On Sunday afternoon, Liberty introduced new head football coach Jamey Chadwell during a press conference. Here is everything the new head football coach for the Flames had to say during his press conference.

“God is good. I’d like to thank Ian and the administration for this unbelievable opportunity to be at Liberty University. I’m not only a believer, I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. When you get an opportunity to impact people at the most prestigious institution of higher learning for a Christian background which is Liberty University, you don’t pass that up. I believe God has ordained this opportunity. I am blessed to be the football coach here.”

“Before I go on, I would like to send out a personal message to my family. My wife, Solmaz, very thankful for her and her support. We’ve been married 17 years, going on 18, I think I’ve moved her about that many times. She made me promise this was my last one. So, we’re here for as long as y’all will have me. My son Jameson, we are training him to be a future quarterback so hopefully he will be alright to go. My daughter, Avery, she loves soccer. I know that is probably the soccer coach, and my daughter, Soraya, she wants to be a cheerleader.”

“In this profession of football, it’s a challenging time frame. One thing that I always try to do and the opportunity that the Lord has blessed me with is to try and impact people. I believe if you lay your roots where you’re at, and you water those roots every day, God will bless that. That’s the mindset that everywhere I’ve been that I’ve tried to take.”

“As Ian mentioned, I started at North Greenville University which is a private Christian institution. I was the head coach there for 3 years. I was the head coach at Charleston Southern, another Christian institution, for three years. I think we were 3-1 versus Liberty, by the way. Then, I left and went to some public institutions. I enjoyed those tremendously, but I was craving to be back in an environment like this. It’s a special, special place. I know it’s got special people.”

“We’ve got the opportunity to take this football program to the next level to Conference USA to compete for conference championships. Start in 2024, start competing in the CFP. That’s what the goal, as Ian and I sat and discussed this opportunity, the goal is to go out and try to be the very best we can in Conference USA and put ourselves in position to be one of those 12 teams in the CFP. That’s our ultimate goal.”

“Everything that we do will be working towards that. Most importantly, I understand that we’re the standard on this campus, our football players. We’re going to be the standard in everything we do, on the field and off the field. We’re going to develop young people that are going to give their best for each other, on the field, they’re going to give the best for each other off the field, they are going to serve each other. They’re going to represent this University in a first class manner. That’s important to me, that we are the standard in everything that we do.”

“Every day that we wake up, our staff, it will be to do what is best for Liberty University and what’s best for this program. I’m very privileged to be here and to be the head coach. It’s something that I dreamed about a long time, actually. I was telling Ian, in 2016, we came up here and I had a nice day, I thought there might be an opportunity one day to be the head coach here. Little did I know, going on seven seasons later, that I would be here. It’s surreal.”

“He talked about God opens the door and He closes it. God opened this door and my family and I jumped right in. It was challenging to go through the season and have these last three weeks. It was challenging to try and keep your team focused and do the things that are necessary to do. When you ask for discernment from the Holy Spirit and you ask for wisdom from the Holy Spirit, He gives it to you. The Holy Spirit gave me wisdom that Liberty University is where we want to be. I’m very thankful for that. I’m very thankful for Ian and to represent Flames Nation. I will do everything we can to give you excitement every Saturday, every Thursday, when we start in October when we play those midweek games. But also that you will be proud of the way that we represent.”

“All those wins that he mentioned, that wasn’t me that was the players buying in. We will continue to do that. One of those losses was the Cure Bowl, I remember that. It cost us an undefeated season. I want to continue to build on what’s here. I know there’s a good foundation. When you have a good foundation, that’s awesome. We will continue to build on that until we are the premier program in G5. We’re going to work hard every day to do that and to represent you in a manner that when you have that Liberty attire on across this country, everybody is going to know about Liberty University and how special the football program is. I’m glad to be here, God bless y’all.”

HOW EXCITING IS IT TO BE HERE?

“I think any time you are part of Christian institutions before, Liberty was one that was like if you are a Christian coach and you want to impact people for the Kingdom, what better place than Liberty University. At that time it was probably a pipe dream, but God opened the door this time and I was going to make sure I walked through it.”

