With the baseball head coaching job recently coming available, the question of which head coaching position at Liberty is the most attractive was raised. Football, basketball, and baseball are the obvious top three jobs, but does one stand above the other two?
Lets take a look at the three most important factors when it comes to each job; the resources and facilities that are at the disposal of the coach, the quality of the recruits on a national scale, and the ability to compete against quality teams.
Facilities/Resources:
There is no shortage of cash backing up each of these three programs. Football’s Williams Stadium is a beautiful place to watch a football game on a crisp fall evening. The Football Operation Center has everything a team could need in terms of a weight room, training rooms, and locker rooms. An indoor practice facility is being built for the team as well to add to the many facilities the program has at its disposal.
Basketball’s Vines Center is a venue that has seen some upgrades over the last few years and is a nice place to catch a game. The only downside might be, which the university is in the process of addressing, is the fact that is too big for even the biggest crowd Liberty basketball currently brings in. 10,000~ seats is great for convo, but feels empty when you have 1 to 2 thousand people in it, no matter how many seats you cover with paper or t shirts. Liberty is planning to build a smaller arena in the coming years that should address this problem, but for now they are stuck in a space that is too big to create the energy that would make it a tough place for opponents to play in.
The Liberty Baseball Stadium is ranked in the top 60 of all stadiums in the country by StadiumJourney.com. It is one of the best college baseball facilities in the country. Similar to Williams Stadium, there isn’t a bad seat in the house. The team has its own weight room and indoor batting cages inside the stadium as well.
Recruiting:
Football has seen its share of top recruits over the years at the FCS level, but has also lost its share of perspective recruits to FBS schools. Liberty can not compete for recruits against the best teams in college football until they move up to the FBS level. Until then, the football program will continue to bring in solid FCS recruits and maybe a few players that FBS schools may have overlooked.
Basketball doesn’t have have a split in the division like football does, but because of its lack of success it struggles to bring in 4 and 5 star recruits. It is not unheard of for successful mid major basketball programs to bring in nationally ranked recruits, but Liberty doesn’t have pattern of success yet to attract the top players in the country. It’s important not to dismiss the potential here though.
Baseball recently had two of its recruits selected in the top 3 rounds of the 2016 draft, including one taken 15th overall. While we will never see those players in a Liberty uniform it speaks to the quality of recruits that the baseball program has signed to national letters of intent.
Competition:
Football will continue to try and schedule the top teams in the country at the FCS level, but again, until they move up to the FBS level, will never be able to be competitive against the Alabama’s and Ohio State’s of the world. There is no chance of Liberty convincing an FBS school to come play them at home until they move up a level.
Basketball, similar to football, will play a top tier program like Notre Dame, UVA, or Indiana each year, but they are in no way ready to really be competitive against them. It is possible to get to that point, as we have seen other mid major’s reach the final four over the years, but the program has a long way to go to get to that point.
Baseball has the luxury of bringing Power 5 schools into Lynchburg regularly. Because of its facilities, and its recent success, ACC teams will come to Lynchburg often. Furthermore, Liberty competes well against these nationally ranked programs.
Football and basketball will always eclipse baseball in terms of popularity and recognition, but keeping the above factors in mind, the baseball head coaching job stands above them. The ability to recruit the top players in the country, having one of the best stadiums in all of college baseball, and playing the top teams in the country regularly all contribute to making it the best job on the mountain.
How would you rank the coaching jobs? Is there something I missed or failed to consider?
