Game On features Flames Basketball coach Ritchie McKay

The Liberty Flames Sports Network (LFSN) recently featured Flames Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ritchie McKay on a segment of its weekly “Game On” sports show. The video chronicles McKay’s journey from a player at Seattle Pacific through the coaching ranks and back to Liberty University this year for his second stint as head coach.

After helping to lead his father to Christ as he was dying from cancer, McKay built on his legacy as a player at New Mexico State, coaching the Aggies from 2002-07. Now, after guiding the Flames to a 39-28 record from 2007-09 and spending the past six seasons as an assistant to Tony Bennett at the University of Virginia, he is rebuilding the Flames’ program around the five pillars of success he learned from Wisconsin-Green Bay’s legendary coach Dick Bennett, Tony’s father — humility, passion, unity, servanthood, and thankfulness.

McKay sees the university and the opportunity he has to mold young basketball players into men of character in a different light.

“If you go through the doors of the Vines (Center), you will see a team that is fun to watch, that represents who we are as an athletic department, as a university,” McKay said. “I love that. To me, it’s the foundation to what’s to come.”

The Flames are in action this Thursday at Princeton and Sunday at St. Francis Brooklyn with upcoming contests at Virginia Commonwealth (Dec. 27) and Notre Dame (Dec. 29) before returning to the Vines Center to start the New Year, Jan. 2 against Big South Conference rival UNC Asheville.