Baptist school takes Liberty of hiring disgraced AD

THERE’S the old gag about the player who crosses himself as he steps to the foul line.

“Does that help?” a man asks a priest in the stands.

“It does,” says the priest, “if he can shoot free throws.”

Religion and sports seem an uncomfortable fit. I prefer the separation of church and fate. After all, we never have seen a player kiss his fingers, pound his heart, then point heavenward after striking out.

But some folks have far better connections than the rest of us. Virginia’s Christian fundamentalist Liberty University — founded by

Jerry Falwell, TV evangelist and theocratic political commentator who specializes in knowing and preaching right from wrong — last week hired Ian McCaw as Liberty’s new athletic director.

In May, McCaw was forced to resign as Baylor’s athletic director — its football team, already with two players convicted of rape, facing many more accusations of sexual assault, gang rape and domestic violence, with attendant claims that Baylor’s athletic department wasn’t much interested in what the alleged victims claimed.

In fact, one of the convicted rapists, defensive ends Sam Ukwuachu — he assaulted a Baylor student — was recruited to Baylor, the nation’s largest Baptist college, on McCaw’s watch after Boise State tossed him — though Boise school officials they said it was not because his thengirlfriend, a track-and-field athlete, accused him of violently assaulting her.

McCaw arrived at Baylor just after its basketball program was left in disgrace by a feel-the-spirit Elmer Gantry-type coach, Dave Bliss, who recruited — and was allowed to recruit — anyone who could help him and Baylor win, including a player who shot dead a teammate.

And so here was McCaw, available to Liberty for only the worst of reasons, accepting Falwell’s call as what McCaw said is a mission “to develop champions for Christ.”

Then Falwell’s son, Liberty president Jerry

Jr., said this of McCaw in assigning him to lead the co-educational college’s athletics:

“Ian’s success really speaks for itself. You look at what Baylor was able to do during his tenure, it fits perfectly with where we see our sports programs going.”

As John McEnroe hollered while looking up, but apparently no higher than the umpire’s chair, “You can’t be serious!”