Liberty suspends three football staff members to try to resolve NCAA investigation

Liberty is hoping to avoid the long arm of the NCAA law by agreeing to self-impose penalties to resolve Level II recruiting violations.

The school announced Friday that it will suspend three unnamed staff members found to have engaged in “impermissible communications with two prospective student-athletes.”

“The University has cooperated fully with the NCAA and anticipates final resolution of this case in the near future. Until that time, the case is subject to NCAA confidentiality requirements,” Liberty Athletics reported in a release that went out today.

“We acknowledge the violations and take responsibility for them,” said Jamey Chadwell, the head coach, whose seat is warm, after his 2025 team stumbled to a 4-8 finish.

That 13-1 record back in 2023 feels like forever ago now.

“We are committed to doing things the right way,” Chadwell said. “The members of our staff involved should not have communicated with the prospects and representatives in the manner that they did. We will treat this as a learning opportunity for our staff and do better in the future. We will continue to educate our staff and ensure we’re operating within both the letter and the spirit of the rules.”

More falling on the sword came from Ian McCaw, the athletics director.

“We take responsibility for the Level II violations involving three members of Coach Chadwell’s staff who engaged in impermissible communications with two prospective student-athletes and their representatives,” McCaw said.

“Neither of the prospective student-athletes enrolled at the University,” McCaw said. “We have worked cooperatively with the NCAA enforcement staff to resolve the matter through the negotiated resolution process while taking proactive measures, including suspensions of the involved staff members.”

Translation: we’ll bend over backwards, frontwards, whichever.