This was a little shocking, but after meeting with JB today Toman resigned. It appears Toman may have been given some expectations for next year including replacing staff. Toman didn't take it well and was given the option to resign or be fired. Toman did some good things at Liberty, but it does seem the program had grown stagnant. I like the fact that we're no longer accepting the status quo. This should serve notice to other coaches.. Gill, you listening?

I don't want to see anyone be fired but I think this was close to inevitable. Liberty peaked and hit a plateau before slowly worsening. Liberty has a pretty good baseball tradition and our finishes the last few years didn't match expectations. If we want to be FBS and eventually P5 or whatever, then we need to set the precedent now that mediocre results will not be tolerated. The next coach should have a lot of talent to build upon and I will be anticipating who is hired.

I also agree that Gill needs to take notice. Toman had been around much longer and has had much more success than Gill. I heard (not sure if true and take it with a grain of salt) that Toman had a difficult personality so that could have something to do with it as well.

Another angle may be that Barber is feeling the heat and that perhaps he is making changes to shake things up to get the heat off him. I don't know but I'm curious to see how things play out.

We didn't spend over 20 million for a baseball field not to win.

Who are yalls top candidates/hopefuls?

Depends on who you talk to. Dallas Baptist's coach is a hot commodity right now, but some think he's going to end up at Texas. Barber is known to like hiring assistants from SEC and ACC teams.

I'd rather get a head coach from an overachieving school than an assistant from a perennial top program. I just think that getting an actual head coach is better than an assistant, and getting one that does more with less should only be better with more resources that Liberty should provide.

(06-25-2016 08:12 PM)GE and MTS Wrote:  I'd rather get a head coach from an overachieving school than an assistant from a perennial top program. I just think that getting an actual head coach is better than an assistant, and getting one that does more with less should only be better with more resources that Liberty should provide.

At face value I would agree with your statement. But off the top of my head I can think of two dynamite current coaches that served as assistants before they got gigs as head coach of their current school and they have done wonders there- Dan McDonnell (Louisville) and Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt), and I am sure there are more. One thing they have in common beside multiple College World Series trips and great baseball is they are both strong Christian men. So, there are some really good quality assistant coaches out there that can do great things once given the chance. Below are the names I've heard thrown out as potential coaching candidates.....

Scott Jackson - Asst. Coach at UNC
Rick Robinson - HC UT Martin
Brandon Inge - form MLB player from and currently living in Lynchburg
Graham Sikes - Asst. Coach at Michigan St.
Dan Heefner - HC Dallas Baptist
Craig Gibson - HC Mercer
Tim Teufel - form MLB player, current 3rd base coach NY Mets, son played baseball at LU

I wasn't expecting Toman to be fired, but I am not surprised at the same time.

Inge has no coaching experience and no direct affiliation with the school. He's the longest of a long shot. Heefner will get a big time gig soon, so I doubt he would come to Liberty. Rick Robinson had a horrible record at UT Martin.

I bet many of the candidates aren't on this list. I've seen these names thrown around as well, but just from message board posters. Something that is unique at Liberty is we really don't have a source for inside info. On almost every message board you have a few that are in the know and her leaked info. Barber seems to run a tight ship and info is hard to come by.

I'm kinda diggin' UNC Asst. Scott Jackson of the known names.

But I agree. I bet there are many more names that we don't know about.

And we have great facilities.