Liberty announces move to FBS in 2019

Liberty University will be moving on up to the FBS.

The school announced Thursday it would begin a two-year reclassification into the highest-level in college football by 2019. The NCAA granted Liberty a waiver allowing it to move up without joining a conference.

“This is a very exciting day for Liberty Athletics and our football program,” athletics director Ian McCaw said in a statement. “We are grateful for President Falwell’s vision and leadership in spearheading Liberty’s move to FBS football. We look forward to continuing our upward trajectory of success and meeting the level of competition in FBS.”

Liberty will open the 2017 season against Baylor. McCaw left Baylor during its sexual assault scandal.

Liberty's desire to move up from FCS to the Football Bowl Subdivision has been the worst-kept secret in college sports over the past few years. In fact, it hasn't been a secret at all since the last realignment craze, which left Liberty without an invitation to an FBS conference despite a fairly extensive lobbying effort aimed primarily at the Sun Belt.

Liberty has spent the past few years doing everything in its power to show those leagues it is prepared for an FBS transition, including an overhaul of nearly every athletic facility on campus. With more than 100,000 online students in addition to the 14,000 on campus, Liberty is in a unique financial position among schools with similar athletic programs, and president Jerry Falwell, Jr. is committed to doing whatever it takes to make them attractive to FBS.

Two years ago Liberty announced that it would offer full cost of attendance scholarships for all 20 sports including football — the first Football Championship Subdivision program to do so.

Contributing: Dan Wolken