Incoming LeTourneau men’s coach Robert Davis, who was an assistant at Liberty University, the school founded by Jerry Falwell.
“I am excited about being a head coach again, particularly at LETU where the administration is authentic about their Christian walk.”
Yikes — is he saying what I think he’s saying?
I dunno, Pat. What is it that you think he’s saying?
To me it reads like the standard boilerplate uttered by someone who: a) just got hired by a Christian school and wants to ingratiate himself by pressing all the right rhetorical buttons; or b) is sincerely impressed by the piety of the people he’s met in the administration of his new school.
As I said, I’m not really sure what’s provoking your “yikes”. Are you inferring that he’s somehow questioning the authenticity of the Christian expression on other campuses? ‘Cause I don’t necessarily read it that way. I can see how it could be read as a putdown of other schools, but I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt when interpreting a somewhat ambiguous statement such as this one.
Perhaps he’s referring to the odd phrase “Christian walk.” What exactly is a “Christian walk?” I’ll give you two Monty Python options: John Cleese as the Minister of Silly Walks, or the Procession of Monks from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
IOW I think it’s a joke.
I think I read it the same way Pat did. Davis is saying that LETU’s administration “is authentic about their Christian walk” – and his experience at Falwell’s Liberty University was that they are un-authentic in their walk.
If you were someone who knew nothing at all about the situation, I think you would take Davis’ comment as a dig at someone else – probably the place he was leaving. He may have mispoken or meant something else. He should be asked if he wants to clarify his comment. I think GS is right in that the comment is ambiguous but I think most people would take it as a poke at Liberty. Just shows the importance of being precise in choosing the words you use.
I highlighted the comment specifically because it COULD be read in the way FDF suggests but I wanted to hear what others thought. So far so good.
My thought on the comment is that it is not meant to belittle Liberty. This spring, Liberty has seen 2 assistants leave for other jobs, ostensibly, as promotions. If Liberty is a “birthing place” for coaches with an evangelical mindset, then Coach Davis’ comments are consistent, and they speak to the needs of the LeTourneau family in their (basketball) coaches.
Coach Davis was not going to get the Head Coach’s job at Liberty; it is satisfactorily filled. I assume that he wanted a head coaching job at a University that had similar value systems to Liberty. I will assume that LeTourneau sought candidates for its job from the network of “Liberty’s”. A decade from now there may be a well-recognized legacy of “Liberty-grads” in collegiate coaching.
The job at LeTU will be challenging. The ASC-East is very competitive and LeTU has rigorous academic requirements. Good luck to Coach Davis.
You do have to be careful when you say things like this. It does look like it could be a dig at Liberty and / or Falwell.
Whenever I have heard anything about the coaches at LU regarding Christianity they have always come across as being “authentic about their Christian walk.” I’m not really sure what Coach Davis means by that though.
Ralph Turner mentiones a network of “Liberty’s” in collegiate coaching. Former LU head coach Jeff Meyer (his daughter was my English teacher my senior year of high school, which was three school years ago) is now an assistant at Missouri after three years at Butler.
Well, I am someone who knows nothing at all about the situation, and I didn’t read it as a dig. But then again I’ve never understood the “I’m more Christian than you” mentality that has given this country so many problems of late.
I think all this “I’m more Christian than you” stuff just all boils down to rather the Christian actually abides by the Bible and practices what they preach. If a person does abide by the Bible and practices what they preach, while another proclaimed Christian doesn’t, then comes into play the “I’m more Christian than you” stuff, at least that’s always been my understanding.
I find it amazing that, of all the items posted on the blog since its inception, this one has generated the most comments. Who cares what the guy meant — if he meant anything at all.
Why don’t you talk about basketball?
Actually, this post got the most comments:
http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=12
Although two more comments on this current post will give it the lead.
Robooh, I’m sure you’ve seen it before — this is what a blog is all about. Sometimes the posts are random. Sometimes the responses are more random. But people get to talk.
This comment means this post is now tied with the one you cited. And by the way, I found the one you cited interesting. I knew school nicknames would be one of the categories that would draw a lot of tournament ideas. I went so far as to create a spreadsheet with all the mascots/nicknames of all the D-III men’s teams. Care to know (or guess) which nickname is the most common?