Of all the fires Jerry Falwell has started with his mouth, this nugget might be among the more incendiary:
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| LU has already produced a couple of NFL players, including Green Bay's Sam Gado. (Getty Images) |
What, a 900-foot Jesus? More fundamentalist doctrine?
No. Football. Falwell, 72, wants to preside over a Division I-A football program in his lifetime. A big-time D-I program, one that could take the field against Notre Dame some day on even terms.
More than that, the Liberty University chancellor is fast-tracking the sport. Liberty's I-AA program went 1-10 last year. The coach was fired. The AD resigned.
Falwell quickly hired Virginia assistant Danny Rocco. A new 36,000-seat stadium has been promised. A $7 million football complex opens in June.
"Just in the last year," he said, "we've decided to take football (to another level)."
The goal is for I-A to happen in the next decade. By then Falwell, who underwent heart surgery last year, will be 82.
"The issue," he said, "is getting it done soon enough for me to see it happen."
Lord willin' and the interest rates don't rise, Falwell's vision will be realized. America will have a fundamentalist Christian football superpower.
Don't be alarmed. ACLU vs. LU isn't on the schedule yet.
What Notre Dame is to Catholics and BYU is to Mormons, Liberty can be to evangelical Christians.
There's not a thing wrong with that, though Liberty's burden will be great. The school has a chance -- no, a duty -- to get it right.
