On April 1, 2009, I was a 22-year-old kid in my first year of seminary at Liberty. I was getting over being dumped by my undergrad girlfriend all while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
In other words, I was your typical 22-year-old college student.
One of the things that made my college experience great was the LUnatics: a club my friends and I started to follow Liberty sports in a way that was different than normal. As part of that, I had the privilege to meet and get to know some of the coaches at Liberty.
Ritchie McKay was one of those coaches.
In his first year at Liberty, Ritchie offered to give The LUnatics free Nike dry fit shirts for our club shirts. He bought us pizza before a home game to say thanks for getting to games early. As he walked to his spot on the bench before tip-off, he would always fist pump when we chanted his name:
Ritch-ie! Ritch-ie! Ritch-ie!
Throughout the 07-08 and 08-09 basketball seasons, Ritchie was The LUnatics’ biggest supporter.
That’s why it hurt so much when I got a message on April 1, 2009 from one of the managers for the basketball team. The message said Coach McKay was leaving to go to UVA.
Days earlier he’d said he wanted to be at Liberty for life.
Like many of you, I was angry. I felt betrayed by a guy who spoke our language and was such a great fit for the school I loved. I vowed to never cheer for him again.
Then a strange thing happened:
I began to grow up.
Over the last six years I’ve learned that sometimes you have to do what’s best for you. Sometimes you make mistakes. Sometimes you even hate the decision you’re making even though you know it’s what you’re supposed to be doing.
Life is funny that way.
Thankfully I’m not the same person I was six years ago today.
I’ve got to think Coach McKay isn’t that same guy either.
There’s no changing the past. We can’t erase who we were on April 1, 2009. But we can embrace who we are on April 1, 2015. We can admit we’ve all grown up and begin to move forward.
Ritchie McKay is once again the head basketball coach at Liberty University. As a proud LUnatic, I say welcome home, Coach. Let’s have some fun. Go Flames.
PS – can we maybe play some D before shooting the 3 this time around? Just saying…
Jonathan Carone founded the LUnatics and is a Liberty alum. He currently lives in Knoxville, TN. You can read more of his writing at ThisIsntHighSchool.com.
