The most influential man behind Liberty’s football program you may not know

Have you heard the name Grant Teaff?

Certainly, if you’re familiar with college football, particularly in the state of Texas, you know the name. In Texas, it’s a household name.

Teaff was Baylor’s head football coach for 21 seasons from 1972-1992. He then retired from coaching and served as Baylor’s Athletic Director for one season before taking over as the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), a position he held until 2016. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

But, do you know his connection to Liberty and its football program?

It’s a story that starts in 1979 when Teaff was head coach at Baylor and current Liberty football coach Turner Gill was an all-state quarterback at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas. Teaff and Baylor recruited Gill, who ultimately decided to attend Nebraska. Several years later, the two reconnected while Gill was an assistant coach at Nebraska. Their relationship grew from there, and Coach Gill now calls Teaff a mentor, and even compares him to Tom Osborne for the role he has had in his life.

Gill calls Teaff regularly and will ask for advice. Such was the case in 2004 while Gill was wrestling with the idea of possibly leaving the coaching profession. He called Teaff to ask him for a job with the AFCA, but Teaff reneged and instead encouraged Gill to stay in coaching. Not long after that, Gill got his first opportunity as a head coach at Buffalo and has been a head coach ever since.

With Teaff’s position at the AFCA, he’s come to know most athletic directors and many university presidents. One of those is Liberty President Jerry Falwell, Jr. In December 2011, when Liberty and Falwell were looking for a head football coach, Teaff recommended Gill.

“I certainly recommended him here,” Teaff said of Coach Gill. “I felt like the University needed someone who had coached at the highest level, had character, integrity, as a Christian institution needs. Coach Gill fits that. He’s played at the highest level. He’s coached at the highest level. He’s a real strong disciplinarian.”

Teaff and Liberty’s relationship strengthened considerably once Gill was hired.

One of Gill’s first hires to his Liberty staff was Teaff’s grandson, Josh Bookbinder. Bookbinder originally started as defensive quality control, but today he is Liberty’s linebackers coach. During Bookbinder’s time at Liberty, he met his wife, Ashley, and the couple just welcomed their first son, and named him Grant, after Coach Teaff.

“That’s the reason I coach,” Bookbinder said of his grandad. “Growing up around the game and growing up around him, I fell in love with it at a really young age. I grew up around the Baylor program. He never forced (coaching) on me. I think in the back of his mind, he always would have liked to see me coaching, but then the minute that I told him that’s what I wanted to do he was right there being a mentor.”

“Having a mentor that’s also your grandad is pretty neat,” Bookbinder continued. “I call him every night on my way home from the office. Believe it or not, he stays up until about 2 in the morning central time every morning. He’s always been a night owl. So, when leaving the office at 11:30-12:00 at night, I call him, and that’s early for him. So, I always get that opportunity to talk to him on the way home from work.”

Teaff has visited Bookbinder and his family at least once a year ever since he’s been at Liberty, even making the trip this year for the Idaho State game. He had originally planned on making the trip for the Troy game as well, to catch home games on back to back weekends, but he became sick prior to the Troy game and was unable to make it in time for the Flames’ upset win. He instead flew into Charlotte and drove to Lynchburg the week of the ISU matchup after all the flights into the Hill City were booked during the homecoming weekend.

“He has had some great experience, worked with some great coaches,” Teaff said of his grandson. “He’s moved in the right direction every step he’s taken, just like coming here and meeting Ashley. God has a plan for each of us if we’re smart to try to follow His lead. It’s pretty obvious this move for him has been terrific.”

This extra time spent in Lynchburg has allowed Teaff’s relationship with Falwell and the University to continue to grow. So much so that when Jeff Barber resigned from his post as Athletic Director at Liberty in November 2016, Falwell immediately called Teaff.

“Jerry called me wanting an athletic director,” Teaff stated. “Jerry called me and asked if I would recommend 3 people he should look at for A.D. I said, no, I will recommend 1.”

That man was Ian McCaw. McCaw would be hired as Barber’s replacement on November 28, 2016.

