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Big South member Liberty has decided to leave the FCS and become an FBS independent. The move will take place officially in 2019.
Liberty has scheduled 4:30 p.m. news conference to announce plans on moving from FCS to FBS, source told @ESPN
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) February 16, 2017
The Flames are based out of Lynchburg, Virginia, and had recently made news in hiring former Baylor Athletic Director Ian McCaw.
Although this had been a rumored move by Liberty for some time, I’m pretty shocked that they’re making the leap.
They have had some decent success at the FCS level by winning a few Big South Conference Championships but they had only made it to the FCS Playoffs once in the past five years.
The Liberty Flames will join Army, UMass, Notre Dame, and eventually New Mexico State as FBS independents.
Life as G5 independent is pretty tough so it’s going to be interesting to see how Liberty adapts.