Liberty University has announced a new contract extension for head basketball coach Ritchie McKay. This new contract extension runs his contract through the 2030-31 season. The financial details were not immediately available.
“I really feel like it’s an honor to be here, an honor to work here,” McKay said on Tuesday when asked about his extension. “I think our leadership, from the top down, is tremendous. Grateful for Dr. Costin, Chancellor Falwell, Ian McCaw, his staff, and the Board to invite us to continue on here. There’s a lot of noise these days like maybe thinking the grass is greener somewhere else or you can do this here or do that there. I think what the Lord’s done here has been really special and I’m incredibly privileged to be a part of it.”
The extension comes just a few weeks after McKay became the program’s winningest coach, now with 267 wins at Liberty. The Flames are currently 23-6 on the season and 11-5 in Conference USA play entering the final week of the regular season where Liberty has the chance to win a regular season title in one of the top mid-major conferences in the country. The Flames return to the floor on Thursday night at Middle Tennessee in a crucial battle at the top of the league standings, and less than a week before all 10 CUSA teams descend upon Huntsville, Alabama for the conference tournament where only the champion will earn the right to represent the league in the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m not worried about the timing because I know where I want to be,” McKay said when asked about the timing of the extension coming before the end of the season. “I do think when the season ends and there is other suitors for our players in this new age of college basketball we are in, I do think it gives our guys the comfort, if you will, or the knowledge that this coaching staff is committed to being here. My hope is that they share in that commitment. In a way, it’s like saying I know what I want to do, where we want to take our program. We hope they want to be a part of it too if that’s God’s will for them.”
He first came to Liberty in 2007, serving as the Flames’ head coach for two seasons, posting a 39-28 overall record and 19-13 mark in Big South play. He led the Flames to a 23-12 record in 2008-09, at the time matching the program’s NCAA Division I record for most wins in a season. That team featured several talented recruits McKay brought to the Mountain, including Seth Curry who finished his freshman season averaging 202. Points per game and was named the 2009 Big South Freshman of the Year. Curry was part of a recruiting class which was ranked No. 48 in the country by Basketball Times.
After his first two years in Lynchburg, McKay joined his friend Tony Bennett as an assistant coach at Virginia in Charlottesville. He spent six seasons under Bennett, learning his famed Pack Line Defense during his time before returning to Liberty in 2015.
In the four seasons prior to McKay’s return to Liberty, the Flames lost 84 games, averaging 21 losses per season over that stretch. In his first year back at Liberty, the Flames would lose 13 straight Division I games to open his second tenure before he began to turn the ship.
Since his return, Liberty has won 228 games (and counting) over the past 10 seasons while helping the program reach heights never before seen.
McKay and Liberty have posted eight 20-win seasons over the past nine campaigns, including a school-record 30 wins during the 2019-20 season. McKay and the Flames won the ASUN title in the program’s first three years in the conference, punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament in each instance. Liberty had three ASUN Tournament titles and four ASUN regular season crowns in four years in the league as well as the East Division title during the 2021-22 campaign.
McKay and the Flames made history in 2019, winning the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament game against 5-seed Mississippi State. The Flames received a 12-seed in that year’s Big Dance, the first time the program had reached the Tournament as anything other than a 16-seed. Liberty would also earn its first ever AP Top 25 vote in the history of the program that season while also earning votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
McKay and the Flames won 27 games during the 2022-23 season, earning a share of the ASUN regular season crown. Liberty would advance to the NIT for the first time in school history, picking up a win over 2022 Final Four participant Villanova. Liberty would finish the year at No. 46 in the country in the NET rankings and No. 48 in KenPom, both new program records at season’s end.
Over his first 11 seasons at Liberty, McKay has guided the Flames to postseason play in seven seasons including three NCAA Tournament appearances, an NIT berth, and three CIT appearances. The Flames have picked up nine wins over high major programs over the past eight seasons.
