AD Makes New Turf Priority at Liberty

[TexasTerror]

Apparently, not all Liberty does as it relates to it's football team is bad! Just kidding. Glad to see another school changing surfaces and going with a turf that is safer for the players...

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Liberty takes the safe route

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
April 26, 2006

Jeff Barber took one step on the concrete-hard artificial turf at Liberty’s Williams Stadium and quickly realized a change was needed.

One of Barber’s first tasks as Liberty’s new athletics director was to make sure the playing surface at Williams was replaced. Sometime next month, workers will begin replacing the aged turf with state of the art FieldTurf.

“It needed to be replaced,” Barber said. “It was such a huge issue for the safety of the kids. And to attract teams to come in and play here, you need a good surface to play on. That was right at the front of the wagon.”

The project will cost Liberty approximately $600,000. Barber said the money is being raised privately.

“We have most of it already,” he said.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA%2FMGArticle%2FLNA_BasicArti cle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835597481&path=!sports

[Tribe4SF]

Good news! The Tribe is back there this year, and it's nice to know that astro turf will be gone. Liberty makes three of the I-AAs in Virginia to install FieldTurf this year.

[Sly Fox]

Believe it or not its our homecoming, Tribe.

Seriously we are investing heavily in our football program right now. Our new Ops Center is under construction and our new staff is enjoying their honeymoon period.

[nlwwln]

its a great day to be a flames fan!

[blur2005]

That's great news for the site of the Virginia AA State Football Championships. My high school played on that field for the title twice (won one) while I was there and both times the turf was obviously a piece of s***. I'm glad the high schoolers will have a better playing surface to perform on.



Oh, Liberty actually plays the sport of football there, too? Well, I guess that helps them, too. Now if they just had any semblance of a team...

[Tribe4SF]

Believe it or not its our homecoming, Tribe.


Well that makes both you guys, and JMU for us. Since when did we become "homecoming fodder"? I assume that will mean a better crowd than the last time we came to Lynchburg.

Interesting recruiting class for the Flames. Ten guys from Florida? Now if you can get them all to stay, and play.

[Sly Fox]

We had a new staff putting together a class as quickly as we could. But its not unusual for us to have the vast majority of our players come from outside the Mid-Atlantic region. I suspect next year we will probably have a more nationwide class as the staff has more time together to put forth a full effort.

If we don't have a full house for when the Tribe come to the Mountain I'd be really shocked. We should be 3-2 or 4-1 and coming off three weeks ont he road.

As for the Dukes, I believe you guys are going to have your eyes opened up regarding the Flames when we begin our series. The Karcher era is over and we're ready to return tot he days of beating Dukes on a regular basis.

[GannonFan]

We had a new staff putting together a class as quickly as we could. But its not unusual for us to have the vast majority of our players come from outside the Mid-Atlantic region. I suspect next year we will probably have a more nationwide class as the staff has more time together to put forth a full effort.

If we don't have a full house for when the Tribe come to the Mountain I'd be really shocked. We should be 3-2 or 4-1 and coming off three weeks ont he road.

As for the Dukes, I believe you guys are going to have your eyes opened up regarding the Flames when we begin our series. The Karcher era is over and we're ready to return tot he days of beating Dukes on a regular basis.

There's nothing like the offseason to breed some unbridled optimism. Geesh, from a 1-10 team this year to a team that will regularly beat JMU. I'd settle for keeping it close with Towson (who Liberty lost to by 3 TD's this year) before I start chewing off too much. The schedule is easy enough this year that Liberty could be .500, but let's walk before we run. Btw, nice avatar - you may be the first person I've seen who has a Swiper the Fox avatar.

[Sly Fox]

If we are not at least .500 with our schedule this fall, it will be quite a disappointment. And yes, with a new staff and a bunch of I-A transfers optimism does rule the day in Lynchburg.

For the record, Towson and the Tribe are our toughest opponents outside of Wake and we know it. Much like us, they were extremely young this past year and we know how tough they are going to be.

We have some time before our series with the Dukes is renewed. Just stirring the pot a little.

[JMU Duke Dog]

Well I will expect Liberty to be vastly improved since JMU beat the Flames in Harrisonburg 48-6 in 2003. You all are putting a lot into building up your football program down there in Lynchburg. Maybe you, Coastal Carolina, and Appalachian State could someday be replacements for those schools mainejeff has going to his dream America East Conference.