Liberty’s football program is embarking on a unique conquest in moving to the FBS ranks. The Flames will become one of 18 private schools that competes at the FBS level, and will be the first private school to move from a lower classification to the FBS since it was created in 1978 as Division I-A. No school, private or public, has moved up to FBS as an Independent since Louisiana-Monroe did so in 1994.
“This is really an unprecedented move, quite honestly,” Athletic Director Ian McCaw stated. “Most schools, in recent years, have made this move through conference affiliation. So, we’re going down some not recently chartered territory.”
To navigate the transition, Coach Turner Gill is gleaning information from several other coaches that have made the transition from FCS to FBS in recent years including UConn’s Randy Edsall, Old Dominion’s Bobby Wilder, and former Georgia State coach Trent Miles.
“It’s a little bit unique,” Gill said. “It’s been a long time as far as people doing it as an Independent, but, I think, for the profile or the plan to go about doing it, obviously, you can talk to several different people that have done it recently.”
Edsall was Connecticut’s head coach from 1999 through 2010. He oversaw a successful transition by the Huskies from an FCS member to a member of the Big East. In his 12 seasons at UConn, Edsall compiled a 74-70 overall record and appeared in 5 bowl games. After being fired during his 4th season at Maryland, Edsall has been, once again, named Connecticut’s head coach. Wilder helped resurrect ODU’s football program, where he has an overall record of 67-30 including a bowl win and 10 win season this past year. Under his watch, the Monarchs moved from an FCS Independent to the CAA, and, finally, to the FBS and Conference USA. Trent Miles, who was fired as Georgia State’s head coach in November, guided the Panthers in their first 4 seasons as an FBS member from 2013-2016. Miles was 9-38 at Georgia State after a successful 5-year run as head coach of FCS member Indiana State. But none of these coaches faced the same transition that Gill faces.
“I’m going to talk to all kinds of different people,” Gill said. “Some are going to share with me quite a bit, some might not share with me a whole lot, but I’m going to reach out. In coaching, you’re always talking to people. I’m always calling different people every year. I guess you can say (this situation) is a little bit out of the norm, but it is normal that you’re always calling and talking to coaches.”
The Flames are just 4-21 against FBS opponents all-time, but that’s not necessarily the best barometer for success moving forward. In all of those games, Liberty was operating from a disadvantage in the number of scholarships and not being able to recruit as an FBS school. Both of those road blocks will soon disappear. Under Gill, the Flames have ramped up their non-conference schedules, playing 2 FBS opponents most seasons.
“We played a pretty tough schedule from when I got here to where we’re at today,” Gill explained, “as we’re playing 2 FBS teams in most cases. This last season, if you count Coastal, you can say there were 3 FBS. We’ve played a tougher schedule. I knew when I got hired that was something they wanted to change, was to play a tougher schedule. Doing that, I think, has prepared us as we move forward.”
Liberty is 2-7 against FBS teams since Gill took over prior to the 2012 season, but both of those wins came during the past 3 seasons. Three of the 7 losses came by single digits, as the Flames were nearly able to pull upsets against Wake Forest, Kent State, and Old Dominion.
“The more difficult thing, to me, as an Independent, is from a competitive standpoint,” USA Today Sports National College Football Reporter Dan Wolken told us. “It’s just very, very hard. You’re on the road a lot. Your team becomes sort of a sacrificial lamb for the big boys without getting games at home in return. Look at UMass, for example. UMass can get the occasional Vanderbilt, Mississippi State to play at their place, but you’re just not going to get a ton of big time games.”
Scheduling will be the Flames’ biggest hurdle for success during the early part of its FBS history. “It’s a little bit daunting, quite honestly, right now, but we’re working very hard on it now and will continue to do that in the coming weeks.” McCaw continued, “Once we get to 2020, we can be a little more strategic in terms of how we build the schedule, but really for ’18 and ’19, it’s going to be, honestly, a little bit of a scramble just to get the required number of home games and have a schedule that works for our program.”
Coach Gill echoed the same sentiment. “Being an Independent, it just makes it more difficult from a scheduling side of it. Scheduling can be a plus and scheduling can be a minus for your program in a certain way. I think short term, particularly the first year to two years, because most people have already had their schedules set, it becomes very, very difficult to try to put together a schedule to give you an opportunity, as much as possible, to be successful. You try to set it up in a way where you’re not playing a whole lot of away games in a row, playing some home games, and playing some teams that maybe is not quite as strong in the Power 5 conferences. There are excellent football teams, even in the non-Power 5, so, it’s going to be a tough schedule.”
Gill says his plan for the transition could include red-shirting current players who still have their red-shirt year available. “I’ve got a tentative plan right now. Obviously, I’m talking to quite a few people each and every day, and just gathering up information and making sure I know how I want the plan to go for us. Red-shirting some people could be part of that plan, but, obviously, I’m always going to try to and win every single football game. That’s just part of who I am, and who I think all of us are, as human beings, playing the game of football. Playing a sport, you’re competitive. You just don’t want to lose, and I’m never going to get in a situation where I enjoy losing.”
Liberty will face growing pains over the next couple of seasons as they ramp up their schedule and number of scholarships they offer to compete in the FBS ranks. It may take until 2020 before McCaw & Gill have the schedule they want in place and a full allotment of 85 scholarship players.
“We still have a ways to go because we need to gain those 22 additional scholarships,” Gill said. “That’s going to help us be able to be very competitive at the FBS level. Whether we’re FBS, FCS, really doesn’t matter. We’re still trying to build a program that’s going to be a winning program, a successful program. We’ve got to have a plan, and go about doing it in the right fashion so that we can be successful for a long period of time. I’m looking forward to this opportunity, it’s just a blessing that it’s here now, and I’m ready for the challenge.”
