Chancellor makes surprise visit to classroom

Students in Associate Professor Andy Coleman’s Sport Management 300 course got a surprise this morning when Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. showed up for class.

Coleman had put together a scavenger hunt as a teambuilding exercise and challenged the students in his Introduction to Coaching class that if they arranged for the chancellor to visit, then he would cancel their final exam.

Senior Emily Love sent the chancellor an email, but did not know he was going to show up.

Falwell stepped in the room at the beginning of class and asked where Emily was. Cheers erupted when the students realized who he was, and he took a few minutes to greet the class.

“That’s one thing I love about this university is that he (Falwell) does do things like that,” Love said. “He does things like this often for students.”

Coleman, who has served as a director of academics for the football program, said the surprise visit was actually a lesson in itself.

“We always talk (in class) about ‘just ask,’ that it never hurts to ask when you go out and you apply for jobs. Some people are afraid to ask questions or afraid to ask people of importance, so I just threw that out there (for them) to ask the chancellor and see what the chances are,” Coleman said. “I think it’s outstanding (that he came). I think he connects with the student body in a great way.”