For the first time in Jamey Chadwell’s tenure at Liberty, the Flames will have some new faces on the sidelines helping to coach the team. Entering his fourth year as head coach of the Flames and coming off the program’s first losing season in 20 years, Chadwell has made two hires from outside the program in Shawn Quinn and Cory Peoples. Quinn will be Liberty’s defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach while Peoples is the team’s defensive pass game coordinator and safeties coach.
“As you go through a season, especially the season that we had, you try to evaluate everything,” said Chadwell. “When you have a season like that, there’s some changes that need to be made in all facets, not just one side of the ball. We made there decision there, as far as just wanting to get a fresh voice and get some different ideas and maybe a different philosophy of playing defense.”
Additionally, Liberty has promoted Teddy Gallagher to linebacker coach and Malcolm Dixon to quarterbacks coach while Newland Isaac is the sole coordinator on the offensive side of the ball. Chadwell says the plan currently is for him to call the plays on offense.
“At the end of the day, I wasn’t what I needed to be last year and that hurt our football team,” Chadwell continued. “Ultimately, I looked at myself and said what do I need to do better as far as making (us) what I think we’re capable of being here, what we should be. Then, you look and say where are we not maybe maximizing what, as a head coach, I felt like we could maximize whether that was the positions, whether that was the players, whatever it may be. It was more of we’re not maximizing what I think we could have been…I felt like we needed to get some new voices and to get our guys to play at a better level, so that’s why we ultimately made that decision.”
Quinn comes to Lynchburg from Blacksburg, Virginia where he spent the past four years, most recently as outside linebackers coach in 2025. Quinn was one of the first hires for former Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry at Virginia Tech joining the Hokies as Sam Linebackers and Nickels coach in 2022. He coached the Stars and Nickels in 2023 and 2024 before shifting to the outside linebackers coach this past fall. Prior to his time in Blacksburg, Quinn was the head coach at Savannah State from 2019-21 where he led the Tigers to a 16-6 record after transitioning from the FCS level to Division II. Prior to being named the 26th head coach in Savannah State history, he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Tigers in 2018. His previous coaching stops also include defensive coordinator at Tennessee Tech (2016), Western Carolina (2013-15), and Charleston Southern (2012), as well as stints as an assistant at Tennessee, Louisiana, LSU, Northwestern State, and Georgia Southern.
“This is an elite job,” Quinn said of his new role at Liberty. “They’ve done a tremendous job. The administration, everybody here is aligned. A lot of jobs are not aligned, there’s a glass ceiling. Here, they are aligned from the President, the Athletic Director down. They have done a tremendous job with the facilities, what their future plans are. When the job presented itself, it was kind of a no-brainer.”
Former Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry, who stayed on staff with the Hokies as defensive coordinator under new head coach James Franklin, is one of Quinn’s mentors and friends. He recommended Quinn pursue the Liberty job opening.
“When I started talking to Jamey, I got really excited,” Quinn continued. “I know they’ve had a great history here and you can win here and go to the playoffs. There are some other teams last year that showed that path, and you have all the resources here. When you bring recruits here, they are really wowed by the place, I was too.”
Over the last four years, Quinn got to work under several strong defensive minds at Virginia Tech and he was able to learn under them. From Pry to Sam Siefkes (former VT defensive coordinator, current Green Bay Packers linebackers coach) and Chris Marve (former VT defensive coordinator, current Colorado defensive coordinator), Quinn says he was really able to enhance his knowledge of the game and can continue to lean on them as mentors moving forward.
“A chance to lead a group of guys and be the head coach of the defense” is something that really excites Quinn about this opportunity at Liberty.
“As I’ve been here, I’ve realized what a sleeping giant Liberty is,” he said. “Obviously had a great year in basketball, had some great years in football, that’s what our job is to do. It’s been great. Challenges ahead, we will get to real adversity when we get in the games.”
Quinn will try to help improve a Liberty defense that finished last season 69th in total defense, 76th in scoring defense, and 107th in rush defense.
“Every defense is different,” said Quinn. “What I mean by that, is each one is like a band. There are certain things they do well. I’ve been on teams that were man to death. In ’23 we had the number one ACC pass defense and we were a man team. Then, I’ve been at places, when I was at Charleston Southern, we were 4th in the country and we had a zone principle. We’re going to figure out, as we go through the spring, what’s on that menu, what songs we play well to help us win. Because that’s the bottom line, if we play two coverages and we win a bunch of football games, so be it. It’s not about how many calls or how many plays you have. You want to win. That’s our job as coaches, starting with me playing to the strengths of our guys and then what do we have to do to win.”
