Liberty University has announced a new contract extension for head basketball coach Ritchie McKay. This is the third straight year McKay has received a contract extension and this current extension runs his contract through the 2027-28 season. The financial details were not immediately available.
“We are grateful for Coach McKay’s long term commitment to Liberty,” Flames’ Athletic Director Ian McCaw stated. “You couple that with the opening of the new arena, it really signals a very bright future for the program. The two words I use to describe Coach McKay is selfless exceptionalism in terms of just the way he goes about his business in building this program into what’s become among the winningest programs in the nation over the last three years while still closely aligning with our mission to train champions for Christ.”
The extension comes on the heels of three of the most successful seasons in school history. The Flames have won 82 games over the past three seasons, setting a school record for wins in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. Liberty has won three straight regular season and tournament titles in the ASUN, earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament each season. The Flames defeated Mississippi State in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, the program’s first ever win in the Big Dance.
“He’s established a remarkable culture,” McCaw continued. “To win three straight conference championships is really exceptional. It’s a very short list of programs that have done that. It takes great leadership on his part and, again, a really strong team culture. We’re excited about the future.”
McKay has guided the Flames to six of the program’s eight 20-win seasons in Division I history, including five consecutive. Prior to this current run, Liberty had never won 20 or more games in two consecutive seasons.
In his eight years as head coach at Liberty, McKay has an overall record of 177-93 and conference record of 91-41. He is the program’s Division I win leader and is second on Liberty’s all-time win list trailing only Jeff Meyer who has 259, 134 of which came at the Division I level.
