Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell continues to be linked with other head coaching vacancies across the country, understandably as he has been one of the best coaches in the Group of Five for the past several years.
Most recently, there has been a lot of smoke about the UCF opening. On Monday, he met with the media to discuss the Flames’ early signing class and was also asked about the rumors.
“I had two calls (from recruits), something was released yesterday, as I said it was erroneous, had two calls out of the 14 asking if it was true,” Chadwell said. “I said, ‘No.’ That was the gist of the conversation. We made it clear to our recruits and people in our program that we’re here and what we’re trying to build. They believe us and trust us. Problem is, sometimes when you win and you’re at a place that’s had success, everybody thinks that you naturally just want to move up. But when you are at a good place, and you’ve got a good thing going you don’t have to chase jobs.”
Liberty’s 2024 football regular season came to an end on last Friday with a loss at Sam Houston. Football Scoop reported that Chadwell had emerged as a “key figure” in the UCF coaching search. “UCF and the school’s athletics director, Terry Mohajir, are focusing heavily on Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell, multiple sources tell Football Scoop,” their report states.
Gus Malzahn was the head coach at UCF for the past four seasons, compiling a 28-24 mark for the Knights, a program he helped guide into the Big 12 over the past two seasons. The former Auburn head coach departed UCF to become the offensive coordinator at Florida State this past weekend.
“I think you always listen,” Chadwell said when asked about when he gets outside interest from other programs. “You want to see what other people are doing. As a coach, you are competitive, that’s why we coach, we’re all competitive. I think anytime there are other opportunities that somebody wants to talk with you, personally, I always take those. It doesn’t mean you want to leave. I think it’s always wise to listen. You never know. Liberty might not want me anymore at some point. My family and I and our coaches, we are excited about what we are building here.”
“Ian has done a fantastic job in giving us opportunities to be successful,” Chadwell continued. “You want to be able to compete for a championship every year. We were close this year and didn’t get that done. It drives you to want to get back. We know, especially with where college football is going now, it’s good to be at a place that sees that and understands the changes and they want to help you through that, guide that, and give you the opportunity to still be successful. That’s all you can ask. We’re going to go win this bowl game and get to 9 wins. We’ve never had back to back seasons of 9 wins, ever. If somebody has won 9, they’ve never been able to do that again. We won 13 last year. If we can get to 9, that’s a big deal. It’s important, then we can build off that. Hopefully we make a run of winning 10 and more for a little while, that’s the goal.”
Chadwell is 21-4 in his two seasons at Liberty, including a program best 13-1 in 2023. He helped guide the Flames to a perfect regular season, CUSA Championship in the program’s first year in the league, and the Fiesta Bowl during his first season on the Mountain. This past season, Chadwell and the Flames have gone 8-3 and 5-3 in conference play, finishing in fourth place in the league standings. The Flames are currently awaiting their bowl destination.
