https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ources-say

Quote:Liberty has reached a new deal with Hugh Freeze that will make him one of the highest-paid non-Power 5 coaches in college football, sources told ESPN on Tuesday night.

The university is expected to officially announce the new contract on Wednesday. Sources told ESPN that Freeze's total financial package would average more than $4 million annually over the length of the contract and run through the 2028 season.

Freeze's new deal at Liberty will be worth more or at least comparable to what five different SEC coaches are making.

Good luck to the future CUSA schools to try and keep up with the Joneses.

Yea... go Flames!

I feel bad for the rest of Conference USA. Liberty is going to run circles around them when it comes to spending, and it will show on the field. They still chose to invite Liberty though.

The only thing I'd say is, look at the endowments of Syracuse, Rice, Northwestern, Duke, all private universities.....they have tons of money and it has not resulted in winning. Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects. Lack of funds can guarantee losing but having funds doesn't guarantee winning. Liberty's athletic budget last year was less than James Madison's and barely more than Delaware's as a whole.

There are CUSA teams like FIU, that's it's so bad they asked for used gear like shoulder pads from another FBS school. CUSA has the haves and the have nots. You aren't out spending Liberty, they soon will be buying players SUVs

(11-23-2021 10:53 PM)Yosef181 Wrote:  I feel bad for the rest of Conference USA. Liberty is going to run circles around them when it comes to spending, and it will show on the field. They still chose to invite Liberty though.

Maybe, but money isn't everything. If it were, then we would rarely hear of any G5 schools beating any P5 teams, and there wouldn't have been 8 G5 football schools in the final AP Top 25 last year.

The P5 programs know that their money doesn't necessarily make them better than the good G5 teams. That's why the Big 12 jumped at the chance to add Cincy, Houston, UCF, and BYU.

Sure, Liberty may have the dominant programs for a period of time, but these things usually even out over the long haul. There are some football programs with a solid history and some great basketball legacy schools in the CUSA.

Liberty having a strong program will help some of those other CUSA teams to compete with the better Sun Belt schools.

.

btw - I'm hoping that App. State can finish in the top 25 this year. You're ranked about #28th right now.

(11-23-2021 11:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  The only thing I'd say is, look at the endowments of Syracuse, Rice, Northwestern, Duke, all private universities.....they have tons of money and it has not resulted in winning. Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects. Lack of funds can guarantee losing but having funds doesn't guarantee winning. Liberty's athletic budget last year was less than James Madison's and barely more than Delaware's as a whole.

Did Liberty actually release their athletic department numbers?

(11-23-2021 11:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects.

Does the honor code say anything about using your school issued cell phone to solicit prostitutes? Because that could be awkward.

(11-23-2021 11:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  The only thing I'd say is, look at the endowments of Syracuse, Rice, Northwestern, Duke, all private universities.....they have tons of money and it has not resulted in winning. Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects. Lack of funds can guarantee losing but having funds doesn't guarantee winning. Liberty's athletic budget last year was less than James Madison's and barely more than Delaware's as a whole.

Those schools have high academic standards for athletes, which restrict recruiting and thus competitiveness. Endowments are, at best, a proxy to estimate a school’s athletic spending potential as it signifies, to some minimal level only, that the school has a strong booster community. It is important to note that a large input into endowments is skimming money off research grants, and thus it is imprecise even to assess booster potential. Regardless, academic endowment money is not going to be spent on athletics.

Liberty’s cash comes from massive online enrollment, and that money is generally not restricted for use, so they can funnel it into athletics as needed. The impact is clear when Freeze now makes $1m more than Fickell at well-funded Cincinnati. This money printing ability is a primary reason (not the only one) why conferences were not interested in Liberty until it came to desperate times.

(11-23-2021 11:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  The only thing I'd say is, look at the endowments of Syracuse, Rice, Northwestern, Duke, all private universities.....they have tons of money and it has not resulted in winning. Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects. Lack of funds can guarantee losing but having funds doesn't guarantee winning. Liberty's athletic budget last year was less than James Madison's and barely more than Delaware's as a whole.

Since when did Liberty release info on their athletic spending? Can you post anything that backs up that statement?


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Why do schools leaving CUSA or in another conference care about LU’s budget?

(11-25-2021 09:48 AM)Curtisc83 Wrote:  Why do schools leaving CUSA or in another conference care about LU’s budget?

...Hey Liberty... ...lemme hold a dollah... (insert money-themed smilie here which GTS has yet to create... )

...seriously, I think if Liberty is committing to the program, then it will 'persuade' other programs in C-USA to do the same... it's gonna be a long road for the 'call-ups', but then again, who knows? Hopefully the conference will survive and even thrive - as I mentioned quite a bit, many of the schools 'moving on' were 'call-ups' themselves not all that long ago...

(11-25-2021 09:24 AM)ODU1986 Wrote:  

(11-23-2021 11:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  The only thing I'd say is, look at the endowments of Syracuse, Rice, Northwestern, Duke, all private universities.....they have tons of money and it has not resulted in winning. Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects. Lack of funds can guarantee losing but having funds doesn't guarantee winning. Liberty's athletic budget last year was less than James Madison's and barely more than Delaware's as a whole.

Since when did Liberty release info on their athletic spending? Can you post anything that backs up that statement?


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They have to report to the Department of Education the same as any school that takes federal financial aid money.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

They reported $47 million last year, but that may be understated depending on how they classify facility investments and such.

(11-25-2021 01:07 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(11-25-2021 09:24 AM)ODU1986 Wrote:  

(11-23-2021 11:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  The only thing I'd say is, look at the endowments of Syracuse, Rice, Northwestern, Duke, all private universities.....they have tons of money and it has not resulted in winning. Liberty still has to recruit and their honor code will certainly scare off some prospects. Lack of funds can guarantee losing but having funds doesn't guarantee winning. Liberty's athletic budget last year was less than James Madison's and barely more than Delaware's as a whole.

Since when did Liberty release info on their athletic spending? Can you post anything that backs up that statement?


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They have to report to the Department of Education the same as any school that takes federal financial aid money.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

They reported $47 million last year, but that may be understated depending on how they classify facility investments and such.

Great data, thank you for sharing.


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That’s a lot of money for a terrible coach with a team that can only buy wins against awful teams. Liberty has one win against a team with a winning record

(11-27-2021 01:46 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  That’s a lot of money for a terrible coach with a team that can only buy wins against awful teams. Liberty has one win against a team with a winning record

Yeah, looks like that was true last year as well.