Issues at Liberty evidently were no barrier to Conference USA invitation

These are high times for the Liberty football program, which is 7-2, has secured bowl eligibility for the third consecutive season and recently received a formal invitation to join Conference USA. 

But it’s a turbulent time for Liberty University. Founded in 1971 by Baptist televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell Sr., the private Evangelical university in Lynchburg, Va., has been embroiled in several sex and financial scandals in recent years, including one involving then-school president Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki Falwell.

An invitation from Conference USA — first reported by Yahoo Sports — came less than two weeks after a damning report on the university by the investigative non-profit ProPublica. The report alleges that Liberty has discouraged numerous female students from coming forward with sexual assault claims and blatantly dismissed allegations from other women. In addition, women who came forward were at risk of facing disciplinary action for violating the school’s strict code of conduct policy known as the “Liberty Way,” which bans drinking and “being in any state of undress with a member of the opposite sex.” A senior vice president of communications says he is filing a federal lawsuit because he claims he was fired last month for blowing the whistle on the university’s failures in responding to sexual assault concerns.

There has been no reported connection between the university scandal and Liberty’s football program. But the report does raise these questions: What should Conference USA’s level of concern be, if any, in inviting Liberty under its soon-to-be reshaped league umbrella? And what should a bowl game’s level of concern be, if any, when as it assesses whether to have the Flames play in its game?

“Unless there’s a direct connection, but even in that case, maybe it depends on the level of school and maybe Liberty would not get a pass” as a lower-profile school, said David Ridpath, an associate professor of sports business at Ohio University and past president of the Drake Group higher education think tank. “But let’s be honest: If something really bad like this is going on at Ohio State or, as it has, at Michigan State, is that really going to stop TV networks from wanting them on TV? Is that going to stop them from going to bowl games? I doubt it.”

The handling of sexual assault cases on campus has increasingly come under a much-needed spotlight, one that has revealed various degrees of shortcomings in protocols and cultures at universities big and small, private and public. But when it comes to decisions that shape at least the high end of college athletics, money long has been the driving force, trumping almost every other factor.

Ridpath’s concern is that if this degree of behavior and university failings are occurring on campus, is it also occurring in the athletic department? That said, absent a direct connection to the athletic department, the Liberty football program is unlikely to feel any effects. To that point, Ridpath said nothing kept Michigan State out of a bowl game in light of the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal — and that did directly involve the athletic department. 

The Flames have experienced a rapid ascension the past few years. In February 2017, Liberty, which had been in the FCS’ Big South Conference, announced that it had received a waiver from the NCAA to reclassify to the FBS ranks as an independent. The Flames have won the Cure Bowl in each of the past two seasons, beating Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina, respectively. A brighter-than-usual spotlight will be on the team this Saturday when coach Hugh Freeze leads the Flames into Oxford, Miss., to play Ole Miss, where he coached from 2012-16 before he resigned.

Liberty is one of four schools — New Mexico State and FCS programs Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State are the others — to receive invitations to join Conference USA, a league trying to stay afloat after the most recent realignment cycle decimated its membership.

The university’s failings detailed in the ProPublica report “certainly could be something that a conference could look at, but, gosh, I’m thinking Conference USA may come here and invite Hocking Junior College, which is right up the road from me, because they are so desperate,” Ridpath said. “They probably went out of desperation and probably didn’t even, sadly, consider this.”

Quick hits

+ Brands can pull endorsement deals if athletes exhibit egregious behavior. It happens in the pros, and it can happen in college, too. A 51-second video has surfaced that shows Jay Toia, a UCLA freshman defensive lineman, directing abusive and threatening language toward a female student while standing in an elevator doorway. In the video, Toia is heard saying, “I’ll slap a bitch, too.” Campus Mogul officially has terminated its NIL partnership with Toia, and his items have been removed permanently from the site, the Los Angeles Times reported.

+ A bad look by the NCAA in suspending Illinois star center Kofi Cockburn for three games for selling “institutionally issued apparel and memorabilia” in June. What was the issue? The transaction occurred in June, a few weeks before the NIL era became legal July 1. Illinois coach Brad Underwood was rightly disappointed with the ruling, citing “unprecedented factors and altered timelines” relating to Cockburn pulling out of the NBA draft. Cockburn, a preseason All-American, attended the NBA G League Elite Camp in June, but after receiving feedback on his potential draft slot, he decided to withdraw and ultimately return to Illinois. Now he will miss the first three games.