When the New Mexico Lobos make their way to Lynchburg, Virginia this weekend for Saturday night’s game against the Liberty Flames, it will also mark the return of Joe Dailey to the Hill City.
Dailey was on Liberty’s staff under former head coach Turner Gill from 2012-2018, most recently serving as the Flames’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Following Gill’s retirement and the hiring of Hugh Freeze as Liberty’s head coach, Dailey joined Bob Davie’s staff at New Mexico as offensive coordinator.
Davie got first-hand knowledge of how a Dailey-led offense could perform one year ago when the Flames and Dailey torched the Lobos for 42 first half points and nearly 600 yards of offense as Liberty defeated UNM, 52-43. Davie has said seeing the way that offense functioned is one of the reasons why he hired Dailey at New Mexico.
“I thought he was very, very sharp,” Freeze said of the interaction he had with Dailey following his hiring at Liberty in December. “A professional, very intelligent, knows the game, has studied the game. I know he studied our stuff at Ole Miss, we talked about that. He did well here too. I’m impressed with what he’s doing. Joe Dailey is an excellent football coach, football mind, and has a great offensive plan.”
Dailey is off to a strong start with the Lobos, as his offense is averaging 39 points and 482 yards of offense through three games this season. He’s also the coach that groomed Buckshot Calvert into the record-setting quarterback he is for the Flames today. Dailey recruited Calvert and was his position coach for his first three seasons at Liberty.
“Coach Dailey’s been there ever since I stepped foot on campus,” Calvert said this week. “He’s the one that me how to prepare for college football, what my mindset has to be like. I learned a lot from him. Some stuff that he taught me, I still apply to my game to this day.”
Under Dailey, Calvert become Liberty’s all-time career leader in passing touchdowns while finishing with more than 3,000 passing yards each of the past two seasons. He was named to the HERO Sports FCS Freshman All-American team and a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award which is given to the top FCS freshman in the country.
But, when the lights come on Saturday evening, Buckshot and the Flames will be looking to beat the former coach.
“When it comes Saturday, it’s a different mindset, it’s a different focus,” Calvert said. “We know throughout the week we have to prepare hard because with his offense they like to score a lot of points. So, that just makes us have to score a lot more points. Hopefully our defense will have a good game plan for him, but when it comes Saturday, it’s show time.”
