to draw in a fanbase that otherwise might not have any direction connection to our school. I'll forego my usual spiel that I've been spouting for the past year or so on here about marketing. But suffice it to say that I believe we can accomplish many of our goals without brekaing the bank using our network of Evangelical churches across the nation.

What you perceive as a hurdle in recruiting, I consider to be our greatest asset if managed properly. Its frustrated me for years that we seem to be embarassed about The Liberty Way when we are in the homes of prospects. This should be our number one selling point. You don't need to tell any of us on this board about the rules. We know them well and frankly they are much more relaxed today than we some of us old hags were on campus a few years back. The rules and the general Christian mission of the school puts in position to attract athletes who wouldn't normally give a school in Central Virginia the time of day. While some players who might have some interest in our program based on potential playing time and general Division I status, chasing those players should never be our focus. We need to follow the path of BYU in selling the lifestyle that many times appeals to kids who might have grown up in a Christian school environment or more often the case it appeals to kids in public schools who are looking for a place to be surrounded by others looking to build upon their faith. Those kids are out there. I look around here in Texas and there are large groups of kids that head to Big XII schools down here who are shocked when I inform them that there was an option to play I-AA football in a distinctively Christian setting. We're not doing a good job of getting the word out.

Do I think we can be a Top-25 I-A program in ten years? Honestly no. Do I think its wise to step up to I-A in light of the recent rule changes that make being I-AA nore appealing? I'm not quite sure right now. Five years ago I was 100% sold on stepping up to take advantage of holes in the system that made it financially attractive. But thre landscape of football has changed somewhat the past couple of years. But if I-A is the direction Jerry is taking us, then we need to do the best job possible in making the transition. The last thing we want to do is become the next Florida A&M. But I honestly believe we are about to experience a strong shift of schools up to I-A in the next two years that will make finding a conference a much more pliable task. If we have a I-A designation, we will be able to attract better athletes. Just like we could be doing better right now if the Big South had an auto-bid.

I guess in closing, I just want to see us to try to intelligently think outside the traditional box . I know its a cliche but I believe it should be our focus. That's why we need men of vision stepping into these vacancies. Using the old tried & true methods will make it difficult for us to progress forward.

[PAmedic]

Good discussion.

I am in agreement w/ SLY (and this represents a change of attitude on this particular topic, I might add) that the Liberty Way may well be a STRONG point rather than a weak point. We are obviously recruiting quality kids right now- I firmly believe talent was NOT the problem this season, and will leave it at that.

The point is well taken that we are at a disadvantage when it comes to size and financial support, but look at the job CCU and other have done w/ less than HALF the numbers we have! I am very positive about the program, LU athletics in general- and DO believe we can be a top 25 D1AA program w/in 10 years.

As far as D1A- miracles happen on Liberty Mountain. Seeing the campus for the first time after being away for 15 years convinced me of that.

[baldspot]

My eyes hurt. How bout the kid QB for A&M?

[tallyw]

BYU has players enter the NFL regularly and many of them have been on 2 year Mormon missions. I'm sure we can get quality players. Sly is right-on with the distinctives LU has to offer. If we only give 25 scholarships a year, you can't tell me that we couldn't go after the top 50 distinctively Christian kids each year and regularly pull away with a good class. Once you get a half-dozen of these kids and begin using them as recruiting tools ("Did you hear we're getting a verbal from ______?") I don't think it'd be long once our school focused and learned how to sell/market to students. In a country of 297,742,318 people, I think we could pull out 20 solid D-1 recruits each year.

[Sly Fox]

As for the A&M kid, I used to operate a recruiting site a few years back for kids in the Austin area and started trumpeting Stephen McGee and his receiver Jordan Shipley early in their sophomore seasons. As it turned out, Shipley went to UT and McGee headed to the Aggies. They played for a small school in the Texas Hill Country. So I take a little pride in getting these kids some exposure early on.

As for the coaching candidates, here is a story from the Charlottesville fishwrap on LU's interest in Rocco:

Liberty eyes a successor from UVa

By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 24, 2005

Scattershooting around the ACC on this lovely Thanksgiving morning, while noting that somebody out there really likes Virginia’s assistant football coaches ...

A few weeks after Temple approached Cavaliers’ offensive coordinator Ron Prince about the Owls’ upcoming head coaching vacancy, now nearby Liberty University is attempting to court UVa associate head coach Danny Rocco.

Prince wasn’t interested in the Temple job and nipped that in the bud quickly.

Rocco, 45, who has been with UVa head coach Al Groh for a long time (Jets and Hoos), is reportedly on Liberty’s short list to replace Flames head coach Ken Karcher, who has been fired. According to our sister newspaper, the Lynchburg News & Advance, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, LU’s chancellor, wants to hire a new head coach next week.

Rocco’s dad, Frank Rocco Sr., served as the Flames’ director of football operations a few years ago and both of Danny’s brothers are high school coaches only a stone’s throw from LU: Frank at Liberty Christian Academy; and David at Staunton River High School.

