From Roccotown to Gillville: A brief history of Gillville

• Gillville started in 2007 as Roccotown after the head coach at the time, but became Gillville in 2012.
• Incentives for students who camp at Gillville include free Domino’s pizza, free breakfast and early entry to the football game.

Like most college campuses in the country, Liberty University is rife with quirky traditions. The beloved Gillville is one of them.

Starting in 2007, Gillville began as ‘Roccotown’, in honor of then Coach Danny Rocco, according to Paul Rutigliano, the director of football administration.

The name eventually changed to Gillville in 2012, when Coach Turner Gill first came to Liberty.

Rutigliano has been at Liberty for about 21 years, and helped coordinate the very first time Liberty started Roccotown. At the time, there were only about 100 students or so involved.

Back then, the idea was the same. Students came together to camp by the Flames football field Friday evening, and they woke up to breakfast on game day. Chestnut Hill Bakery has provided donuts and treats for the students to enjoy as breakfast after an eventful night of camping out.

For Rutigliano, Gillville is fun and special because students are able to enjoy a night together and wake up to the football coach feeding them breakfast.

“They get to see the side of the head football coach that most people don’t get to see,” Rutigliano said. “You would never get an experience like that anywhere else.”

Compared to starting with barely 100 students, this year has reached numbers up to 500. As the football team, equipment and buildings grew, so did the excitement of its fans.

This year, the tradition of Gillville has changed yet again. Instead of camping out on the field next to the football stadium like they have every prior year, students are now allowed to stay inside the stadium on the field. The large number of students hung hammocks, slept in sleeping bags and set up huge tents inside the stadium.

“If it continues to grow, they just might keep it at the stadium,” Rutigliano said.

According to Tyler Davis, who is currently in charge of Gillville, there are many incentives for students to become involved with the event. These incentives include free Domino’s Pizza, free breakfast from Chestnut Hill Bakery and a 15-minute early entry to the stadium for the game. Now, the more students come to Gillville multiple times, the earlier they can get inside the stadium.

The 10 years that Gillville has been alive on campus has proven to be a fun and memorable event, according to Rutigliano. With the gaining momentum and success of the Flames, there comes the growth of its fans. Students are willing to enjoy the perks of being part of not only the actual football game, but the events happening before.

“I truly believe it’s only gonna get bigger and better,” Rutigliano said.