Jim Toman
Liberty Flames |
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Remember those old comic book advertisements
for Charles Atlas where a muscle bound bully would kick sand
in a skinny guy’s face, only to have the former weakling
bulk up and sock the jerk in the face and become the hero
of the beach (they were usually nestled in between ads for
X-ray specs and sea monkeys)?. Let this be a warning to Coastal
Carolina, Winthrop and other Big South teams - your days ruling
the Big South beach are numbered. That scrawny Liberty team
you’ve knocked around the past couple years isn’t
the same ballclub they used to be.
The Flames have rekindled dedication, bolstered motivation
and a new coach which will soon make Liberty the team to beat
in one of the most dynamic and competitive conferences in
college baseball.
Not to say that the Flames have been a bottom
of the barrel ballclub that past few years, in fact, Liberty
has put together some very good seasons. The Flames have won
at least thirty-six games the past three seasons and have
been the Big South Conference Tournament runner-up four of
the past six years. Back in 2000 and 1998 the Flames won both
the regular season and tournament championships and advanced
to the NCAAs. However now the program is taking it the next
level, now longer being satisfied with being good, the Flames
want to be great.
Jeff Barber, Liberty's Director of Athletics,
took over the Liberty post in 2006. Along with him he brought
the experience of nearly a dozen years working in the successful
athletic department at South Carolina where the Gamecocks
had advanced to the College World Series three times. When
Barber needed a new leader to replace departed Flame head
coach Matt Royer, he got in touch with South Carolina assistant
coach Jim Toman, a well respected coach with a reputation
as one of the top evaluators of baseball talent in the nation.
Toman had spent the past eleven seasons as
the senior member of Ray Tanner’s coaching staff at
South Carolina. He additionally had worked alongside the accomplished
coach for seven more years, dating back to 1990, when the
two were at N.C. State.
The thought of leaving South Carolina for
a “mid-major” school like Liberty didn’t
initially appeal to Toman; however Barber’s determined
commitment to raising team standards, along with the university’s
strong moral and Christian convictions was enough to convince
Toman to make the move to Lynchburg, VA.
When Toman was official announced as Liberty’s
head coach, Tanner spoke admiringly of his long time co-worker
and friend, "Liberty has hired one of the great men in
all of college baseball,” Tanner declared. "He
is a fantastic coach and a great recruiter. He will take the
Flames baseball program to great heights."
While at South Carolina, Toman had helped
the Gamecocks to eight-straight 40-plus winning seasons and
recruited what was deemed to be a top twenty-five class every
year as a Gamecock. Additionally his 2003, 2005 and 2006 classes
were ranked first in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. With
his new role as top dog for Liberty, Toman won’t be
able to get sluggers like South Carolina’s James Darnell
and Phil Disher to play for him at a smaller non traditional
powerhouse like Liberty – at least not as easily. He’ll
also have to find players who are interested in attending
a school with strong Christian principles (the school was
founded by Jerry Falwell in 1971), nevertheless, Toman has
no concerns that fielding a top notch team will be a problem.
Toman points out Virginia’s fertile recruiting ground
as a source for building a ballclub and states he and his
staff, which includes new Liberty assistant coaches Scott
Jackson, Nick Schnabel and Jeremiah Boles, will have to get
out and “beat the bushes” until they find the
players they are looking for.
Playing games against top competition is
a time tested way of getting a team experienced and ready
for the conference play. While the prospect of returning to
Columbia, South Carolina to take on Tanner and his old club
is appealing, Toman doesn’t plan on scheduling any games
with the Gamecocks any time soon. He’d rather wait until
some of the players he recruited are gone from Carolina so
they don’t a chance to beat their old coach. With plenty
of excellent baseball playing universities already in the
region, look for the Flames to travel around the Old Dominion
State for the time being, before heading down to Worthington
Stadium.
So far this season Liberty is 14-17 (3-3)
with wins over Notre Dame, reigning America east champ Albany
and top ten ranked Coastal Carolina. The Flames next head
to Radford to play three games against the Highlanders.
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