We had the privilege of speaking with Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw at length about the state of the Liberty Athletic program. We delved into a vast array of topics, focusing on the athletic program’s second year in Conference USA and the numerous changes within the college athletic landscape. We also touched on several topics surrounding Liberty football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball and other programs on the Mountain.
This will be a multi-part series we release this week. Monday’s feature focused on a recap of the 2024-25 athletic year for the Flames, goals for the athletic department, and the House Settlement while yesterday we looked at several sports around campus including football, softball, and baseball. Be sure to check those out if you have missed either.
Today, we conclude this series with topics including men’s and women’s basketball, and the future of the athletic department including potential conference realignment.
As always, a big shout-out and thanks to Ian for his time and openness for this series and throughout the years.
ASOR: Coach McKay and the men’s basketball had a very successful season winning the CUSA championship, how pleased are you with the growth and change that program and staff made from Year 1 to Year 2 in the league?
Ian McCaw: “They did a tremendous job. I think a year ago we talked about the fact that they needed to change a few things. One of the things was kind of how they approached the portal, and they did an outstanding job, really elevated the roster, and that set us up to have a championship season. There was a big step up from the ASUN to Conference USA, Conference USA being a top 10 basketball conference in the country. That’s not an easy step, and they did a great job navigating it and have a lot to celebrate right now.”
ASOR: What will be key for that program this season as they look to repeat as champs and get back to the Big Dance?
Ian McCaw: “Coach McKay does great job of building culture. I think he’s got tremendous culture in place right now. Just to remain hungry. I anticipate we will be a favorite in the conference, and we’ve got a great returning nucleus. I think kind of blending the new players into the culture will be really important.”
ASOR: Coach Green and the Lady Flames got over the hump and cut down the nets in Huntsville and then nearly upset Kentucky. How satisfying was that moment and accomplishment for that team?
Ian McCaw: “That was really encouraging. The senior leadership on last year’s team really carried them, and they were very motivated after losing the championship game the year before. We had great senior leadership. I was really happy and proud of them, and then Coach Green and his staff did a tremendous job. So really excited for them to win that championship, because it had been a little while, and so really grateful to see that joy that sprung from that program.”
ASOR: What are your top goals you are hoping the athletic department achieves this coming year (2025-26)?
Ian McCaw: “We’re looking to execute our NIL plan well, and there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s very challenging operationally, and we’ve had great support from the University across campus. The concept of paying NIL to student-athletes is certainly a foreign one, a new concept. We’ve got great internal support, and I think we have a really good plan to execute. So we need to do that, first and foremost. Secondly, we need to continue to have some success at the national level. That’s really what builds our brand and really helps us advance our program, and that’ll be really important. And then, we’re very committed to having a broad based program at Liberty and having success across the board in a lot of sports. So, those would be three things that would be really important this upcoming year.”
ASOR: How about the next 3-5 years?
Ian McCaw: “We call ourselves the fastest rising athletic program in the country, and so we need to continue the climb. If we can continue to elevate our program and our mission and our brand at the national level, I think there’ll be some opportunities that will present themselves for us to to do some special things down the road.”
ASOR: Do you think Liberty can eventually reach the highest level of college athletics, whether that be the P4 or some other iteration when that time comes? What does Liberty currently need to focus on to work towards reaching that level? What obstacles need to be overcome?
Ian McCaw: “I think we can. I think we will. We’re very fortunate. We have tremendous facilities, resources, personnel. Our program is thriving. It’s getting a lot of attention at this point in time. I think we need to keep doing what we’re doing right now and again, experience some of that national success to vault us into the next level.”