WHY LIBERTY?

“I think you always look for people. Do you trust the people that were there? That was checked. Opportunity to win at a high level, that was checked, and most importantly can you be at a place that you can share your faith, that you can use the sport of football to spread the gospel of Jesus and impact His Kingdom. Those all got checked.”

WITH THESE RESOURCES, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN CONTINUE TO BUILD TOWARDS BEING A CFP CANDIDATE?

“I think that’s the goal. That’s not going to be easy. I think that’s something you want to get to over time. You’ve got obviously continue to build. There is a good foundation here. There are good resources here. We’ve got to make sure we build a team that fits this University and will want to achieve that goal down the road. Our first goal is to be the best we can be and try to go see what we can do in Conference USA?”

WHAT DO THESE NEXT 2-3 WEEKS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

“One, you’ve got to build your staff. I’ve got to get to know the current staff. I’ve got to get to know the staff. I’ve got to get to know the players, try to earn their trust every day. Then, try to be supportive as the team gets ready for the bowl game. Coach Aldridge, I know he will do a fantastic job as the interim. Any support I can give. Really just observing a lot, trying to get to know the players as much as I can. Trying to learn the lay of the land as I put a staff together and then we’ve got to recruit. The current commitments, try to keep the current commitments, try to bring some people in. Then, also, you look at the portal.”

ARE THERE GUYS AT COASTAL ON STAFF THAT YOU THINK WOULD BE A GOOD FIT HERE?

“I think so. I think any time you’ve been with some people for a while, you know what their hearts are. There are guys down there that I think will be. I’ve obviously not had a lot of time to talk with them, but also I know there are some good people here and there are some good people across the country. I’ve got some relationships with different people. You’ve got to find out who can help you achieve the goals you want to achieve but also do it within the parameters of our institution and what we stand for.”

WHERE ARE YOU IN TERMS OF ROSTER EVALUATION?

“We were working on it earlier today. I have an idea of the current roster, a little bit, more so than the current commits and some of the kids that are committed, might have recruited them out of high school anyway so I have an understanding there. From a portal standpoint, there are a lot of people in the portal but it’s got to be the ones that do you have a need here for that position and I’ve got to find out those needs over here in the next few days.”

WHEN DID THIS START TO COME TOGETHER FOR YOU?

“It was extremely challenging. To me, that was the toughest thing about leaving and trying to make a decision. All this information gets leaked. It takes away from your team. The team, our team at Coastal there just really had an unbelievable year, really overachieved. They had an opportunity to win a conference championship. I think the last couple of weeks with the rumors and things swirling it took away from what could have been a tremendous season. All this came together the last few days. There were some opportunities the past three weeks that you’ve been discussing. When you start to narrow it down and thinking about, and as you pray through the next step, started having the last few days. Get everything sort of finalized at some point yesterday.”

HOW WAS YOUR MEETING WITH THE TEAM AND WHAT WAS YOUR MESSAGE TO THEM?

“That you love them and you’re very appreciative of what they did, buying in to the vision there at Coastal. What we were able to do over those three years, I’m still emotional about it because you don’t just turn it off. It’s hard to leave them. It’s hard to leave. It’s going to take a special opportunity, but this was a special place. I felt like it was the right one. It was challenging, at least for me, half of them might have been happy. It was a challenging meeting.”

YOU KNOW JOHNATHAN BENNETT AND RECRUITED HIM OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL, CAN HE HELP WITH THE TRANSITION?

“It might. I do know him and know what he’s about, but we’ve not spent a lot of time together over the last few years too. Anytime you have someone who might know you and what you’re about, I think that helps tremendously. I told the team in our meeting today, I’ve got to do everything I can every day to earn their trust, being who I am. I’m not another coach, I’m Jamey and I’m going to be Jamey in the way that best fits me. Hopefully the players over time will see my heart, see what I have for them. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy all the time, but I think over time that they will buy in to what we’re doing and believe in that.”

