Liberty Extends Men’s Basketball Coach Ritchie McKay Through 2028 Season

For the third time in three seasons, Liberty University has extended basketball Coach Ritchie McKay’s contract. McKay’s contract now lasts until the 2028 basketball season. 

Since returning to Liberty in 2015, McKay has transformed the team’s fortunes, taking Liberty to four consecutive conference championships and helping the Flames earn three March Madness bids. Under McKay’s leadership, Liberty won its first NCAA Tournament game in program history as well as three ASUN tournament championships since joining the ASUN in 2018. 

“I am very honored and extremely excited by the commitment that our President (Jerry) Prevo, Ian McCaw and our administration has made to our program,” McKay said in a press release. “Many are responsible for the upward trajectory that we’ve experienced, but especially our student-athletes that continue to pursue excellence in their pursuits. That being said, our hope is to continue to improve and compete at the highest level.”

Since moving to the ASUN three years ago, Liberty has racked up 82 wins – No. 2 in the nation after NCAA Tournament runners-up Gonzaga. In the 2020-21 season, the Flames had their fifth-straight 20-win season, underlining how successful Liberty has become under McKay. 

“We are grateful for Coach McKay’s long-term commitment to Liberty,” Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw said to The News & Advance. “It really signals a very bright future for the program. The two words I use to describe Coach McKay is selfless exceptionalism in terms of just the way he goes about his business in building this program into what’s become among the winningest programs in the nation over the last three years.”

Within two seasons of his return for the 2015-16 season, McKay had led Liberty to a conference championship appearance, with the Flames losing to Radford in dramatic fashion in the Big South Championship in 2018. A season later, Liberty moved to the ASUN – and a tournament championship in his first year in the conference clearly highlighted McKay’s intent to revolutionize Liberty’s performances. 

Fast forward two more seasons and Liberty has not stopped winning championships, taking the regular season title and the tournament championship in all three years since moving to the ASUN. Liberty’s NCAA Tournament win against Mississippi State and its appearance in March Madness against Oklahoma State in 2021 highlighted the quality of the roster McKay has put together. 

Liberty extended McKay’s contract previously in 2019 and 2020 after he led Liberty to its first two ASUN championships. 

“I think our guys have accomplished something that’s really hard to do, and that’s three consecutive conference championships and this year we won an outright regular-season championship,” McKay said to The News & Advance. “I think because of that, I think our university feels like we’ve got a good thing going and we want to try to continue to grow it.”

John Nekrasov is the Sports Editor. Follow him on Twitter at @john_nekrasov.