The wild rumor concerning the job is that Falwell has attempted to convince Lou Holtz to come out of a short retirement and take the job. Holtz, who spoke at the school recently, reportedly was brought in to advise Falwell.

Never hurts to ask, though. Holtz, of course, is currently a commentator on the ESPN college football show.

www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128768357521&path=!sports

[eddantes]

Sly, quick correction: when LU played Marshall way back when, Chad Pennington was the QB, not Byron Leftwich.

[Sly Fox]

I couldn't remember which one it was. Thanks for the clarification.

[xxx]

This will be my last commentary on this subject and then I will be signing off because I don't want to get too close and I don't care to reveal my identity. The only reason I have even got involved this much is because I care about Liberty and what it stands for and I think you folks on here are great and loyal fans who deserve the best. With that said I don't want you to be misled. First of all let me say that if God wants Liberty to win the national championship it is going to happen so I am not saying it is impossible for Liberty to be succesful. Our Lord has certainly done greater miracles than this. However I continue to see poor analogies and comparisons being used on this board. Without getting into a lot of detail let me just assure you that I am intimate with college football both as an ex player and coach at a marque program. There are some very unrealistic expectations you are putting on your program. Lets look at hte BYU prgram since somebody brought that up as an example. Fist of all, BYU is the ONLY Mormon football program in the world, if a kid is serious about being a Mormon he has no other options. Secondly, while BYU has a strict code of rules in theory for their school if you think they enforce them like Liberty does you are not familiar with the BYU reality. Do any of you really think Jim McMahom (sp) would have really made it at Liberty. Just because a school labels itself as "Christian" or any other label doesn't mean they live it. Baylor trunps themselves as a distinctively Christian school yet they have had more scandal in the last decade than almost anybody. Need I remind you of SMU. Also, as Sly Fox correctly pointed out BYU made the jump before the money was so big. BYU has a stadium that seats 70,000 and they pay their head coach over $500,000 a year and their staff makes triple what Liberty assts. make. Are all of you who are staunch fans ready to pony up the money to make all of that a reality? One person said just idenify the top 50 Christian prospects in the country and go after them. There are several problems with this. While it is somewhat easier to identify athletic ability it is much harder to read a kids heart. 90% of Americans say they believe in God according to Gallup. Do you believe that 90% of Americans make choices in their lifesyles that back that up? In addition, in the Mormon faith there is no controversy over who the leader of the church is. I saw where Dr. Falwell said that there are 80 million Evangelical Christians so it should be easy to recruit, much like what I have read people say on here. Foks, I am not here to say they are right or wrong but the reality is that probably at least half of those Christians not only don't support Dr. Falwell but downright don't like him. Right or wrong he is a lightning rod, there are plenty of Christian parents who don't want a Liberty recruiter in their homes. Unfortunately many of you don't realize that American Christianity has a much greater plurality than American Mormonism. Some of you fail to realize that you can be a great Christian kid and go play big time football and experience huge crowds, bowl games, and TV exposure and still live a Christian life worthy of emulation. If Mark Richt is in your house and talking about his faith and how playing at Georgia will give you a great platform to advance the Kingdom of God and you are 17 that plays pretty well. There are Christian coaches and players many places. The University of Florida has the largest FCA huddle group in the country followed by Clemson. Was Danny Wuerffel not committed to his faith because he chose to play at Florida instead of Liberty. All UF did for him was win him the national championship, the Heisman Trophy and a huge public name that he now uses to run Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans. I know for a fact the Liberty staff does target great Christian athletes and go after them. The asst on their staff who is in charge of recruiting Florida made a hard run at Tim Tebow, who many consider the #1 QB prospect in the country this year. Liberty has written him letters for two years and been to his school numerous times. He was a home schooled kid from a devoutly Christian family. When it was all said and done, he politely informed the staff that his final 5 were Florida, Miam, Michigan, Southern Cal and Alabama. Every one of those schools talked about he could live his faith at their schools and how their school would give him the stage he needs to promote his faith. Folks, it isn't as simple as you all want to make it. Are you guys ready to start paying the money needed to expand the stadium to 1A levels? Are you ready to pay a coach what the market rate is for a D1 program? Are you ready to pay to upgrade the technology used today in film analysis and recruiting? UGA assts have laptops that cost $25,000 each because of their capabilites. Liberty asts. dont even have laptops to my knowledge. Please don't get on here with apples to oranges comparisons any more. When Liberty is ready to infuse somewhere in the 30-40 million range then lets have this discussion about comparing them to BYU, USF, UCONN and son on. All that being said, may God bless the Liberty program and best of luck to all.

[PAmedic]

Very good, valid counter-points. Thanks for your insight XXX!

you're welcome on here any time, and no one is uptight about your identity, so don't be a stranger!

[PAmedic]

for the record, I'm still very much in support of excelling in D1AA w/in the next 10 years.

not convinced on the big league yet, but hopeful.