Liberty is working towards resolving Level II NCAA football violations involving three members of its football staff and two prospective student-athletes, the university announced Friday.
The violations involved impermissible communications between football staff members, two prospective student-athletes and representatives of those prospects. Neither prospect ultimately enrolled at Liberty.
Liberty said it has worked with the NCAA through its negotiated resolution process and has agreed to self-imposed penalties that include suspensions for the involved football staff members. The case has not yet been formally finalized by the NCAA.
Liberty Vice President and Director of Athletics Ian McCaw said the university takes responsibility for the violations and has cooperated with the NCAA.
“We take responsibility for the Level II violations involving three members of Coach Chadwell’s staff who engaged in impermissible communications with two prospective student-athletes and their representatives,” McCaw said.
McCaw added that Liberty has taken proactive measures, including suspensions of the staff members involved.
“We have worked cooperatively with the NCAA enforcement staff to resolve the matter through the negotiated resolution process while taking proactive measures, including suspensions of the involved staff members,” McCaw also stated.
Head coach Jamey Chadwell also acknowledged the violations and said the program will use the situation as a learning opportunity.
“We acknowledge the violations and take responsibility for them,” Chadwell said. “We are committed to doing t hinges the right way. The members of our staff involved should not have communicated with the prospects and representatives in the manner that they did. We will treat this as a learning opportunity for our staff and do better in the future. We will continue to educate our staff and ensure we’re operating within both the letter and the spirit of the rules.”
The NCAA classifies Level II violations as conduct that provides more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive recruiting or competitive advantage. Level II cases can result in recruiting restrictions, probation, financial penalties and penalties against individual coaches. However, the severity varies based on the circumstances of each case.
Level II violations are a tier below the most serious in scope – Level I violations but above Level III violations which are “inadvertent and isolated or limited in nature,” according to the NCAA’s manual.
Liberty’s announcement does not disclose the length of the staff suspensions or any additional penalties, as the NCAA case remains.
Notably, Liberty’s statement does not mention scholarship reductions, a postseason ban, vacated wins or a suspension for Chadwell. That suggests the case, based on the information currently available, is being treated as a recruiting-compliance matter involving specific staff members rather than a major program-wide violation.
Liberty Athletics has not faced any major NCAA rule violations since Ian McCaw has been with the Flames in 2016.
This is not Chadwell’s first incident with the NCAA, with two other incidents occurring earlier in his coaching career. In 2016, 32 of Chadwell’s players were suspended after Charleston Southern self-reported financial aid violations to the NCAA. According to the report, the players were suspended for spending scholarship money allocated for books on other items. Charleston Southern was later stripped of 18 football victories and the 2015 Big South Conference to take after the NCAA found the athletic department incorrectly certified 55 student-athletes across 12 sports in a six-year period.
Additionally, Chadwell was suspended one game during the 2016 season while at Charleston Southern for violating NCAA social media rules related to impermissible contact on social media with prospect athletes.
Liberty last reported an NCAA violation in football in October 2016. Then head coach Turner Gill and assistant coach Ron Brown were suspended for one game each for texting a scholarship offer before the permissible date.
The Flames will face these latest coaching staff suspensions heading into the 2026 season which kicks off at James Madison in Harrisonburg on Saturday, Sept. 5.
