LFSN Recaps McKay's Return
4/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With the announcement of Ritchie McKay returning to Liberty as its head men's basketball coach, Liberty Flames Sports Network's Nick Pierce was on the scene for this afternoon's press conference.
The following video features highlights from today's events as well as interviews from Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Director of Athletics Jeff Barber and McKay.
After spending the last six seasons working under Tony Bennett as associate head coach at Virginia, McKay returns to Liberty Mountain where he served as head coach during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
McKay was welcomed back to Liberty today during an afternoon press conference held in the Club Pavilion of the Williams Stadium Tower.
During his time in Charlottesville, McKay helped the Cavaliers post a 136-64 record, including back-to-back 30-win seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Virginia advanced to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament three out of the last four years. Following an ACC Championship in 2014, the Cavaliers were the No. 1 seed in the East Region and advanced to the Sweet 16.
Virginia has been one of the best defensive teams in the nation the last several seasons, including leading the nation in scoring defense the last two years (55.7 points allowed per game in 2013-14 and 51.4 points allowed in 2014-15).
The Cavaliers spent seven weeks ranked as the No. 2 team in the country this past season, finishing the year with a 30-4 overall record and a 16-2 mark in ACC play. Virginia advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Final Four team Michigan State.
Prior to his days in Charlottesville, McKay served two seasons as Liberty's men's basketball coach, posting a 39-28 overall record and a 19-13 mark in Big South play. He was named the seventh head coach in program history on March 26, 2007.
Following a 16-16 record during his first year at Liberty, McKay led the Flames to a 23-12 record in 2008-09. The win total matched the program's NCAA Division I record for most wins in a season (Liberty finished the 1996-97 season with a 23-9 overall record).
Liberty finished the 2008-09 season third in the Big South standings, the Flames' third double-digit win total in league play in the last 10 seasons (Liberty was 10-8 in 2009-10 and 13-5 in 2010-11).
The Flames were invited to play in the inaugural CollegInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), advancing to the second round following a win over Rider.
McKay led one of the top scoring offenses in the Big South and ranked No. 48 in the nation, averaging 75.5 points per game during the 2008-09 season.
McKay is one of only three head coaches in program history to post a winning career coaching record (58.2 winning percentage). He is joined by Dale Gibson (1978-81 – 51.1 percent/48-46) and Jeff Meyer (1981-97 – 55.7 percent/259-206).