ARE YOU PLANNING TO BE AT THE BOWL GAME?

“I have not talked about that but I’m assuming I’ll be on the plane down there doing something. I know signing day is coming up. I have to say yes, I haven’t talked to Ian yet, but being down there and being supportive. Obviously not doing anything but watching and observing, seeing guys practice and some of those things.”

HAVE YOU GOTTEN TO KNOW COACH FREEZE RECENTLY AND HAVE YOU SPOKEN WITH HIM THIS WEEK?

“I have not. I don’t know him well. I’ve talked to him a couple times, I don’t know him well. I know people that know him, but he did a great job here. Obviously, left a good foundation of who we can build off of.”

CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT IT WILL FEEL LIKE TO WALK OUT IN FRONT OF THE HOME CROWD ON OPENING DAY?

“No because I got a lot of boos the last time, you know. I was going to make a comment, everybody clapping, you better hold those claps and see how we play first. It will be a special feeling obviously. From the outside looking in and knowing the passion that Flames Nation has for their program, the students have for the program, it’s going to be a special time. It’s going to be surreal I’m sure. Obviously, that’s a long time away but it will be here in no time. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get ourselves in position.”

YOU’VE BUILT WINNING PROGRAMS, BUT NOW A DIFFERENT PLACE, WHAT IS ONE CONSTANT THAT IT TAKES TO BUILD A WINNER?

“I think the main thing is being genuine. I can’t be somebody that I’m not. I think players need to see that you’re sincere. Any place that we’ve tried to be to take over, to help them improve, we’ve poured everything in it to be the lost move that you’re ever going to make. I think players see that. I think they buy into that. Genuineness and sincerity and treating the payers in the way they need to be treated.”

YOU HELPED BUILD COASTAL TO WHERE IT IS NOW, AND YOU TAKE OVER A PLACE WITH A FOUNDATION ALREADY BUILT, WILL IT BE EASIER?

“Actually I think it’s harder. It’s not easier, I think it’s harder. I think it’s easy to go in where they stink, they will listen to you. When you’ve had success and you’re going to do it a little different way, it’s a different road map, you’re still trying to get to the same spot but the road map may be different. It’s a little more challenging because you’ve had some success and some guys might be, not against buying into it, but they might be a little hesitant to do that because we did it this way and it worked. It’s going to take us time to build up the relationships with those players that they do know that we have their best interest. Once that happens, you see us continue to climb and build on the foundation that’s here.”

ARE YOU A BEACH GUY OR A MOUNTAIN GUY?

“I grew up close to the mountains, I love both of them. I can live anywhere.”

IS THIS CLOSER TO YOUR FAMILY?

“Yeah, a little bit. I think maybe 4 hours from East Tennessee here. I’ve not done the exact distance there, but probably a little closer.”

WHAT’S YOUR MESSAGE TO THE FANS?

“Well, one, that I’m humble to be here. I know they give us tremendous support from Flames Nation. We’re going to do everything we can to put a product on the field that they’re proud of on and off the field. Hopefully they will continue to support us at a high level because I know I’ve been here when it’s been a tremendous atmosphere and that’s what we’re going to need for these student-athletes and the work they put in so we can go out and have tremendous seasons.”

WHAT MAKES A GREAT FOOTBALL PLAYER?

“I think if they’re selfless. I think football, you can be talented but if you’re trying to serve yourself you will never become great. I think people that become great have to be selfless. If you use your talents to help others, I think you can become a great player.”

WHAT KIND OF CULTURE ARE YOU TRYING TO BUILD?

“I think you want a real brotherhood. We talk about being a real brother hood. When you’re a real brotherhood you sacrifice your joy for someone else’s joy. I think that’s what we’re going to try to do. We’re going to get people to buy into each other. It’s got to be bigger than winning. Everyone wants to win, you’ve got to have a higher purpose. If we get guys to buy into that purpose of playing for their brother, doing things for their brother that can bring them joy, I think good things can happen.”