Director of Athletics Ian McCaw

IAN MCCAW

Ian McCaw has a vision for Liberty Athletics, and he has worked quickly to make that vision a reality since being named the department’s 11th director of athletics on Nov. 28, 2016. His vision for Liberty’s intercollegiate athletics program is to train Champions for Christ by providing a high quality student-athlete experience and achieving victory with integrity. McCaw has lived out this mission, guiding Liberty Athletics to unparalleled success on the field, in the classroom and the local community in a short time on Liberty Mountain. Heading into the 2022-23 athletics season, Liberty’s teams have captured 44 total conference titles since McCaw’s arrival on Liberty Mountain. Under McCaw’s leadership, Liberty Athletics is the fastest growing athletics department in the country. Nearly all 20 of its NCAA Division I programs have reached new heights at the national level in the last few years. Liberty’s football program is just one of five FBS teams in the country that has won a bowl game each of the last three seasons, joining Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana. The Flames are the second team in NCAA history to win a bowl game each of their first three years at the FBS level (2019 and 2020 FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl and 2021 LendingTree Bowl). Football had a season of “firsts” in 2020, including the team’s first-ever national ranking, first win over an ACC opponent, the best start in school history (8-0 to start 2020) and first-ever win over a top-25 FBS program. Liberty Athletics has posted back-to-back top 75 finishes in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, the annual listing that ranks the top collegiate athletics departments in the country. Following a year when the Flames won 10 conference titles, Liberty finished the 2020-21 season ranked No. 70 in the Directors’ Cup standings, which was the highest ranking in athletics department history. The Flames ranked No. 74 in the final 2021-22 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings. Liberty received points in the 2021-22 Learfield Directors’ Cup rankings thanks to national championship finishes or bowl game appearances by baseball, field hockey, football, men’s golf, men’s tennis, softball, and women’s cross country. The Lady Flames field hockey program led the country with 20 wins in 2021 and became the athletics department’s first-ever team to advance to an NCAA Division I national championship game. The men’s basketball team, which has qualified for three out of the last four NCAA Tournaments, has won 104 games over the last four seasons. This figure ranks fourthbest among all Division I teams in the country. Both Liberty’s baseball and softball programs have advanced to NCAA Regional play each of the last two years, while the track & field program had six AllAmericans in 2022 at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The men’s golf team made their third-straight appearance at the NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship in 2022, finishing the event in 26th place. Liberty’s success on the field during McCaw’s time on Liberty Mountain has allowed the visionary athletics director to reshape conference affiliation for the Flames. Less than three months into his time at the head of the athletics department, McCaw helped launch Liberty into the top level of intercollegiate competition. On Feb. 16, 2017, Liberty received notification that the NCAA had approved its request to enter into a two-year Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) reclassification process. McCaw then helped pave the way for the future of Liberty Athletics on May 17, 2018, when it was announced that 17 of the 20 NCAA Division I programs will end a 27-year run in the Big South Conference to join the ASUN Conference for the 2018-19 athletics season. During the Flames’ first four seasons as a member of the ASUN Conference, Liberty has captured the Bill Bibb Trophy each year the conference has presented the award (2018-19 and 2021-22). The trophy is presented to the ASUN Conference institution with the top overall athletics program. In the era of massive conference realignment, McCaw has the Flames positioned to make another jump when Liberty moves to Conference USA, starting with the 2023-24 athletics season. Conference USA will be the all-sports conference for Liberty Athletics, including the Flames’ football team that has competed as an FBS independent program since moving up to the FBS level in 2018. Liberty’s recent success has spawned unprecedented growth in the Flames Club and record-setting football and basketball season ticket sales. During the 2019-20 athletic season, Flames Club donations surpassed the $1 million mark for the first time in athletics department history, aided by 1,265 members. The Flames Club more than doubled its membership total during the 2020-21 athletics season and brought in $2 million to its annual fund. Flames Nation once again more than doubled its support for Liberty Athletics last year. The Flames Club finished the 2021-22 athletic season with $4.1 million in annual fund contributions with a department record 4,538 members. During its first full season at the FBS level, Liberty sold fewer than 4,000 football season tickets. Heading into the 2022 season, Liberty has doubled its season ticket sales and is poised to sell out Williams Stadium for the first time in athletics department history. Liberty’s success has not just been limited to the field of competition, as Flames student-athletes are also winning in the classroom. Liberty has posted a 3.27 cumulative GPA each of the last two years (2020-21 and 2021-22), had five CoSIDA Academic All-American®, and posted a team GPA of 3.0 or higher for 19 out of 20 programs. Liberty baseball standout Aaron Anderson was selected the 2022 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I Baseball Team Member of the Year by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The award is the top academic student-athlete in NCAA Division I baseball. McCaw’s commitment to the full student-athlete experience has seen Liberty Athletics post an 88 percent Graduation Success Rate each of the last three years, matching the highest mark in recorded athletics department history.