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Falwell gives 2 weeks to name new coach, athletics director

Ron Brown and Chris Lang
The News & Advance
Friday, November 18, 2005

With Liberty University’s football team mired in one of the worst seasons in program history, the Rev. Jerry Falwell shook up the school’s athletics department Thursday, severing ties with head football coach Ken Karcher, athletics director Thom Park and two associate athletics directors.

The departures - which essentially gut the school’s sports administration - come two days before the Flames’ season finale at Norfolk State.

“We have not been happy with the general direction of athletics at Liberty,” said Falwell, the school’s chancellor. “We don’t feel that Liberty has been keeping pace, particularly in football.”

The school’s athletics program lost $7.4 million in 2004, the biggest drain by any department on LU’s overall budget.

Falwell said Karcher will be on the sideline Saturday. The fate of the rest of his staff lies in the hands of the new head coach, who Falwell hopes to name within the next two weeks.

He has set the same timeline for hiring a new athletics director. Falwell said he will make the decision on both positions and won’t use a university committee in the search process.

Former athletics director Kim Graham and Larry Hubbard, both associate athletics directors at the school, were among those whose employment ended Thursday.

Karcher declined comment Thursday. Park, who sent a letter of resignation to Falwell on Thursday afternoon, declined comment as well.

Karcher, who is 21-45 in six years at LU, was given the news before

practice Thursday afternoon and he told Flames players afterward. No players were available for comment.

Falwell said Liberty Executive Vice President Dave Young was to meet with the rest of the school’s coaches Thursday evening to discuss the day’s events.

Falwell said no matter who the new head football coach is, four members of the current coaching staff will remain: strength and conditioning coach Bill Gillespie, his assistant Dave Williams, assistant head coach Pete Sundheim and director of spiritual development Ed Gomes.

Falwell said he has already talked to three “bona fide” head coaching candidates.

“I’m 72,” he said. “I don’t have much time to get the football program in the Top 20.”

Mickey Guridy, an assistant athletics director, has been named interim athletics director. He was LU’s director of football operations from 2002-04 before becoming the assistant A.D. for business operations in July.

Liberty enters Saturday’s game 1-9, and its current nine-game losing streak ties a school record. The only victory was a 17-6 win over Concord, a Division II team that finished its season 4-7.

Karcher was on the first year of a four-year contract. He signed the extension last December despite struggling through three losing seasons in his first five years, but the new contract didn’t take effect until July 1.

Falwell said he extended Karcher’s contract despite being advised not to do so.

“I don’t blame anybody but myself,” he said. “I take responsibility for the change.”

Falwell said Karcher’s contract calls for him to receive full salary and benefits for the next 12 months and 50 percent of his salary for the balance of his contract. If he gets another job, his new salary will be deducted from the amount LU owes.

Falwell said the school’s evangelical Christian emphasis should be a drawing card in recruiting athletes nationwide.

“There are 80 million evangelicals in the United States,” he said. “That should give us a great big fishing pond.”

Park, Karcher’s former agent, was hired in March to replace Graham. He was brought in to help build a fundraising base to support LU athletics.

“Obviously, we would not be making this move if we had not been unhappy,” Falwell said. “It’s disappointing.”

Park, Graham and Hubbard will be paid through June, Falwell said.

“These are good men who will no doubt do well in other settings,” Falwell said. “We are very sensitive to the families of these men. For that reason, we have chosen to be sensitive with our severance packages.”

Still, Falwell said the bottom line is the school’s board of trustees wants a financially sound football program heading toward Division I-A status.

“The board expects the management team of Liberty to be prudent with its budget,” Falwell said. “They do not think it’s good stewardship to invest multimillions in a losing program. For two years, we have gone backwards.”

Liberty started last season 2-5 before rallying to close the year with four straight wins to finish 6-5. It was Karcher’s only winning season.

Falwell said the responsibility for moving the program ahead will fall to the new athletics director.

“We are looking for an athletics director and head coach who will cast a vision for the program and tell us how they plan to go to Division I-A and how quickly,” Falwell said.

“Liberty has made it clear that we’re ready to take the next step and will support the new head coach and athletics director in achieving that vision. Liberty has an aggressive vision. The leadership at Liberty has been dissatisfied for quite some time.”

http://www.liberty.edu/studentaffairs/index.cfm?PID=1335

http://www.liberty.edu/studentaffairs/index.cfm?PID=7764

Good luck selling that stuff to the average high school stud athlete.

Baylor sells that some of that same stuff to athletes. And remember, parents are in on the decision. A kid from "good baptist family" visits UVa and sees students staggering around during and after the game, then visits Liberty and gets to meet JF, sees that junior is probably not going to have much in the way of opportunities to make babies, and they like that idea. That said, Liberty is a long way from achieving its 1-A goals. They are not very good academically for starters. They are in Virginia and have a tough time competing for athletes with UVa., William and Mary, Virginia Tech, and James Madison all mining for athletes. Add in VMI (which also is a school with a lot of rules and lots of tradition to go along with them), and Liberty is at the bottom of the barrel in academic circles. There is also Division III, Washington and Lee, Hampton-Sydney, and Randolph Macon with again lots of alums and academic stature and recruiting as well. I think Liberty has a long way to go before they hit prime time.

go ask Barry Switzer or Ron Meyer or Grant Teaff or any other successful recruiter and they will tell you that the FIRST thing you do is recruit MOMMA. Too many of you don't get that. MOMMA makes the rules. If MOMMA don't trust you her bouncing baby boy ain't going to your school. The Letter of Intent has to be signed by a parent or guardian too. It has happened untold numbers of times were a recruit's parents will refuse to sign a letter of intent to a particular school or a committed or leaning recruit will decided to stay "closer to home". SMU got Eric Dickerson (no jokes jtstang) because Eric's grandmother Viola wanted him to go to SMU. UT got Earl Campbell because of the relationship Daryl Royal had with Earl's mom. Momma generally is the most influential person in the recruit's life and if you get Momma on your side she will be "recruiting" for your school when the coach ain't there. BTW Momma would have loved Charlie Waters.

Hey, I had to take the opportunity to link to their dress code.