“Ian is one of the most knowledgeable and best connected athletic directors you will find anywhere,” Teaff said. “He’s such a good man. It was a perfect fit and perfect timing because the University, obviously, wants to go onward and upward, and to do that you got to have somebody in leadership that is well respected. Ian is very respected, and when you’re trying to lay the groundwork for the future of the University athletically, he is the perfect guy.”

McCaw first learned about Liberty through Teaff.

“He was the person that connected President Falwell and I when the athletic director search took place in 2016,” McCaw said of Teaff. “He served as kind of a conduit in that process. He certainly shared with me his perspective – that he thought Liberty has tremendous potential as a program. He thought the transition from FCS to FBS could happen, and thought I would be a great fit. He was very encouraging, and certainly thinks highly of Liberty, and continues to be somebody that’s a great supporter.”

During McCaw’s time at Baylor from 2003-2016, he developed a strong relationship with Teaff. McCaw turned to Teaff as an advisor and mentor during his tenure there. He would even bring Teaff in on several different occasions to speak to the staff at Baylor.

“Somebody who is always a phone call or visit away whenever you want to run an idea or get some wise counsel,” McCaw explained. “He was a tremendous asset for me, and somebody that continues to do great things for the (Baylor) community.”

Every Baylor football coach since Teaff’s days at Baylor has always wanted a strong relationship with the legend. That has been no different with 2nd year Baylor head football coach Matt Rhule who was hired by Baylor in December 2016. The relationship with Coach Rhule and Teaff immediately took off. Not surprisingly, Rhule invited Teaff to Baylor’s practices during spring ball 2017. Teaff wouldn’t go. Again during fall camp later that year, but Teaff wouldn’t agree to visit a Baylor practice.

“The reason I didn’t want to is if something strange would happen and Liberty would beat Baylor. I didn’t want anybody to think I was watching practice and going back and telling (Josh).”

That something strange did happen as the Flames upset the Bears in Rhule’s first game as Baylor’s head coach. It was Liberty’s first ever win over a Power 5 opponent, and it came just a few months after a McCaw-led athletic department announced its FBS move.

“With the dreams that (President) Falwell has,” Teaff explained, “I just have been able to help him with Turner, when he was looking for a head football coach, and then for Ian, the A.D.”

His advice has certainly been adhered to, and with the growth the athletic program has made the past several years, it’s hard not to realize the impact Teaff has made on Liberty athletics. Teaff thinks Liberty is in a perfect position and is ready to capitalize on its investments in the athletic department as it continues to rise to new heights.

“I just think they’re in a good position,” Teaff said of the Flames’. “Well-run athletic programs at any university is an asset. It’s so important. It’s the window by which the world views the university. The general public looks at your university through the looking glasses of the athletic program. Administrators that are really smart, know and understand that. The board and President Falwell get that, understand that, and invest in that.”

Teaff came up through private Christian education, and he helped build Baylor into a national power on the gridiron. He sees Liberty as being able to raise its athletic program to compete at the top level in the country while still remaining true to its beliefs.

“I’ve been there and done that,” Teaff says. “I know it can happen. It’s hard. It’s very hard, very difficult. Everybody has to put their shoulders in it, all segments of the University – administration, board members. They have to be bought into the vision. It’s not easy. The competition is really tough. Recruiting is the lifeline.”

He mentioned driving into Lynchburg every year and always seeing new buildings going up on campus. “There’s no facilities that they lack. That indoor facility, probably 60-70% of FBS schools would give anything to have the facilities you have here.”

“This place is truly amazing,” Teaff described. “The growth it has had from where it started. The vision Dr. Falwell had about education. So many people would look at that and say, ‘preposterous, in Lynchburg, you’re going to have this nationally recognized university?'”

As we all know, Liberty has grown considerably since it was born in 1971. No longer is it a small, Bible college. Dr. Falwell’s original vision is closer to reality than it has ever been before with the Flames’ playing on the FBS level. Every dream he ever had about Liberty athletically, can now be accomplished on the field.

“This place is a great prototype,” Teaff explained. “It has tremendous potential. I think very much of President Falwell and his leadership, his wisdom. He’s got a vision for this place.”

As Coach Teaff says, “success on any level is who you surround yourself with.” Liberty has certainly found a great resource in Grant Teaff as the athletic program continues to reach new heights.