That Great American Sports Commentator Jello Biafra once said of the Rev. Jerry Falwell (above), “God must be dead if you’re alive”. Which will come as slim consolation to Liberty College football coach Ken Karcher and Athletic Director Thom Park, both of whom were fired today by Falwell.
From the Lynchburg News & Advance’s Rob Brown and Chris Lang.
The departures – which essentially gut the school™s sports administration – come two days before the Flames™ season finale at Norfolk State.
œWe have not been happy with the general direction of athletics at Liberty, said Falwell, the school™s chancellor. œWe don™t feel that Liberty has been keeping pace, particularly in football.
The school™s athletics program lost $7.4 million in 2004, the biggest drain by any department on LU™s overall budget.
Falwell said Karcher will be on the sideline Saturday. The fate of the rest of his staff lies in the hands of the new head coach, who Falwell hopes to name within the next two weeks.
Falwell said he has already talked to three œbona fide head coaching candidates.
œI™m 72, he said. œI don™t have much time to get the football program in the Top 20.
Liberty enters Saturday™s game 1-9, and its current nine-game losing streak ties a school record. The only victory was a 17-6 win over Concord, a Division II team that finished its season 4-7.
Falwell said the school™s evangelical Christian emphasis should be a drawing card in recruiting athletes nationwide.
œThere are 80 million evangelicals in the United States, he said. œThat should give us a great big fishing pond.