LIBERTY-FIU COACHING CONNECTION

FIU’s head coach, Mike MacIntyre, is the son of George MacIntyre who was an assistant coach at Liberty from 1995-1998. It was the final coaching position the elder MacIntyre held before he retired after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

George was the head coach at UT Martin and Vanderbilt in the 70s and 80s before coming to the Mountain. He won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award in 1982.

Mike wasn’t with his dad during the time he was at Liberty, as he was a defensive coordinator first at UT Martin and then at Temple. Mike is in his second year as head coach of FIU and has previously been the head coach at San Jose State and Colorado.

PLAYING CONSISTENTLY FOR A FULL GAME

At times throughout the early part of the season, Liberty has looked very, very good. The first 25 minutes or so against Bowling Green, the Flames looked nearly perfect. The second half against New Mexico State? Close to flawless. We also saw Liberty look virtually unbeatable at times against Buffalo this past week.

But Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell wants his team to become more consistent and play a full game.

“We’ve got to learn how to play four quarters consistently, that’s our big thing this week is just being consistent through four quarters,” he said.

This consistency has been one of Coach Chadwell and his staff’s biggest points of emphasis for the Flames this week.

“What we are trying to accomplish, is we are trying to be our best for four quarters and let the scoreboard take care of itself,” Chadwell said. “We have obviously won some games but we have not played our best consistently. Our big push is let’s learn how to play our best, let’s learn how to practice our very best and see how good we can get. That’s been our talk.”

INJURY REPORT

As reported earlier, RB Vaughn Blue is expected to miss significant time following his injury this past Saturday against Buffalo.

Kendy Charles missed Liberty’s first three games due to an injury he suffered on Monday prior to the Bowling Green game. He is getting closer to getting back on the field after Coach Chadwell called him week to week with a lower body injury following the Bowling Green game.

“Close. We are hoping that you will see him this week, is the hope,” Chadwell said of Charles. “If practice goes well for him, he will travel and be ready to play.”

Starting defensive tackle Bryce Dixon was a limited participant during practice last week and again this week to begin the team’s preparation for FIU. He was able to play last week despite being limited in practice, and that could again be the case this week for Dixon in Miami.

Fellow starting defensive tackle Chris Boti was not practice during the open period of Tuesday’s practice. No word on his status yet.